If you are looking to grow your business you may be considering the help of a marketing agency. They can help introduce your brand to targeted audiences all in hopes of an increase in awareness and sales for your business. Even though these achievements are desirable, some businesses are not in the position for a marketing agency’s assistance.
Are you ready?
Before deciding whether your business should seek help from a marketing agency, you should ask yourself some of the following questions.
Do you have a marketable product or service?
Some businesses may believe they have the next best thing, but it’s not an agency’s job to market just an idea. You must have an actual product or service that you want people to know about and purchase. An agency can be a great resource for understanding industry trends and where the market is headed, but you should not rely on them too heavily for the core operations of your business.
Are the internal resources of your business strong?
Another consideration that made Entrepreneur’s list of concerns are the inner runnings of a business. If you want an agency’s help, you must communicate the details of your business to convince them of its value. While an agency is going to do independent research about your business and competitors to get an idea of what marketing strategy would work best, nothing is better than having a client lay out all the facts for them. This gives marketers the direction of what to tell consumers about your business.
Whether it’s you as the owner or employees from different departments, make sure you have experts and information prepared. A marketing agency is going to have questions about even the smallest details in order to craft the best individualized materials. Having someone that can answer these questions quickly and efficiently is in the best interest of your business. Also, keep important marketing and financial documents on hand to help marketers understand how your business is performing and what they can improve upon.
Do you have clear (and realistic) goals?
If you do not have a clear goal in mind for a marketing agency to accomplish it is definitely not the time to seek one out. A marketing agency can help identify areas for improvement with your current marketing but they are not experts in your business. Whether it be to improve leads, increase online presence or create a strong brand image, an agency can only help if you tell them what you want.
A benefit of having strong goals is that they can be measured. Setting clear, realistic goals recommended by the balance small business, like wanting to improve website traffic by 10% in two months allows marketers to plan accordingly and pinpoint the methods that help you achieve it.
Can you afford it?
Taking your marketing to an agency is by no means inexpensive, but it is good to know that most offer pricing on a package scale or à la carte. As the business owner you may want to try smaller packages that fit your needs and your budget. According to VisualCapitalist, a whopping 82% of small business failures are due to issues with cash flow, so make sure your budget is realistic for both your company and for the work you want done.
Don’t expect an agency to be able to create an extravagant campaign on a budget of only a couple thousand dollars. Luckily, choosing your package and subsequent pricing will be discussed before entering into a contract. And as work is completed you can choose to extend or end working with an agency. Marketers should be able to tell you if your budget is realistic for the deliverables you want.
If you can answer yes to all these questions, you are in a position to benefit from a marketing agency.
Make an informed decision
Even though LeadPages reports an estimated 47% of small-business owners handle marketing efforts independently, many do not have the expertise or resources to produce competitive digital content. With your prepared budget and goals in mind, find a company that specializes in what you are trying to achieve. This may mean shopping around, getting quotes and analyzing some of the previous work by the agency. The bottom line is to make sure you are working with an agency that understands your vision for marketing and expectations surrounding communications and deadlines are established right away.
A marketer’s best tool
Dial800 has partnered with numerous agencies to assist in innovative solutions for their clients. Marketing agencies turn to Dial800’s optimization suite to increase clients’ inbound calls, measure digital marketing and media performance, and efficiently handle inbound leads. All of this is crucial for a business hoping to grow their presence. Marketing agencies should also be working to perfect your brand, and if building authenticity is your goal, our enhanced call tracking solutions can help you connect with customers. To learn more about how partnering with Dial800 can improve your agency or business marketing, contact a representative today!
CallView360®
AI Analytics
AccuRoute®
BizCloud
RapidRecall®
Integrations