Author: Chris Heiler
Just as an aspiring college student researches where they will invest their next few years and a big chunk of money, the search for a trustworthy and reputable marketing agency should be treated in a similar way. It all starts with doing your homework up front and conducting research and interviews. After all, the agency you choose to retain is a partner in your business. It's a serious commitment of time and money and you want to get the hire right the first time.
Following are six steps you'll want to consider when searching for a marketing agency to partner with. In this post we'll focus on how to find a marketing agency that specializes in digital marketing or inbound marketing versus an agency specializing in traditional advertising or public relations.
And while we're on the topic of finding a reputable marketing agency to partner with, I'll share these three related blog posts with you:
5 Reasons Your In-House Marketing May be Failing You
How Much Will it Cost to Hire a Marketing Agency -- 5 Key Considerations
Hiring a Marketing Agency: 5 Questions to Ask Your Potential Partner
Review the marketing agency's online presence
Make sure you're hiring a partner who walks the talk. A reputable marketing agency will have a well-designed and informative website as well as an active presence on a number of social networks. On these networks, do you see signs of engagement and interaction or do you hear crickets chirping?
The agency should absolutely be blogging on a regular basis. If this is the case, are they focused on thought-leadership and teaching their readers? Or is their blog mainly hype-filled sales jargon? Ask yourself: Can I learn something from this blog? Would I subscribe to this blog?
Try to get a feel for the agency's online "voice". You can learn a lot about an agency and their leadership simply by paying close attention to their tone and personality in their content. Does this voice align with your company? Do they sound like someone you could work with month after month?
Review content created by the agency on behalf of their clients
Just as you would review the marketing agency's online presence and content, you want to do the same for a handful of clients the agency represents. Review their client's websites, blogs, news releases and social media.
Is the messaging on-point and consistent from platform to platform? Is their content focused on thought-leadership and targeted to a clearly defined audience? Are blog posts helpful? Are they timely? These are all signs that the marketing agency is highly engaged with their client.
Look for consistency in content and between platforms. At Landscape Leadership each client is assigned a dedicated writer who creates all content for that specific client. This maintains that consistency in voice and personality I mentioned previously. A good question to ask a potential agency partner would be, how many different people will be creating content for us? If the answer is more than one or two, that should raise a red flag.
Meet your potential team
Hiring a marketing agency is just like one of your clients hiring your landscaping or lawn care company in that you're typically taken through the sales process by one or two people. No doubt, many deals are closed because of the tight relationship that's been built. However, many deals and contracts can go south in a hurry when the client is handed over to production and has new team members to work with.
When speaking with a potential agency partner, ask to meet your team members before engaging their services.
Know who you will be working with. It won't necessarily be the person who is selling you the agency services. Talk to the person who will redesign your website. Talk to whomever will be writing blog posts on your behalf or sharing company updates on your Facebook page. These people will be the voice of your company online. Get to know them before you hire them!
Request case studies
You're not going to open your wallet and invest in an agency on blind faith. You want to see results first. That's why it's important to ask for case studies. A marketing agency should be able to provide these for you.
You'll want to request industry-specific case studies. You'll want to know what this agency has done for other companies similar to your own. If your potential partner hasn't worked with a company in the lawn and landscape industry previously that should draw another red flag. Do you really want the agency learning about your industry on your dime?
Ask for references and follow up
Just as you'll ask for case studies, be sure to also ask for references that you can contact. Again, make sure these references are in your industry or a closely related field.
Ask candid questions you may not ask the agency directly. Ask about the challenges they've faced working together.
Ask how success will be measured
This is an extremely important point. Will your agency send you an automated report each month with pretty graphs and charts and lots of numbers that are meaningless to you? Or will you and your agency work together to identify very specific goals and the milestones needed to reach them and meet regularly to discuss progress toward these goals?
Your marketing agency shouldn't provide monthly one-size-fits-all reports for you to decipher. Every company has different objectives and views success a bit differently. The agency you retain should outline the key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics that are most important to your business.
Also, be sure to ask how often you will review progress with your agency partner. Will you have a monthly meeting? A quarterly meeting? What do you cover in each? Be sure these progress meetings are a formal part of the agency's process and deliverables.
If you've questioned how to find a marketing agency that fits your unique lawn and landscaping business, I hope this post was helpful.
Agencies come in all shapes and sizes, with different specialties and talents. But there are core values and skill sets that make some better than others. For more information on how to find a marketing agency that's right for your business, be sure to download our free e-book, "The Ultimate Guide to Hiring an Inbound Marketing Agency". Grab it today by clicking on the image below.
Image credit: HubSpot
