So, you’ve come a long way! You’ve built your product and you’re ready to start selling. Maybe you’ve even had some success with social media, or maybe you’ve picked up some seed funding. You’re finally ready to hire your first marketing agency. But with so many, many, many agencies to choose from, how do you decide? Here’s a hint: it’s not only about your budget.
Here are 3 things to look for when choosing a marketing agency for a small business.
1. Credibility
The first and most important thing to check when working with anyone, let alone a marketing agency, is the credibility of the organisation. Check to see if the agency has a website, and try and gauge their credibility through their previous work, client testimonials, work samples, and team information. It’s always safer to ask someone you trust for a recommendation, but if you simply can’t find any recommendations, then ask the agency to share references of previous clients, or at the very least, to share samples of their previous work. In case you don’t find a website, or if there are many errors and mistakes on the website, then it is best to assume that there is something fishy and stay away. On the other hand, if you are confident that the agency is credible, then move on to the next step.
2. Quality of Work
The one thing that differentiates good and bad agencies is the quality of their work, which is usually very apparent just by looking at samples of their previous projects. Make sure, however, that you look at relevant samples, based on the nature of your project. If, for example, you are hiring an agency for logo design, focus on their design quality and previous logo projects, whereas if you are hiring for social media, ask to see case studies of social media campaigns. If you think that the quality of work does not match your standard, continue looking for more options rather than settling.
3. Long Term Potential
The last thing to look for when hiring an agency for a small business is its capacity to grow with the business and serve not just its immediate needs but also the long term requirements.
It is always better to have the same agency work on multiple aspects of the marketing plan, rather than bringing on multiple agencies, or changing your agency constantly. As such, it is important to gauge the potential for a long term partnership or collaboration, both in terms of the services offered as well as in terms of the scale of the agency’s operations.
Keep these three things in mind and you should be able to make a confident decision in bringing on a marketing agency for your small business.
The Invisible Paintbrush is a small agency for small businesses that offers end to end marketing services for pre-launch & early-stage start-ups, solopreneurs, family businesses, freelancers, and more. If you enjoy reading our articles, follow us on LinkedIn or Instagram to keep receiving updates! To share this article, use the social icons below: