What Questions Should I Ask a Marketing Firm Before Hiring?
When partnering with a marketing firm, it can be difficult to determine which of your available options is the best fit for your business. If you are looking to outsource your marketing, you will need to be able to filter out the firms that can’t meet the needs of your business and differentiate them from the ones that can deliver the marketing strategy best suited to you. By asking the right questions during your search for a marketing agency, you will be able to find the perfect partner that can deliver the marketing solution that elevates your business above the competition. Asking about the firm’s experience, their project management, expectations, and their marketing teams will give you a clearer view of which firm is best for you.
Experience
A firm’s experience gives you an idea of their strengths and what kinds of solutions they provide. Their previous clients and capabilities are important to know so you can get a picture of what sort of solutions they usually deliver and what industries they typically serve. If all of an agencies previous clients are B2B, they may not have the right experience to deliver the best possible B2C solution. Ask about who their previous clients are and what kind of relationship they had with the client. Were they partnered with the customer themselves, or are they a client that was managed by an employee while they worked somewhere else?
It is also important to find out if they have any current clients that operate in the same or similar industry to you. Working with one of your competitors presents a conflict of interest that may prevent them from delivering the best possible outcome for both clients. In this case, it is best to find a different marketing firm to partner with.
Example questions you could ask are:
- Who are your previous clients?
- Are they clients this agency has served, or have your employees served them at different firms?
- Can you provide examples of your firm’s contributions to successful marketing campaigns?
- What are your firm’s capabilities? (Be specific to different areas of marketing e.g., Web design, SEO, social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing)
- Do you have any current clients that are in a similar industry to ours? Are there any conflicts of interest that you should declare?
Project management and expectations
Knowing what you expect out of a marketing firm is key to choosing the right partner. But it’s important to know that firms will also have different expectations of clients, with each agency handling accounts and projects differently. You should find out about the details of how your account will be managed and who will be managing it. Having your collaboration run smoothly is dependent on knowing what that collaboration looks like and understanding the responsibilities of each party. You should also be asking for details about communication. When will you meet? Will it be in person or online? How often will this happen and what will be discussed? These are all great questions to begin communicating the expectations of both parties and understand how the project will be managed.
You should also discuss revisions or changes to work. In some of the creative aspects of your project you will have a certain vision that their designers may not nail the first time. Discuss how revisions are made and if there are any limitations to the requests you can make.
Pricing is another factor you need to discuss with any potential marketing partner. You should know not only the total cost of hiring a firm but also when payment is expected and if any additional costs or discounts are possible based on results. Most firms will provide one clear price, but it’s always good to ask to make sure you are getting the best price possible. The firm should provide clear details on what is included in the price.
Some possible questions to ask are:
- How will we communicate?
- When will we meet?
- How often will we meet?
- What form will these meetings take (online, in-person)?
- Who will be working on our account?
- What can I edit for creative work?
- Are there any limitations to revisions or requests?
- What is the cost of hiring your firm?
- Are there any additional costs or fees that we may incur? How are expenses invoiced?
The Marketing Team
It is typical to hire a marketing firm for around 8-12 months, so you are going to be working with them for a while. It’s important to make sure that the people you are going to work with are a good fit for your company. Good work relationships lead to greater chances of success. Questions about the company culture and asking to meet some of the team can help you determine if the firm will be a good fit for your company.
Many marketing firms will outsource part of the work they do to contractors or freelancers. You should know what kind of work is being done by employees of the agency and what work is done by people that aren’t on payroll.
Possible questions you could ask are:
- What is your company culture?
- Can we meet some of the people that will be working on our account?
- What skills do you have on payroll?
- What services do you outsource to contractors or freelancers?
- What sort of relationship do you have with your contractors? How long have you known them?
When hiring a marketing firm to help with or take over your marketing efforts, its important to ask the right questions to find the perfect match for your company. Asking about the firm’s experience, their project management style, expectations, and their marketing team will enable you to make an informed decision about which marketing agency can deliver the best solution for your business. It can be daunting to try and sift through the many options when hiring a marketing firm, especially if you don’t have much or any marketing experience yourself. But by asking the right questions from the beginning of your search, you can put yourself in the best position to partner with the right agency for your needs.
Image Source: Shutterstock (1022272123)
How To Choose The Best Consulting Firm For Your Technology Company
There are currently so many marketing consulting firms large and small available to choose from that it can become a confusing process trying to find the right fit for your company.
Here we will discuss some ways you can work out which marketing consulting firm is best for your technology company, and give you some tools to help thin out the herd.
Decide what type of services your business needs and the results you are after
It’ll be a harder process for your business in choosing a viable consulting firm if you do not have clearly set goals, needs and estimated results to check off when assessing different firms.
Once you know what you need from your marketing activities, your business can focus on finding consulting firms that are up to date with the latest technological advances, trends and services so that they can fulfill your needs efficiently, and at a higher level than competitors.
Take Robotic Marketer for example. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology allows us to stay ahead of the curb, and transform information on your company, your business goals and marketing plan into an actionable marketing strategy at a much faster rate than our competitors.
Start by looking locally
Whether you are a well-established company, or a budding entrepreneur, you should always begin your search close to home.
When you are working with technology, there are so many new and complex threats in the form of cyber-attacks and network failures that may need immediate attention if your business is to continue operating.
By hiring locally, this threat can be minimized, as the closer the firm is to your business, the quicker on-site issues can be resolved and your company can remain productive.
Robotic Marketer’s advanced machine learning and big data processing capabilities allow us to identify technological issues much quicker than other marketing consulting firms, meaning we can resolve problems and get your business back on track to achieving your marketing strategy.
What’s the profile of the firm?
As we have said, there are so many different marketing consulting firms available to choose from both locally and abroad, each with different specialties and focuses on alternate industries.
That is why it is imperative that you select a consulting company that can fulfill your specific needs, and whether they are genuinely capable of meeting your objectives within the time frame you require.
Robotic Marketer is specifically designed to create affordable, high-quality marketing strategies for technology-based organizations. At a fraction of the price, you will receive a ‘Big-4’ quality strategy – value for money with top-tier marketing services.
What markets do they operate in?
As you are looking for a marketing consulting firm that can best serve and satisfy a technology company, it is of utmost importance that they have the right knowledge and experience for your business.
Before picking a firm, look at some of their past projects within the technology industry, how recent they were, did their other clients have similar needs to your own, did they return with future projects and most importantly, were they happy with the consulting firm’s performance?
Without the proper industry experience, and effective results to gauge, there is no guarantee that the consulting firm will be the right fit for your business, and be able to fulfill your needs completely and effectively.
Make sure that the firm understands what you need
Depending on the needs of your business, it is important that the marketing consulting firm you choose has a wide range of staff with a mix of disciplines and focus areas so that they can fulfill all of your technology needs as they arise.
Of course, if you are only just starting up your business, this is less of an issue, but the larger your company, the wider the range of technological services you will require, so it is necessary that you look into whether the consulting firm can fulfill all the needs of your business, not just a few.
Robotic Marketer is dedicated to ensuring all clients receive the best service possible, and we are always here to help clients with any issues they may encounter so that we can get back to achieving your marketing strategy in the most efficient way possible.