Finding the right marketing agency to partner with can be a game changer for you and your business.

If you hire the right marketing agency, you will get more leads, see a substantial increase in revenue, and you’ll build stronger relationships with your customers, making them happy and loyal.

But if you hire the wrong marketing agency, your business is going to lose insane amounts of money, and you might end up sleeping on the air mattress in your father-in-law's dusty basement.

(No disrespect to your father-in-law’s dusty basement.)

Luckily for you and your father-in-law, this article will show you how to choose a great marketing agency, one that you can partner with and expect to see big returns on your marketing budget.

Let's get started, your business needs an awesome marketing agency to partner with.

Here are 6 things to look for in a great marketing agency.

1). Understand exactly how the marketing agency produces real-world business results

No marketing agency can solve the challenges of every business.

When looking for an agency, you need to find out how they’re producing results.

This way, you’ll know if they can use their marketing tactics to solve the specific challenges facing you and your business.

Here are a few things to deeply consider:

The Methodology they use to produce results

Marketers love to hurl acronyms at you like snowballs (SEO, PPC, KPI, CLTV). Don’t be scared to ask questions about the specific details.

After all, if the marketing agency can’t explain to you, in easy-to-understand language, the exact process they use to achieve results, run away from that agency faster than Indiana Jones runs away from a giant boulder.

Every successful marketing agency follows a process, a step-by-step formula which helps them produce repeatable results for their clients.

Ask the marketing agency to explain to you every step of their process. And if you don’t understand something, ask them for more explanation.

Digital Marketing is not esoteric black magic; hire an agency whose methodology you can easily understand.

I know what you might be thinking, "I don't understand digital marketing and the language associated with it."

While that is completely understandable, you can always ask the people in your circle for help.

For example, find a friend or relative who is savvy in marketing, and invite them to help you inspect each marketing agency until you find a perfect fit.

Look for unique talents and specialization

A sound methodology is required for marketing success. But methodologies can only be executed upon with the right talent.

Some agencies are masterful with link building and SEO, some are great with pay-per-click advertising, and others are skilled in social media.

Your job is to find out what makes a particular agency unique. Remember, you’re looking for specialization, that one thing they can do better than the rest of the pack.

Covid-19 update: Because of shrinking budgets and limited resources, you may want to find an agency that has a bunch of different skills and abilities. For instance, we here at Ouster Marketing have begun offering new services to help business owners grow during the pandemic.

Work with an agency whose unique skills are suited for the unique business challenges you face.

2) Look for a marketing agency that communicates with candor and transparency

Before you even think about hiring a marketing agency, sit down, and have a long talk with them. Tell them about all of the challenges facing your business.

For a marketing agency to be truly effective, they need to understand your business the way you understand your business; they need to get inside your head.

After you talk to the marketing agency about your challenges, the next step is for the marketing agency to perform research.

This research will inform their strategy and approach, building the blueprint for how they plan to help your business grow.

Here are some important questions to ask every marketing agency:

Depending on your business and its challenges, you might have plenty more questions you’d like to ask, but the above questions will go far when deciding who to consider and who to avoid.

3). Look for a marketing agency that fits your company culture

Today, businesses aren’t shy when it comes to expressing their views on politics and society.

The days of neutrality are over, which is why it’s so important for you to hire an agency whose beliefs and values align with your business.

This section doesn’t require vast amounts of explanation. But be sure to understand, now more than ever, the beliefs and values your company espouses are just as important as the products and services you sell.

Find a marketing agency that shares your values. Ask yourself this question: Do I want to be friends with these people?

4). Find a marketing agency that isn’t territorial about the work they do for your company

There are marketing agencies that keep the work they do for you in a hard-to-reach silo.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say that you’ve become dissatisfied with the work a marketing agency is doing for your company and it’s time to hire someone else.

A professional agency will help you onboard the new agency you’ve decided to hire, which means handing over all the work they’ve done, making the transition smooth for both you and your new agency.

A bad agency will throw a childish tantrum and refuse to hand over the work they’ve been doing for your business.

Be aware that marketing agencies have access to your most powerful marketing weapon:

Data

Marketing agencies collect and analyze vast amounts of data. They know what marketing tactics are working for your business, and they know the ineffectual tactics that are absolute wastes of money.

The marketing agency you work with must be willing to grant you complete access to all of your company’s marketing data.

Never let a marketing agency be the gatekeeper to your marketing assets. Make sure that you have access to all of it, always.

5). Find a marketing agency with a decent website

When it comes to finding a great marketing agency, you should be looking for an agency with a decent website.

Remember, if you don’t like the way they present themselves to the world, you probably aren’t going to like the way they represent your business.

Here are some questions to ask about their website:

Answering these questions will help you choose the right marketing agency.

6). Look for a marketing agency that sets SMART GOALS

There are two kinds of marketing agencies:

The kind that gets paid from your marketing budget (parasites)
And the kind that gets paid from the results they produce for you and your business (marketing professionals)

It’s pretty obvious that, ideally, you want to hire an agency that earns its money because of the results they produce for you.

This is precisely why you want to find an agency that is willing to set some SMART goals.

What are SMART GOALS?

Goals that are:

Specific - 250 new leads per month
Measurable - The 250 new leads per month can be measured in the lead forms
Attainable - 250 new leads per month is an attainable goal
Relevant - 250 new leads per month will have a relevant impact on business
Timely - The goal is 250 new leads PER MONTH

Above I use a made-up example (250 new leads per month)

Any marketing agency that you partner with needs to be held accountable from day 1. With SMART Goals set in place, you have a way to gauge the success of your marketing efforts.

Professional basketball players get paid to perform, and their performance can be measured in stats like points, rebounds, and assists, among many other things.

If you owned a basketball franchise, you wouldn’t pay top-dollar for a player that isn’t putting up respectable stats, and that’s exactly how you should treat any marketing agency you partner with.

With SMART GOALS put in place, you can do precisely just that.

Need Help With Your Video Marketing?

Book a free strategy session with us.

Talk to us over the phone or via skype, tell us about your business and the challenges you are currently facing, and we will answer any questions you have.

In addition to answering all of your marketing-related questions, we’ll teach you, step-by-step, how to create a lead-generating content marketing strategy for your business.

There’s no catch. After the free strategy session, you have no obligation to work with Ouster Marketing.

We won’t harass you with phone calls or annoying spam emails. If you like the value we provide you, we hope you’ll consider hiring us as your marketing agency. But that’s your decision.

Our mission is to help small-and-midsize businesses, like yours, achieve ambitious goals.

Cheers