Choosing a marketing agency to promote your business can be daunting. With a broad spectrum of agencies across the UK offering diverse skills, expertise and industry sector experience, navigating your way to the agency that’s right for you can be challenging.
Beyond an agency’s creative ability and professional credentials, what’s important is how you’ll interact with your key contact on a daily basis, and the lengths to which your account team will go to understand your business and support your commercial objectives.
Here are our top tips for making sure you choose the right marketing agency:
1. Research the agency’s offering in depth
It’s important to spend time researching the agency’s experience, reading their website, delving into case studies and really getting to grips with how they deliver value to their clients. Look for examples of the business benefits clients experience as a result of investing in their services.
2. Set clear goals
A detailed brief can work wonders. Explain to an agency exactly what you want to achieve – in both business and communications terms, and outline the budget at the outset. The more an agency understands about your goals and objectives, the closer they’ll come to meeting your expectations. It’s always good to indicate the level of detail you require and whether you’d like an all-encompassing marketing strategy or a selection of tactical ideas in the first instance.
3. Understand their work culture
It’s also worth asking the agency to elaborate on ways of working – how will the account team work on a daily basis and importantly, who will you be working with? Ask to meet the whole team at the pitch, even the most junior members. It’s important to get a feel for their level of motivation. We understand that it’s fundamental to work with people who are passionate about working with you and prepared to go the extra mile.
4. Meet face-to-face
Equipped with your research, it’ll be much easier to narrow the list of contenders to a promising shortlist. Visiting the agency can pay dividends in terms of understanding more about their ways of working, the atmosphere and working environment. Sometimes just walking into an office can give you a flavour of the character of the agency, so it’s always worth suggesting meeting at their place!
We hope these tips are useful. Please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01787 226995 if you’re considering a new marketing project or investigating a new approach to your marketing communications strategy.
