Raise your hand if this describes you: You employed not just one, but two, three, or even four marketing firms, only to end up back at square one. Every time, you lose thousands of dollars and fester in your bitterness toward marketing companies. But rest assured that you are not alone in this. Agencies are blamed for overpromising and underdelivering as a group.
- Can I learn this on my own and achieve the same results?
- Can THIS agency produce the outcomes that the previous one promised?
- A lot of smoke and mirrors, is that all this?
- Is now the ideal moment to hire an agency, or should I strive to learn how to do things well enough to eventually be able to do so?
- Where should I invest my money to maximize my return on investment?
- Can this organization help me get past my hurdle rate?
Is now the ideal time for me to work with a firm?
To produce results for services like sponsored media, agencies will require you to commit to a minimum ad spend. This is not being done to increase your spending. It's because the algorithm needs a specific volume of data to scale and locate the ideal clients for you.
If it involves a website or other creative service, you should think about if you would be better off finding a friend with some basic understanding or even doing it yourself rather than engaging a company that can create a top-notch website or capture expert images and films.
The early stages are all about cash allocation. Despite what the gurus may tell you, money is king in the world of digital marketing. Be cautious, yet establish frameworks such as the MARR, hurdle rate, risk asymmetry, etc.
Is the agency open to letting you get in touch with former customers so you can find out what they thought of them?
Pass if they even appear reluctant to allow you to contact any current or previous clients. They should feel certain that previous clientele will speak positively of them.
How many people work there?
This will reveal how many resources they have available to them. Although it's not a good predictor of quality or outcomes, if you're a business, you'll need someone with almost limitless resources to adapt to you.
What two to three services do they specialize in?
Despite what they may claim on their website or in their sales pitch, every agency with fewer than 15-20 employees will only concentrate on two to three services. They simply lack the manpower to produce extraordinary outcomes for longer than that, and they are not large enough to draw in top talent to truly drive home those results.
Find out what they actually have expertise in if they claim to be masters of five services at that level.
Do I need to work with an agency for a single project or several?
If you're just starting out, you should search for someone who can produce 80% of the outcomes of a top-tier firm. Spending money and suffering through various agencies' talking heads will be avoided. Consider employing many companies, each of which specializes in a distinct function, such as Facebook advertisements, SEO, brand planning, website development, CRO, etc., if you are a much larger or even enterprise-level company.
Do they have the flexibility to bend to my ideas of what will work or are they rigid?
The agency frequently has a set of procedures that they have found to be most effective. However, it might be a good idea to take a different path if they are unwilling to adapt to the subtleties that make your company distinctive and what your customers purchase.
How can I as an entrepreneur make the greatest and best use of my time?
Assume you require cardiac surgery. Will you be going to the primary care doctor? or professional training, perhaps? Obviously not! The greatest cardiac surgeon you can find will be what you search for on Google. Why? Because they are damn-near perfect at what they do and have specific knowledge in delivery.
The same applies and is true for any marketing company or other operating position you can hire out to free up time so you can focus on developing your company. As an entrepreneur, you first take on a variety of tasks, including marketing, operations, product management, human resources, and accounting. As your business expands, you hire others to fill these positions since they are simply superior to you. You're losing money by not employing outside help for these roles, believe it or not (opportunity cost of not using your highest value skillset).
What actually matters is where you are in your life cycle, what you can afford, and your existing skill set. To determine which direction you should be leaning, decide on these three factors and take into account the questions above. This should significantly reduce agency turnover and, more critically, the loss of valuable growth time.
If you're just starting out, you should look for someone who can produce 80% of the outcomes of a top-tier firm. Every agency with fewer than 15 employees will only concentrate on two to three services. Consider employing many companies, each of which specializes in a distinct function. As an entrepreneur, you first take on a variety of tasks, including marketing, operations, product management, human resources, and accounting. As your business expands, you hire others to fill these positions since they are simply superior to you. What matters is where you are in your life cycle, what you can afford, and your existing skill set.