I started my adventure with internet marketing in 2008 as an employee at a company. Soon, I realized that the industry was evolving. In 2010, I started a consulting business with my sister and others, and we offered search engine optimization (SEO) services, social media advertising and sponsored advertising on Google AdWords.
The beginnings of internet marketing were tough. Everyone tried their hand at it, tried to do their job as well as they could. But since there was not much theoretical knowledge about advertising on the internet, in books or in press articles, the only effective way to enter the market was by trial and error. Everyone learned their craft in practice. Many people were banned or had their accounts closed for breaking the rules. Things like that happened. It was vital to learn to act, despite adversities, and to anticipate the consequences of one’s actions.
Through these experiences, I’ve grown to understand how a good marketing agency operates. There are steps potential clients should follow before hiring an agency in order to ensure they have the best experience possible.
Get Recommendations From Facebook Group Members
If you are looking for recommendations, it is worth trying to get them by asking members of marketing groups, such as on Facebook. The more different your offers to consider, the better, because relying on a single opinion is not advisable.
One should take into account that there are no ideal agencies and there will always be an unhappy customer, so ask about the reasons for any dissatisfaction. Something seen as a disadvantage for one — for example, frequent meetings — might not be a problem for another.
Require A Portfolio
The agency’s effectiveness in the market is as good as its portfolio is. In addition to gaining knowledge about the brands with which the agency has worked, it is worth finding out how long the cooperation lasted. Do not judge only the logo placed on the agency’s website — the Audi logo does not necessarily mean that it belongs to the manufacturer of this brand, but could rather belong to a local Audi dealer.
Think about which agency you want to work with. If you decide that you want an agency that has a portfolio filled by only well-known brands, you have to reckon with the fact that you will pay much more than if you were to choose to work with an agency that has a portfolio with smaller brands.
The first agency type likely invests in the training of its employees, has advanced reporting systems and manages multidimensional campaigns. Agencies of such type rely more on internal operating procedures. Because of that, they are often less flexible. On the other hand, small agencies with modest portfolios might not function based on hard procedures and are usually characterized by having less experience. Working with the smaller budgets of their clients, they might not try to take care of the tiniest details.
Negotiate A Contract
It should never happen that the agency creates its contract template and you, as its customer, are not able to change it. You should pay attention to the length of the notice period. A period of three months is standard. What’s more, you ought to be able to change the arrangements by email, as it can be troublesome to send letters each time you change something in the contract.
Start With A Small Budget
When starting cooperation with an agency, deliberately adopt a small budget to assess its quality on this basis. Agencies often encourage customers to make large investments, justifying this by the fact that more money is needed to make sales, higher commissions and more spectacular results. It is worthwhile to do a quick test of how the agency is coping with small financial outlays from the outset.
Expect Transparency
An agency that conceals the secrets of its know-how and does not share details of its activities with the client should arouse immediate suspicions. An agency’s actions should be transparent and should not make the company’s results dependent on them. You ought to be as well-informed as possible about how and why your advertising campaigns are conducted in a specific way.
If you’re deciding to buy a service — sponsored advertisements in Google Ads, for instance — the agency should give you the access to the Ads panel. Even an intermediate employee will be able to check whether the agency is realizing its agreed-upon strategy within the time limits to which it has committed itself. Additionally, you will have information on the amount of commission the agency collects to handle the entire campaign.
When it comes to SEO services, you should have information on how links to your website are collected, what kind of links are collected and why.
Use Independent Tools
If possible, use independent tools to monitor the effectiveness of your campaign. Of course, start with free Google tools — familiarize yourself with Google Analytics, Google Ads and Google Search Console. After the installation of these apps, 15 minutes is enough to pull out the basics for your reporting. You can then react to the situation in a case where the agency is not informing you on the processes or on the negative results of their campaign. It can also motivate the agency you’re working with.
When working with a marketing agency, always adhere to the rule: trust but control. Carefully check the agency’s portfolio, including whether previous clients of the agency are satisfied. It is obvious that, in order to get the contract, the agency will likely boast about its achievements. But you should always verify these achievements and expectations in depth before moving forward.