Your business, big or small, deserves only the exceptional. It’s the only way it will thrive. Just like the staff you employ, the service providers you use must be highly skilled business that work to bring growth whether it’s through revenue, brand awareness or both. That’s why you need to ask yourself these 5 questions before choosing a marketing agency to do business with.

What value are they offering my business?

This question forms the basis of the rest of the questions. But first you need to know what you’re looking for in terms of value. It can be in the form of seamless communication and collaboration, or stimulation of revenue and brand awareness. What value is to you is anything you think will be a great benefit to your business. But how do you gauge whether a company can give you this value before doing business with them?

What do others say about the agency?

Good question. Businesses all around have mastered the art of selling, but have they mastered the art of delivering the service? The only way to know is by finding out what other business think of the agency, especially those that have employed the agency’s service. Usually online marketing agencies display several indicators that allow you to gauge how good they’ve been at delivering value to their clients. These can be anything from:

  • Published reviews
  • Portfolios
  • White papers
  • v

As such, you can read up on these items to find out more about how the agency has operated in the past. You can learn a great deal from this, which empowers you to make the right decision.

Is size an important factor?

Of course it is. But never think bigger is best. Big agency can often have an equally big client base, which may make you just a number. Size counts, but only the sense of capacity. So if the agency has a total of 15 employees, servicing a manageable client base, they’re more likely to give you more attention than 50 employees who oversee countless retainers. So it’s not really about the size of the company, but about capacity to manage your needs. Which brings us to the next question.

How do you identify if they’ll make me the apple of their eye?

One good way to tell is to find out how long most of their retainers last. This is obviously not the ultimate indicator of customer satisfaction, but from an outsiders perspective can give you an indication of how good they are. If retainers seem to last for a month or two and then get cancelled, you need to ask the agency why. As we mentioned before, this is not the ultimate indicator, so cancellation of retainers may be because of a number of reasons. However, asking the agency will give you a clear picture as to why they either have long lasting partnerships or short term commitments.

What services actually matter to my business?

Online businesses often suffer from the “I want it all” complex. They want to be everywhere, often neglecting to be where they should. This is all good and well, but your success online is dependent on the industry you’re in, and the industry you’re in won’t succeed in all online platforms. For example, strong B2B businesses won’t thrive on social media networks such as Instagram, because they’re targeting business executives who look for opportunities elsewhere such as LinkedIn.

So if this is the case, then you need to ask what services will actually matter to your online business. Once you identify those services, look to see if they’re offered by the agency. If they are, try and gauge how good that agency is at delivering those services you need particularly.