Partnering with the wrong marketing agency can lead to wasted time and money, a risk that many Industrial and SMEs face. The challenge lies in the abundance of poor marketing agencies and the fact that, as a Small company with limited budget, you may still be refining your product-market fit and identifying your ideal customer. This uncertainty is perfectly normal and can take time to resolve.
When companies hire a marketing agency to tackle their growth challenges without having clear goals or targets, they often end up with generic marketing activities that may not effectively address their specific needs.
For Small industrial manufacturing and B2B companies, it is my advise that to first gain a foundational understanding of your business and its marketing requirements. This knowledge will empower you to better identify the right agency to partner with and manage effectively. By taking the time to clarify your objectives and strategies, you’ll be in a stronger position to ensure that your marketing efforts align with your overall business goals.
Deciding the requirement list
Firstly, you should know what you what from the marketing agency. Where you stand in terms of your own marketing and where you want to reach. So based on that you should start your research. Divide the requirements list based on the activities like SEO, content writing, paid marketing, sales outreach or social media marketing. Once you know the activiities start your research.
Below are the few ways on how you can start your research:
- Google search
- Recommendations by industry experts on social media platforms
- Referrals
Once you shortlist few agencies, it time to finalize the one you can select based on the point mentioned in the remaining part of the blog.
Go through the agency website
This step might take longer, as you need to analyse the website of the agency carefully. Take a look at their website and check the reviews and testimonials. Make sure that the agency is reputable and you deal with quality service provider from the start. Make sure the agency shows samples of work they offer and have the capacity to deliver on the promises.
Tips to look out for in the website:
- Overall website design
- Past work and testimonials
- Display of the core domain knowledge
- Reviews and Ratings
- Specific case studies
The niche should be similar to your industry
Look for agencies with experience in your industry. Familiarity with your niche can be beneficial as the agency will better understand your target audience and competition. This will help agency relate with your objective better and understand your problems. The agency understanding the niche better can easily scale and grow the work they are doing.
Team Expertise
Assess the expertise of the agency’s team members. A diverse team with specialists in different areas of digital marketing can provide a comprehensive strategy. If you have a strong product, then the agency can help you tell a story and build a strategy around it. Some of the qualities to look out are:
- Honesty
- Work ethic
- Communication
- Work quality
- Speed
- Experience
Look out for the team members’ personal Linkedin accounts to learn more about their qualities.
Real Conversations
Communication is key. Choose an agency that is transparent, communicates effectively, and provides regular reports on the performance of your campaigns. Once you get to a point when you are meeting them, try and judge by the way they are conversing with you. Having “Real conversations is the key”. There are a lot of agencies who are giving superficial promises and focus on vanity metrics just to win the deal.
The Budget expectations
The last and main point in choosing a marketing agency is to consider the budget as per your expectations. Based on their past or existing clients, you can judge how much they might have spent on the agency. Make sure you set your expectations right from the start so that you dont have to waste time in negotiations at the later end of the discussion.
It is rare to find an agency that actually helps you grow your business and be a partner with your business goals. The trend which I recently observed is the concept of “Fractional CMO”. A Fractional CMO is an expert in the field of marketing and has proven skills in the industry. They have executed successfully executed marketing campaigns for other customers like you and can help you as well. They can help you train your in-house marketing staff and get things done as per the expectation of the your company.
