Whether you’re weighing up an internal hire versus engaging a marketing agency, or you’re concerned about the performance of your own marketing endeavours, it’s not always clear when and why you should take the leap.
Now I get it. Any advice from a marketing agency is going to be perceived as biased or as having an ulterior motive, but believe it or not, there are times when hiring an agency isn’t right for you or your business. Equally, there are times when you need to engage an agency, but you don’t have the foundation or process in place to ensure that engagement provides great value for money.
So, on that note, this blog isn’t purely about when you should engage an agency; it also identifies how to successfully engage a marketing agency.
When do you need to hire a marketing agency?
Knowing when to engage an agency or take a leap to a new one is usually aided by a combination of signs, symptoms, or pressure points.
Your growth has stagnated or is unpredictable
If you don’t feel you’re in control of your growth, whether that’s because leads or sales are inconsistent, or because what has worked previously no longer cuts the mustard, then a fresh, experienced perspective is often needed.
What we typically see with clients is that their internal skill sets only get them so far, as in what they are maximising what they can do. By recognising the additional or complementary skills of a marketing agency, the client has a broader range of levers to pull, helping them reach the next level.
Marketing appears reactive and unplanned
If your marketing activity is driven by conversations like ‘we should probably boost that on Facebook, or your campaigns are last-minute panics based on competitor promotions, then having an agency at your helm can help ensure your marketing runs like clockwork.
Similarly, having no clear rationale as to why something is being done, may mean that while you’re “doing marketing” there’s no evidence to suggest that it is the right type of marketing. With the right objectives in place, marketing agencies can provide rationale, performance reporting, and planning for your marketing efforts.
You have a need for more specific skills
This typically happens when you need depth of knowledge, not just hands-on deck. Whether that’s SEO, videography, online advertising, or web development, consistently delivering quality outputs across the board often requires expertise that generalists or business owners don’t typically have. A marketing agency will include skills across different facets of marketing, so you can be more confident that the quality of each marketing tactic or channel is high and aligned with your brand.
Alongside this, is the question of capacity. If your internal team is stretched but you need more reliable outputs, outsourcing parts of your marketing functions to an agency makes sense.
Your brand no longer reflects your business
The business has developed over time, yet the brand identity remains unchanged. As a result, it sounds similar to competitors, making it difficult to stand out. The value propositions lack clarity and consistency across various channels, leaving sales teams struggling to effectively communicate what sets the brand apart.
It’s at this point that a good marketing agency that understands strategy, messaging and brand positioning can come to your rescue.
The cost of getting it wrong is high
When confidence in making the right decision matters, an agency will help you avoid risk and provide industry insights and expertise to avoid catastrophe. Whether the potential downside is reputational damage, internal scrutiny, or simply no results, a solid marketing agency will help provide the intel and strategy to ensure you scale with confidence.
How to successfully engage a marketing agency
Once you’ve decided to hire a marketing agency, for that agency to deliver the results you want and for the engagement to be as beneficial as possible, I would also suggest spending some time defining the following.
Be clear on the problem before the solution
So often we hear what the channel or output should be, whereas being presented with a problem or challenge ahead of that decision, will provide a marketing agency with the framing needed to pick the right tool for the job.
Instead of focusing solely on defining the tactic, it’s important to consider your problem (or goals). Are you trying to grow, stabilise, reposition, or defend your market share? Additionally, identify whether the issue lies in awareness, conversion, retention, or efficiency.
This shifts the engagement from an output focus (eg. Social media advertising) to an outcome (increase online sales), which ultimately you want marketing to achieve.
Set commercial objectives, not just tactical goals
Following on quite neatly from this is defining how the marketing agency and/or the campaign will be measured. Whether that’s the impact on revenue, or the number of quality leads, having clear definitions of success or failure will help you and your marketing agency focus on what’s important.
Success can be measured in many ways, but if you and your agency have different interpretations, then that increases the risk of the campaign failing.
Be transparent about the budget
Agencies often design strategies around various constraints, and one significant challenge we face is hidden budgets. This can lead to mismatched expectations between clients and agencies.
Achieving clarity in budgeting is crucial, as it enables effective prioritisation rather than over-engineering solutions that may not align with the project’s goals. Ultimately, budgeting isn’t solely about managing costs; it’s also about maintaining focus on the key objectives that drive a successful outcome.
And while I know there is some apprehension on sharing a budget out of fear the agency will just rinse what’s required. A good marketing agency will be able to benchmark and estimate what can be achieved with your budget. Making sure not only are the deliverables realistic but so are the expected outcomes.
Accept the role of subject-matter expert
Marketing agencies know marketing inside out, and engaging one doesn’t mean that they automatically know everything about your business and industry. So rather than anticipating a fairly hands-off experience, instead anticipate and accept the need for collaboration.
You know your business better than anyone else, we marketing agencies know how to turn that into powerful messaging. The best outcomes come from partnering and collaborating, rather than simple delegation.
Clearly define your audience and their pain points
Following on quite nicely from the previous point, is the need to share research or intel around your key audience groups and their pain points.
What do your customers think of you? What do they like, or dislike? Why do people choose you over your competitors and vice versa? What feedback do you receive through customer service or technical support channels?
It’s time to define your audiences and group these insights so your new marketing agency has a solid starting point rather than relying on guesswork.
Commit to process, feedback and momentum
To deliver great work that meets the objectives of the whole business, it’s imperative that key decision-makers are accessible and able to provide timely, constructive feedback. So many frustrations and unnecessary delays appear when decision makers are unavailable, or worse, are not on-board with what’s happening.
Once a campaign is up and running, ensure you have regular check-ins with the agency to share data or updates that they don’t have access to. For example, if the campaign delivered 100 leads, how many of them were ‘qualified’ or ‘good quality’?
Know who’s going to be working on your account
Finally, you don’t want to go through this entire process and build rapport with someone, only to find you’ll never see them again once the account has been awarded to their agency.
You should have confidence that the people the marketing agency provides for your account are people you can work with, but also that they have the skills, knowledge and experience to confidently deliver to your standards and expectations.
Structure, clarity and confidence
When done right, engaging a marketing agency makes absolutely sense. Rather than quick fixes or outsourcing responsibilities, agencies should bring structure, clarity and confidence to decisions that impact your business’ revenue.
