You have completed your quest. After searching across the land, battling trolls, dueling with wizards and mastering the art of disguise, you have discovered the one. The mystical beast, as fabled as the unicorn. The holy grail. At last, you have found the right marketing agency for your company.
OK, it’s not as bad as all that, but to you, it sure felt like it. To find the perfect marketing agency, you had to conduct extensive research, attend local marketing and advertising functions and hammer out all the fine details over phone interviews and business lunches. After all, you recently terminated a relationship with a previous agency because of an absolutely terrible experience. There’s no room for another mistake.
But now that’s all over. You are confident in your decision and know this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Your coworkers may scoff, but you are 100% sure that you chose a marketing agency that meets your company’s exact requirements.
7 Signs You Chose the Right Marketing Agency
They Meet Agreed Upon Deadlines
It’s the start of another hectic work week, and you’re suffering from a serious case of the Mondays. You are quite literally drowning in emails, your phone is ringing constantly and you have back to back meetings all afternoon. Even cat videos aren’t improving your mood.
Then, right after spilling your triple, venti, half sweet, non-fat caramel macchiato all over a super important presentation, you realize a blog post is due first thing tomorrow. You’re worried that your marketing agency forgot to write it. That would be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
That’s when your agency calls, letting you know that your blog post is finished ahead of schedule. They reassure you everything is taken care of, and you sigh in relief. That’s one less thing you have to worry about.
They Deliver Quality Content
Moments later, your account manager sends over the blog post. You click on the email with trepidation, prepared for the worst. The way your day is going, you wouldn’t be surprised if the blog post is an absolute mess.
What a pleasant surprise then when you end up loving the blog post! From introduction to conclusion, your eyes are glued to the screen. There’s not a grammatical error in sight, it communicates your marketing message clearly and keeps your ideal customer engaged and informed. Wait, isn’t that exactly what you asked for? You’re stunned into silence. Maybe, you can turn around this bad day after all…
They Track Their Time
The next day, your boss reaches out to you. He wants to know what that marketing agency is up to. How much time are they devoting to social media? And what about blog posts? How many are they publishing a week and how long are they taking on each one? He’s worried they’re not putting in the necessary time, that your company isn’t getting its money’s worth.
It takes you only seconds to print out the time tracking report the agency sent you. It shows the number of hours they’ve devoted to your account and breaks down that time by task.
Both you and your boss feel better knowing exactly how much time your agency is spending on your marketing efforts. Your boss congratulates you on picking an amazing agency and takes you out to lunch. You order the most expensive item on the menu because, hey, you deserve it.
They Respond Quickly
Later that week, you receive another blog post. It’s well-written, but you decide you want to go in a different direction. You call your account manager to let them know, but you receive their voicemail. You hope this won’t be a case of phone tag.
Not even an hour later, your account manager gets back to you. When you tell them about your idea for the blog post, they say it’s no issue at all to switch gears and will send the new post asap.
They Give You A Project Timeline
When you ask them how long the blog post will take, they actually have an answer. They say the blog post will be sent back to you by first thing tomorrow morning at the latest. You hang up the phone feeling pretty darn good. In fact, you might be able to leave work on time today!
They Have Valuable Suggestions and Ideas
During your weekly status update call with your account management team, you hear they have an awesome idea for a lead generation campaign to promote one of your newer service offerings. You’re interested, curiosity peaked, and cautiously ask them to detail this “great” campaign. You listen, getting excited because you know what? It’s a darn good idea and they have a plan of attack to get the campaign launched quickly. Finally, you’re getting the kind of strategic partnership you always heard existed but never quite believed to be true. You’re feeling quasi-euphoric at this point.
They Follow Through on Their Promises
Weeks go by, and you see your website move up in search engine results, your social media following increase substantially and a boost in website traffic. Your marketing agency delivered the improvements they believed to be possible and then some. You knew you made the right decision all along! This calls for a well-earned pat on the back.
The right marketing agency will not only deliver what they promised, they will exceed your expectations. They’ll minimize stress, offer solutions and enthusiastically remove burdens from your endless list of things to do. They don’t balk at change or out-of-left-field requests and make your life easier. This isn’t some magical company that exists only in movies or in witty blog posts, but rather a reputable and confident marketing partner who has proven time and time again their value to clients just like you. But you have to do a little panning to find the gold because choosing the wrong agency will only increase your headaches and burden of stress at work. A marketing agency should consistently meet deadlines, keep you updated on progress related to achieving your goals and bring you relief. They exist to help your company grow, not to create more hassles for you to manage.
Want to make this dream scenario your reality? Find an agency that satisfies your company’s needs with these 7 Tips for Selecting the Right Marketing Agency.
