How do you pick the right online marketing agency to work with?

With so many options, how do you know what marketing firm to hire for your needs? Here are some questions you can ask yourself when evaluating marketing firms.

1. Does this marketing agency understand business?

Find out if the people at the firm understand business. Unfortunately, many marketing agencies are more interested in winning awards, in being randomly creative, or in making a philosophical statement than in seeing clients achieve their goals. You need to know if they understand the business world. Do they know the pressures of making payroll, of working every sale, of serving clients’ seemingly endless needs? Do they know what you are going through? Are they motivated to see you succeed?

2. Do they understand your customers?

Marketing is about communicating ideas and motivating action. For effective communicating, you need to understand the customers. You need to understand what their goals are, what their motivations are, and what their fears are. You need to get into their head so that the messages you send in your marketing (both blatant and subtle) are the messages that motivate the right kind of action. You need to find a marketing firm that wants to understand your customers. If you speak with someone from a marketing firm and they don’t ask about your customers, then walk away…

3. Can the marketing agency work with your budget?

Some firms will not even talk to you if you are not willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. Find out if the firm works with people in your budget range before you waste any of your time with them. Once you do start talking with them, make sure they stay within the budget you gave them.

4. Does the marketing agency have a long view?

Smart marketing firms want repeat business. There are two ways to get this. One is to give a great effort and empower the client in a way that gains their trust and confidence. The other is to take all the marketing and advertising power away from the client and hope that a dependent relationship is created. Find out what kind of marketing firm you are working with. Do they want to educate you about online advertising and web site design best practices? Or do they want to keep it all a mysterious secret so you become dependent on their expertise. Watch out if they seem resistant to educate you on how the process works.

5. Does the marketing agency understand the Web?

Many marketing agencies have a superficial understanding of the Web. If their idea of web marketing is to put up a brochure-like website with a telephone number and an email address, and then run a few keyword campaigns, then they really don’t get it. To be successful on the Web you need more. You need to understand the way users think and interact with the Internet. You need to understand the different audiences that will interact with the Web. You need to know the different ways clients will research and analyze the business. Online marketing is a whole new world, and if you are going to hire someone they better know what they are doing.

6. Does the marketing agency care too much about awards?

Some agencies care a lot about awards. Avoid these firms like the plague. Many website awards are given for the prettiest and most innovative web design, but these fancy-pants web pages don’t necessarily convert. And conversion is what making the bottom line is all about. Keep away from any firm that seems to justify themselves behind creative awards. Creative works of art are not bad, but alone they don’t necessarily make money.

7. Will you be a small fish to them?

Some marketing firms have a few big clients that take up 90% of their time and a few small clients that split the rest of the time. Make sure your marketing firm will have time to work on your projects. Find out how many clients they work with and who their clients are. If they sound like huge never-ending projects that will suck the life out of the marketing firm; then they probably are.

8. Does the marketing agency have access to the right mix of skills and knowledge?

When the marketing firm lays out their proposed strategy, find out who they are going to have do the work. Many firms outsource much of their work to partners and vendors. This is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the best way to find the best talent for a specific need. But if they are honest they should tell you. If they try to pretend that the work is all in-house when it is not, this is a good way to weed out the dishonest firms.

10. Is the marketing agency baiting you?

Make sure the marketing firm is not baiting you with a lowball offer. Many firms think that if they start working on your site, and then run out of money and have to ask for more, that the clients will have no choice but to pay up. Make sure the marketing firm will sign on to deliver very clear deliverables in a certain timeframe. And try to create real penalties if the dates or cost estimates are not met. If they do not accept penalties, offer a reward for finishing early. Sometimes a carrot is worth more than a stick.

11. Will the marketing agency listen to you? Do they want your input?

Some marketing and design experts think they are all-knowing experts about the Web. They will not bother to get to know you, your customers, your business, or your cultural background. This is a big mistake. Part of creating a unique identity for clients is in understanding the brand that the client has built. Make sure your marketing firm wants to know about you and your business. Make sure they want to hear your input. If they act like you are bothering them with your simple-minded concepts, then walk away. It is not worth it.

12. Will the marketing agency add any expertise or insight? Will you learn from them?

Finally, make sure it is a win-win experience for you and the marketing firm. You should learn from working with them. If you already knew everything they had to offer, then you would not need to hire them. Make sure to learn something new from them in every meeting. Otherwise you are not getting your money’s worth.