Remington Begg
There’s numerous studies and data to back up the claim that inbound marketing is the best way to reach modern consumers. Intrusive commercials and flyers in a mailbox are things of the past, yielding businesses less and less ROI every year. Today’s buyers want to find a company and become familiar with their product before choosing to make a purchase, so you need to make sure your company is the one they are building this relationship with. But just deciding that you’re ready to get started isn’t your final step. Where do you even begin?
First, you need to find a remarkable inbound marketing agency to handle your exciting new marketing for you. Not all agencies are created equal. Here’s a few helpful questions to start asking prospective agencies to help you narrow the field:
#1 Have You Worked With a Company Like Mine?
It could be very reassuring if the agency has a success story with a company similar to yours. Most agencies will tell you they can handle all of your marketing needs, but don’t move forward with your decision until you really feel confident in their track record. Even if they haven’t worked with a company exactly like yours, a company of a similar size, same industry, or comparable needs could be enough to make you feel sure of their work.
#2 What Do You Recommend We Do First, Second, and Third?
It’s been said that inbound marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. While a lot of inbound marketing is big picture, there still needs to be actionable steps laid out on how to get there. It can be incredibly difficult to do everything all at once, so it is important that your new agency is going to be able to take the time to understand your business goals and challenges and create a prioritized roadmap for how they can support you in this.
#3 How Does Your Agency Close the Loop?
A solid inbound marketing agency knows that it isn't just about blogging, SEO, social media, or giving you a new website. It's about tying all of these together in an entire ecosystem across different channels and forming a coherent strategy which delivers a provable ROI. They should then be able to tie every single Lead, customer, and dollar back to the marketing initiative that produced them. This is also referred to as Closed Loop Marketing.
#4 When Will We See Results?
This question is actually to weed out agencies that will over promise; there’s no definite answer to when you will see results. How frequently you post new blogs, the quality of your content, and your social media reach all affect how quickly you will begin to see a spike in traffic. Growing an audience and moving up in organic rankings can be a slow process, but it’s worth it when you have informed Leads converting to customers on a regular basis. It can often take six to twelve months to see this type of result.
#5 How Often Will We Interact?
It’s important to have similar expectations goings into this type of long-term working relationship. Be sure to tell them you want to have regular check-ins and know exactly what work is being done for your brand and why. It doesn’t have to be once a week or even bi-weekly, just make sure it’s a schedule you both agree and understand the time commitment of both parties. This will be beneficial to moving forward with your marketing strategies.
The decision to hire an inbound marketing agency is a very exciting, yet important decision, and not one to be taken lightly. Choose poorly, and you may just spend months wasting money and seeing poor results. Choose wisely and you will be entering into a successful long-term relationship where the agency becomes your trusted partner and delivers quality work.
To best choose an inbound marketing agency, you should first understand the ins and outs of inbound marketing. Download our free eBook The Beginner’s Guide to Inbound Marketing and give yourself a solid foundation for choosing an agency that will best sut your needs.
