4 Key Things To Look For in a Marketing Agency

Doing business with a marketing company is more than a simple transaction. 

It’s a creative pursuit that requires your input and insight, with the intention to grow your home service business. 

Choosing someone you trust and hear good things about is a no brainer, but it’s still hard to hand over your hard earned marketing money to someone new. 

Sure, you can read testimonials and ask others for advice. But there’s more you can do to find the right fit in a marketing agency. 

Here’s what to look for:

1. You can view metrics on your own terms

Every business owner has an idea of the metrics they want to see when they’re working on growing their business…and those vary widely. Ask if you can see the metrics that are most important to you. 

Never forget it is possible for you to understand exactly what the return on your marketing investment is. Data from your CRM + call data from your marketing company can get you real numbers. 

This data is pure gold. It enables you to make data based decisions and how your marketing company can grow your business with you- ultimately saving you money and scaling your business faster.

2. Not just a vendor

Your time is money. When you call your agency, you want to have your contact name and number saved in your phone and speak to the same person without being transferred around or bounced between account managers every few months.

Your contact understands your type of business and the challenges you face on the daily. 

They’re easy to talk to and want to collaborate on the success of your business. Working with them is fun, and you feel good about your conversation after you’ve hung up.

3. No cookie cutters

Choose someone that gives you multiple options and discusses the pros and cons of those options openly with you.

Marketing investments require strategy- and strategy requires options. 

There are reasons why marketing agencies have a bad reputation. Besides burying you with reporting to hide lackluster results or not communicating, the “set it and forget it” mentality is all too common.

Instead of setting your account up on a generic system and forgetting about you until you hit them up, find an agency that outlines your options and makes recommendations based on their expertise, formulating a plan that’s tailored to your business, your location, and your growth goals. 

And also follows up on this plan with you often, revising if needed.

This is true collaboration.

4. A plan with wiggle room

Growing a home service company is a fluid venture. It requires a strategic plan with the ability to change quickly to adapt to your needs.

Adding a service line?

Going into another service area, or leaving another?

You get the gist- things change fast when you’re scaling. Find an agency that is adaptable, nimble and can implement these changes quickly. 

Often this means meeting with them every few months to review results from the previous quarter, and adjusting the plan to meet the needs of the upcoming quarter. 

Of course you should hear from them about once a week with a quick update on the work being completed- kind of like a friend would check in on you if they were the ones helping you out.

When they focus on your growth first, you’ll know you’ve found the right one. Your results will show it, too.

2023 is your year

With a little knowledge and the ability to know your true ROI, you can make the right decision when you’re looking to retain the services of a marketing agency. 

Take a few minutes to consider what’s most important to you before signing that contract!