Navigating the marketing sphere can be overwhelming, especially for most business owners based in Chicago. Most of them need a trustworthy and competent digital partner to boost their brand recognition and manage their online marketing demand and presence.
However, the growing number of marketing agencies in recent years has made selecting the best one daunting. It doesn’t help to learn that some of these agencies are crooks looking to drain your marketing budgeting and not deliver on their responsibilities.
Thus, to help ease the selection process for you, we recommend certain tips to implement when choosing a top marketing agency that will deliver. Please read through this post, as it will explain to the best of your understanding all the insights that need to be implemented when choosing a marketing agency. So, let’s get started!
1. Understand Your Goals and Budget
As a business based in a very competitive environment like Chicago, the first thing you should do before even commencing a search for a marketing agency Chicago is define your goals and budget.
Are you looking to boost your brand recognition? Drive more visitors to your e-commerce website? Get more social media attention and followers? By how much? And in what time frame? These questions should drive your business objective and expectations, which you will later project to your potential marketing agency.
Equally important is that you have a budget designated for marketing initiatives. The budget is usually determined as a percentage of annual revenue. If your company, service, or product is new to the market, the first-year marketing budget should be considerably higher than in year two and beyond. Therefore, you need to put all the factors into consideration. Remember, a good marketing agency works with a reasonable budget and sets your expectations accordingly.
2. Conduct Immense Research
After your business has defined its goals, it is time to search for the best marketing agency. There may be numerous marketing agencies in Chicago, some scammers while others true to their word, but determining who is who can be challenging.
Create a list of roughly ten best-heard or known marketing agencies in town and conduct deep research on them. Review each agency’s website, marketing content, and social media pages to get a feel for what each agency is about and whether they might be your best partner.
Be sure to get an idea of each agency’s core capabilities – are they a web development company? An SEO-based agency or a full-service agency? Do they provide social media marketing? Lead generation?
Also, do they have industry-specific experience? Then, use the data that you have gathered to narrow down the list to five best candidates that align with your business expectations and top priorities and reach out to each of them to engage in a conversation. Check off your list of the agencies that do not get back to you promptly, as they are probably not worth your time.
3. Evaluate Communication and Collaboration
Effective and efficient communication plays a key role in determining how successful the partnership you are about to establish with your marketing agency is going to be. You wouldn’t want to go wrong on this.
Therefore, when considering the list of your favorite candidates available in Chicago, it is key you keenly assess their communication styles and willingness to collaborate with your internal marketing team. You can base your rating of them on these areas based on how attentive they are to your needs, what amount of time it takes for them to reply to you, and through which tone they reply to you, harsh or soft.
Also, during the initial meeting, you can use the opportunity to ask the marketing agencies further questions. However, the questions should be relevant and in line to reveal how collaborative they are and determine if they are the best agency to work with.
Ask to meet the team you will be working with, and let them explain how they create great working relationships with others. These aspects are key to evaluating their collaboration with your team.
4. Review Client Testimonials and References
In the meantime, as you process your feedback on each of your top marketing agency candidates and begin evaluating proposals, reach out to each agency and ask for references. All reputable marketing agencies in Chicago are eager to proudly showcase their portfolios of satisfied clients.
Thus, it will be easier for them to provide you with at least a few references, client testimonials, or case studies showcasing customer success.
Additionally, ask for references or supporting materials that are in line with your business objective and audience. Then, contact each agency’s references so that you can get some simple feedback about working with each group.
5. Consider Cultural Fit
When choosing a marketing agency, it is key to consider cultural fit. Do not get me wrong, the marketing agency’s expertise, skills, and knowledge matter, but we can guarantee they will be of no greater use to your business marketing efforts if they don’t align with your culture.
Thus, though culture fit comes in as a last pulling string, it should also play a vital factor in determining who you choose to be your new or next business marketing agency.
You can employ various factors to guide you while considering cultural fit. These comprise observing the collaborative potential of the agency, understanding its mission and values, and evaluating its teams’ behaviors and work attitudes.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a top marketing agency in Chicago or anywhere in the world, we advise you to use these strategies as your guiding steps. They will help you, as a business owner, spot the best marketing agency for your business from a mile away.
Remember, the selection process is a very complicated task that you would rather avoid messing up.