5 Questions to Ask When Vetting Marketing Companies in Southern California

Hiring a marketing company is not a decision you should take lightly, as the team you bring on board can greatly impact how your business grows. While partnering with the right team can multiply your profits, engaging the wrong team can have the opposite results.

To help make the hiring process stress-free, here are five questions to ask marketing companies in Southern California before you sign on the dotted line:

1. Do You Operate as a Full-Service Company?

Marketing doesn’t operate in a vacuum. It’s interdisciplinary. If you want to ensure that your marketing efforts are well-rounded, you need to work with someone who can do it all.

When considering an agency, ask if they can assist you with a variety of services. It is also crucial for your marketing assets (social media content, web content, video, etc.) to have a degree of cohesiveness, which is more likely when you have a single agency devoted to the job. The old adage of “too many cooks spoil the broth” holds true in this case.

Ideally, the agency should be able to provide the following services:

• Website design, development, and hosting
• Branding
• Digital marketing
• Media buying
• Video marketing
• Social media marketing
• Copywriting and content writing
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Identifying the KPIs and other metrics and monitoring performance

2. What Are the Industries You Work With?

It’s important for you to know whether the marketing agency you are choosing to work with is familiar with the industry in which you operate. For example, if a marketing agency exclusively works with B2B software as a service companies, it may not be possible for them to provide you with quality advice for your D2C business. The more familiar the agency is with your industry, the better it will be able to support your company.

If you notice that the marketing company doesn’t know much about your industry or the businesses they have worked with in the past are not remotely similar to yours, they may not be able to work out the right strategies to help you succeed. While it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should reject them right away, it is worth making note of.

3. Which Channels Do You Recommend Focusing On?

You want to choose a marketing company that is devoted to delivering the best advice to help your business grow. A great way to assess the attitude of the agency is by asking them about their strategy up front.

You don’t want to work with a client that provides you with generic advice you could find yourself with a quick Google search. That would be a waste of everyone’s time and money.

The first meeting is the perfect time to check how well versed they are with trends. The ideal marketing company should be able to pinpoint exactly which avenues you should explore for your business and also help you understand the differences between each of them. They should also highlight trends and tactics they believe will successfully attract your target audience and why.

In other words, you want to pick an agency that knows what it’s doing.

4. How and How Often Do You Communicate With Your Clients?

Communication is a vital aspect of working with anyone, especially when you engage a marketing company. The communication style conveys a lot about how much a particular agency values its clients.

Get into the nitty gritty right from the start. Inquire if there is a standard communication protocol that they follow with clients. Check if there are regular calls or update emails to keep the client abreast of work progress. Ask if there is a specific point of contact within the company who you can reach out to in case of any questions or concerns.

This is also an excellent opportunity to check whether the company you are considering fits your personality and management style. If you value open and honest communication above everything else, it may not be the right decision to engage a team that communicates sporadically.

While you certainly don’t want to micro-manage, you also want to be kept updated about significant developments. After all, it’s your business, and any change in the strategy can directly impact your bottom line. So you want to exercise as much caution as possible.

5. Do You Handle All Work In-House, or Do You Outsource?

Some marketing companies often hire third-party service providers to handle segments of the work. If the agency you plan to work with engages outside help, you should know it up front.

While engaging the services of an entity that is better at doing a part of the work is not a deal-breaker, you want to work with a company closely and have a single point of contact. The higher the number of people involved with your account, the greater the risk of miscommunication. Ultimately, this can impact the work and stray from the initial goals you set.

Moreover, some companies only operate on an outsourcing model. They earn a retainer from the business and also take a referral fee once they get another company or individual involved. Not only is this model not sustainable in the long run, but it also raises questions about the credibility and quality of work.

The goal should be to work with a company that will do the job from start to finish. You’ll always know who to contact if there’s an issue to be managed or a change to be made.

Are You Looking for a Marketing Company to Take Your Business to the Next Level?

Now that you know what goes into vetting marketing companies in Southern California, it’s time to engage one to take care of your marketing needs.

Meet InnoVision, the anti-agency. We believe in providing the best brand experience for our clients. We take time to understand what your business is all about and what your end goals are. Our innovative marketing strategies deliver results and help your business reach where you aspire to be. Reach out to us today and let us show you how we can take your business to the next level.