5 Questions To Ask Before Hiring A Marketing Partner

In previous posts I’ve discussed certain challenges some business owners and creatives can face when working together, and methods for overcoming those challenges. But in this post, I want to talk about a few questions you should ask yourself before hiring a marketing partner that may avoid issues down the road.

Business relationships can be difficult sometimes, and most people will tell you good communication is always the key to success. Working with vendors or business partners is no different. Before any search can begin, ask yourself these questions to set some baselines for your relationship, needs and expectations.

Are you open minded?

One of the most common causes of disagreement between entrepreneurs and agency partners comes from point-of-view.

Most business owners have a clear understanding and definition of their brand, but this point-of-view mostly comes from an internal perspective. Owners and entrepreneurs are closely attached to every aspect of their business, therefore their perceptions are often shaped by daily, internal interactions.

Hiring an outside marketing partner means you’re looking for an objective viewpoint. Someone who can view your brand through a different lens. The challenge with this is that it can sometimes reveal hard truths people don’t want to face or even hear.

Accepting from the beginning that you’re probably going to hear things you disagree with is the first step in starting a relationship off on the right track.

2. What are your expectations?

I’ve said many times, ‘marketing’ is starting with the end in mind. Not only is this true for any campaign, it’s also the foundation of any agency relationship.

Before researching and interviewing potential agency partners, make sure you have a clearly defined set of expectations for the relationship. This should include everything from administration and workflow, to budget management, communication and performance metrics for their engagement. If you have any previous agency relationships — good or bad — you should also discuss how this affected your business and either exceeded your expectations or fell short.

The point is, starting a business relationship with as few assumptions as possible makes it easier to keep all parties accountable — weeks or even months later when efforts might not be meeting their goals.

3. What experience is important to you?

How do you define qualified experience? In other words, what relative experience are you looking for in order to determine if your marketing partner understands your industry or brand?

In my experience, I’ve had clients tell me they don’t think I’m a good fit because I haven’t worked with any companies in their industry. Viewing this as a barrier is a common myth that many business leaders believe, but the fact is, it’s more of a benefit.

Selecting a marketing partner should be based on their overall experience and work they’ve done for ALL clients. Seeking out an agency that only does work in your industry can be counterintuitive because you’re not getting the benefit of fresh perspectives. In fact, you may be getting cookie-cutter solutions that lack the individuality you should be expecting.

Remember, the whole point of marketing your business is to make you STAND OUT. Not look like someone else.

4. How involved do you expect to be?

The best ideas come from collaboration, and working with a marketing partner takes a hands-on approach. However, this can sometimes be difficult to find the right balance.

It’s important to be engaged in the process and have clear communication with your team, but you also need to allow them the flexibility and independence to do what you hired them to do in the first place. Trying to micromanage the process or continually shifting direction will lead to frustration on both sides.

The best approach is to establish certain milestones and engagement up front. This might include campaign ‘kickoff’ meetings and brainstorming. Then there will likely be a series of reviews during the creative process and opportunities to check in and provide feedback and direction.

It’s important to be part of the process, but not so engaged your marketing team feels suffocated.

5. Are you accessible?

Marketing is a deadline-driven business and your marketing team’s time is as valuable as your own. Being available and accessible to your agency is critical to meeting deadlines.

So often, I see marketing teams put together very comprehensive and detailed projects and timelines with milestones, owned tasks, and deadlines for deliverables, only to be completely derailed by the client being unavailable for reviews or approvals.

Understand that hiring an outside marketing partner can be a serious demand on your time, and with all the other things business owners have to get done, this can sometimes seem like an unexpected burden.

During your agency interview process, be sure to make clear how much time you expect to have available, and also the number of hours they anticipate they will need from you each week.

Set these expectations up front, because I can guarantee this is one of the main frustrations I’ve seen between clients and agencies that causes a breakdown in the relationship, and slows down the workflow.

Finding the right fit

The perfect client/agency relationship isn’t something that happens overnight and it might take some trial and error to find the right fit.

There are so many factors that contribute to a long and healthy partnership with a marketing firm, and much of this has to do with trust. Always keep in mind that your marketing team has a vested interest in the success of your business, but they can’t do it alone.

Asking these questions upfront will help you clearly define your expectations and set the terms for any successful — and possibly — long-term relationship.