Marketing Company Selection – What to Consider
Not every marketing company is the same and you will find that most try to sell themselves as the best. It makes a big difference which marketing company you choose and as such you will need to sort through their various offerings to determine which one is best for you. That being said, here are four things to keep in mind when it comes time for choosing a marketing company for your business.
- Services offered by the marketing solutions company
- Company size
- Marketing budget
- Specialization
When Choosing a Marketing Company, Consider the Services Offered
This one is fairly straight forward. If you are looking for a specific service, make sure that the marketing company you choose actually offers those services. However, there is an additional factor to keep in mind. If you plan on branching out into other areas, make sure that company offers those as well.
For example, if you choose a company that offers pay-per-click services but will likely need back link services in the near future, make sure they offer both. This way you can keep all your marketing efforts under one umbrella. Even if you do not plan on using the company for more than one service, it is always good to make sure that they offer numerous marketing services. This way you know they are experienced and have additional offerings in case you change your mind in the future.
Company Size
There are two aspects to the company size. The first is the size of the marketing company and the other is the size of your company. If you are a small business, then choosing a company that handles small business is going to be your best choice. If you are a Fortune 500 company, then choosing a one-man freelance company in a foreign country is not likely going to work. When choosing a marketing company, select one that is large enough to have experience with the services you want, but small enough to handle all your concerns on a personal level.
Marketing Budget
Your marketing budget is going to affect the company you choose. However, the cost of services should never deter you from choosing a marketing solutions company. Confused? Let me explain further. The principle of “you get what you pay for” applies in this case. If you have a small budget, you should still go with a quality marketing solutions company, even if it cost you more than hiring a freelancer on Elance or freelancer. Why? Because you will get what you pay for.
A great example is content writing. For years, Google rewarded websites for strategically placing keywords in their content. This sparked a revolution by where companies would charge as little as $1 for a keyword stuffed article to post on their site. The problem is that the article was of such poor quality that no one would stay on the page long enough to read it. Google has caught up to this trick and altered its algorithms (actually introduced a new algorithm – Hummingbird) to now reward quality. The result? Many sites using cheap article writers have received penalties that include being dropped from search results. So, not only did the cheap articles result in no return, they actually had a negative impact that harmed the websites that displayed them. Many of them are still trying to recover.
Specialization
A final thought to keep in mind is if the marketing solutions company you are looking at has any type of specialization. An example would be connecting their clients to journalists to get them featured in newspapers and magazines, email marketing specialty, or they are experts in a various field of marketing (PPC, content writing, etc.). Having a company with a specialization can be beneficial if that specialization is the service you need. If not, choosing a company that does specialize in various services shows that they are committed to the field of marketing and will likely be able to help you no matter what services you need.
