You’ve found the perfect business idea and can’t wait to get started. You have everything in place. Now all you need is for customers to know about your awesome service! So you start looking at marketing but get swamped by the number of do-it-yourself packages or agencies out there. What do you do? How do you get your voice heard?
1. Understanding Your Needs
Surprisingly, the first and most important step is a step back. Take a look at what your priorities are for your business. What are your preferred clients? What are the problems your business is solving for these clients? What advantages do you have over your competitors? These are all questions you need to ask yourself so you can know what agency will best suit your needs.
2. Research Your Options
Next, you need to look at what agencies are available. Are you looking to hire locally? Or maybe a more nationally established agency? Each comes with its advantages and disadvantages. Nationwide will have a large presence if that’s what you’re after, but local businesses will know your area and be more available to work with you in person than a larger organization. Also, researching reviews on agencies and their work will be a help. While most agencies deal with various clients and businesses, you’ll be able to see what they typically work on and their styles and see if it aligns with your vision.
3. Create a Shortlist of Agencies
Once you have those qualifiers out of the way, you should start seeing a few agencies fitting the bill for your needs. Make a shortlist of the ones you think will be best for your business and your goal from your prior research, and set the rest aside. A top five or, even better, top three should come from this step, leading you to the next tip.
4. Meet with the Team and Make Sure They Vibe with Your Vision
The next best step from this shortlist is to meet with these agencies. Meeting with the team or at least the heads of the agencies firsthand is an essential part of picking the right agency. You can see who they are and gauge if they match your energy and vision for your business. You will also get to talk to them about any issues you want to discuss or highlight and see how they can help you and your business.
5. Hire a Marketing Agency that Puts Your Business First
Once you’ve finished all these steps, you’ll reach the final stage: hiring a marketing agency! Having gone through this process, you can know for a fact that you’ll be working with a team that puts you and your team first.
At Comet Agency, we believe in meeting personally with prospective clients and ensuring we can match their vision with our skills and talent. After all, if your marketing agency doesn’t understand your goals and business, your customers certainly won’t! We’re centrally located in downtown Greenville, SC, and have helped clients throughout the Upstate. We hope to see you soon!
