Are you finally ready to get the word about your business in a major and new way? Working with an advertising agency can take your business to incredible new levels and reach new audiences and customers you may have never considered.
When you choose an advertising agency, it should be a team effort to promote your business in the ways you want. A good agency will listen to your needs and work with you to create a unique plan. But not all agencies are built with you and your business in mind.
Before you sign with the first agency you see, you need to plan ahead. Consider these key points to ensure you find the perfect fit to help grow your business.
What You Need First
Before you start scheduling meetings with advertising agencies or even start making a list of who looks promising, you need to know what to look for. What do you need to be done for your business, and what are areas that an agency to focus its resources on?
You also need to layout your budget for advertising and decide what your maximum is. You may have certain services you can sacrifice, but know what is essential before you start looking at agencies. Different agencies will have different areas of expertise and experience, so you need to know what you’re looking at and for before you begin.
Experience
When you’re looking for an advertising business online or meeting in person, look at how much experience they have. And don’t look only at the general experience level but also at the work they’ve done for businesses like yours. Experience with advertising can take many forms, so look through their portfolio at the projects they’ve done.
It is a plus if they have worked with businesses like yours successfully, but isn’t always required. Other aspects can trump experience sometimes, and you can still end up with excellent results.
You don’t always need an agency that has a ton of experience. Their job is not to do your job, but to show it off and reach new people. What’s most important is that you partner with an agency that listens to your needs and works with them.
Call It Communication
One of the most important parts of choosing an advertising agency is understanding how they communicate and if that matches what you need. You will be creating an advertising strategy and need to convey your budget for advertising. The right agency will listen and understand your needs.
Whether you want an agency that will follow all of your plans to a T or will come up with their own ideas for your brand will change how they communicate and what they focus on. Know what you want and be sure to see if the agency understands that and is confident they can deliver.
Working with an agency that is outside of your business involves a lot of back and forth. You need one that is responsive and able to handle your level of business.
If things start rocky, they’re unlikely to improve as your work becomes more complicated. Don’t go for an ad agency you struggle to communicate with from the start.
Culture Clash
An ad agency is also a business. They will have their own mission, purpose, or goals. Finding an agency that aligns with your business when it comes to culture can be a good indicator of what’s to come.
If you disagree on certain fundamentals, be it business or otherwise, that can hinder communication and advertising results. Sometimes you can work well with other businesses that differ greatly, but you’ll be doing a lot with an ad agency so they understand the ins and outs of your business. You want to choose the one you are most comfortable with and able to be yourself.
Size Matters
Working with a big agency or a small agency both offer their own benefits. A big agency may have more resources or experience, but they may not be able to give you what you want.
Using a small firm like eraserfarm.com can offer you more one-on-one attention. This might work better for you and your company depending on your needs and the scale of your advertising ideas.
A smaller agency offers less resistance to good ideas. Things can happen faster because there are fewer people to go through, and communication can sometimes be easier. A big agency may have a better reputation, but that doesn’t always mean they can deliver for your business.
Good Recs
As with any decision, when you’re considering options for ad agencies, look at their recommendations. A good agency will have people to vouch for it and how the work helped. You can also get recommendations from other business owners.
If you like someone’s ad campaign, find out who worked on it. This is a good strategy to get a list going for what you want in a company, and for the companies you should look into.
Choosing an Advertising Agency For You
When you’re choosing an advertising agency think first about your business and what you hope to gain. What are the specific concrete goals you have for advertising more? Express these to the possible agencies you talk to and see who is the most responsive and understanding of what you want.
When you find the right agency, often you will know. But don’t rush the decision and be thorough in your considerations.
If you follow the above guidelines you should have no problem finding the right agency for you. And if this helped you better understand how to choose a good agency, keep reading for more useful tips.
