8 Questions to Ask Before You Hire A Marketing Agency
Maybe your current team is stretched and working at full capacity.
Maybe you need support on a special project that you don’t have the expertise for, in-house.
Or maybe you need a fresh set of eyes on your organization’s marketing efforts, in general.
Hiring a marketing agency can be daunting. How do you know if they’re the right fit? Will they actually deliver what they promise? How do you know if it’s worth the investment?
We get it.
Our team has hundreds of consultations with organizations each year and a big focus of these calls is to ensure transparency, determine mutual benefit and talk about what success would look like to the client. Sometimes we hear candid comments about an organization having been burned in the past - and clear hesitation about trusting an agency again. We welcome all questions and love these relationship-building conversations.
Whether you’re exploring whether to work with us, or with another marketing or fundraising agency, these are the top eight questions you should ask before signing on the dotted line.
1) What is your specialty?
There are many different types of marketing agencies that specialize in different areas and work in different sectors. Some agencies are full service, while others specialize in a specific area. It’s important to know who they work with BEST and what services they are EXPERTS in. Find out why they believe they are experts in this area!
Also, find out who they partner and collaborate with to deliver expertise outside of their own scope. While some agencies claim to do it all, it’s important to find one that’s the right fit for you.
2) Who will I be working with?
It’s important to know exactly who will be working on your project - and it’s equally important that you like working with them. Most agencies will assign an Account Manager or Project Team Lead for each client along with an implementation team. Make sure there’s a dedicated person who will be managing project timelines, to ensure everything you need is completed as promised. Depending on the scope of your project and timeline, a larger team with different areas of expertise may be pulled in for support.
3) How do you communicate with clients?
You’ll need to determine how often you’d like to hear from your marketing agency, how you’ll be hearing from them, and exactly what information you need provided at each update. Some clients prefer a monthly project report along with a call to unpack the report, while others request a casual phone or ZOOM call each week. Ask your prospective marketing agency what type of access you’ll have to your team and how you’ll communicate with them.
Get specific:
Will you connect mostly via email? If so, how soon can you expect a response back?
Will you have phone calls or video calls?
How often will we have a pre-set check-in time? Who should be part of this check-in?
How do they file share?
How will they share project updates with you? Will it be in a Word document, PDF or via Drive? Will you have access to a shared client project dashboard?
How are timelines and milestones managed?
What can you expect in your project kickoff meeting?
Will you have access to the project management tool used, if needed? (E.g. Asana)
Is there a specific platform your agency will need to use to access content, like Google Workspace, Dropbox or SharePoint? If so, tell them upfront to avoid duplicating efforts.
4) Is your work customized?
We love efficiency and best-practices, and look for ways that great content can be repurposed for our clients so that they don’t have to reinvent their marketing tools over and over again. But sadly, some marketing and fundraising agencies create cookie cutter templates and apply them to many of their clients. The result? Campaigns that aren’t unique or newsworthy and simply don’t get the results you’re hoping for.
Find out how they’ll understand and clarify your brand language and apply it in fundraising appeals, public relations campaigns, marketing collateral, and in the strategy they’ll use to plan your best use of resources. Find out what their creative process is and how they use their lists. Ask how they develop strategy and get approvals. How will your feedback be integrated into the process?
5) What does reporting look like?
In order to determine campaign success, you’ll need to come to mutually agreed upon goals and benchmarks. Reporting is a key piece of determining whether your campaign is successful. Ask the marketing agency you’re considering what their reports look like.
More specifically, you should ask:
How often will you receive a report?
What data will it contain?
Will it include next steps?
What should we be measuring to gauge success?
Depending on the type of campaign you’re looking to develop or run, you may want to have a conversation around what will happen if reports aren’t showing the results you’re hoping for.
6) Do you have references I can connect with?
Many of our clients come to us through word-of-mouth referrals - which is amazing. It’s the biggest compliment when a previous (or current) client refers someone to our team. Whether you’re connecting with an agency through a referral or not, you should always ask for references and examples of past work. Most agencies are more than happy to provide you with contact information for past or current clients and case studies for projects that are similar to the one you’re interested in working on together.
7) What does timing look like?
How much lead time does the marketing agency need to take on a project like yours? What does their client onboarding process look like? Do they have the capacity at that time to work with you?
8) Is my budget realistic?
If you have a specific budget set aside for the project, share it. The agency will be able to tell you exactly what that budget will do if you invest it with their team.
Of course, not all agency/client relationships are successful, for a number of reasons. But our hope is that this checklist will help as you better assess whether or not a prospective agency is a good fit for your organization. Don’t be afraid to ask hard questions upfront and take your time to determine whether you’d like to move forward together.
At Graf-Martin, we are clear on who we serve best, and how we do it. We strengthen organizations committed to hope, generosity and justice.
How? By bringing our proven marketing skill set and carefully developed tool kit to the table, along with a deep understanding of organizations working with vulnerable populations here at home, or around the world. Knowing who we serve best and how we serve them means we’re not for everyone, but for the right organizations, we’ll deliver reliably excellent results.
If you’re looking for an agency to:
Find better ways to talk about your organization - and find new donors
Refresh or rebuild your organization’s brand
Create and implement a fundraising campaign or program
Develop and roll out a strategic marketing plan
Build irresistible PR for your launch or organization
Access a full-service marketing and communications team
We’re here to help. Click here to book a free 20-minute consultation with one of our experts - we’d love to talk with you.
