Marketing and advertising are foundations to any good business. No matter what industry you’re in, if you can’t properly advertise target potential customers and attract new clients you will fail. While many companies are good at delivering/producing the goods and services they specialize in, they’re not necessarily good at communicating their value to consumers at large. That’s where outside advertising agencies can play a vital role.
Ad agencies, also sometimes known as marketing agencies, work to provide the branding and advertising you business needs to reach its potential. If you aren’t currently working with an advertising agency you’re missing out. One of the areas many advertising firms are moving towards is online and digital means. In fact, on average, companies spent 25% of total marketing budgets on digital in 2014. That number is estimated to jump to 75% within the next five years. Just like any other business, not every marketing agency is created equal. Here are three qualities to look for in ad agencies.
- Quality: First and foremost is the quality of work the ad agency you’re considering puts out. This should be pretty easy to judge as you can ask them to look at past projects and work they’ve recently done. This is the company you’re hiring to portray what your company is all about so the last thing you want is someone who’s going to do sub-par work.
- Timeliness: In addition to the actual work that’s done is the amount of time it takes for them to do it. While you shouldn’t expect or set unreasonable timelines, it’s important to choose an ad agency that will provide you with quality work in a timely manner and meet deadlines you may have. Perhaps the only worse than having poor quality work is not having anything to show at all.
- Flexibility and Versatility: While the first two qualities are more practical, this one is more on the creative side. While the ad agency is the expert at marketing, they should be willing and open to work with you on developing a plan, language, and voice for your products and services. After all, it is your business that they’re presenting and you should have a role in creating the image.
These are just a couple things to look for in ad agencies before you pull the trigger on a hire.