From 0 to 100: How to Prepare to Work With a Marketing Agency

Marketing agencies can be a game changer for companies who want to improve their visibility and brand identity. However, before partnering with the right marketing agency, startups need to do their due diligence and make some preparations. Working with an agency requires collaboration. Marketers know what they’re doing, yes, but they can’t choose the best strategies and create the best campaigns unless you play your part as well.

How to Prepare to Work With a Marketing Agency

Of course, a great marketing agency can support you as you set yourself up for business success, but they’re marketers, not magicians. You need to get the right resources and mindset before you begin in order to make the most of your relationship. 

Below are five tips on how to prepare to work with your first marketing agency partner.

1. Understand Your Marketing Budget

Working with a good marketing agency isn't cheap. The first thing to note is that marketing isn’t an expense; it’s an investment. So, the first step is to determine your marketing budget so you can measure the return on your investment in the partnership. One of the first questions your agency is going to ask you is, “What’s your budget?” You don’t need to know exact numbers necessarily, but you do need to at least give it some thought and seat the right people at the table.

• Determine your budget: Before collaborating with a marketing agency, you must understand your overall budget—even if it’s a wide range. Ensure you include internal costs like salaries and software as well as external costs like outbound ad spend.
• Determine industry standards: How much are other businesses in your industry spending on marketing? Your agency can leverage software to gauge this, but it’s best to not be surprised when your agency gives you a figure. 
• Ask around for quotes: A smart way to whip up a budget is to ask for quotes from various marketing agencies to compare prices. You may find that you can do more than you thought—or that you still have a lot of time left before you’re ready for agency support.
• Establish your goals: Your goals and budget should align. Ask yourself how much you are willing to spend to achieve your objectives. If you’re a baby brand in a saturated market with only $10,000 per year and your goal is to be a household name? Yeah, good luck.

2. Decide Your Marketing (Not Just Sales) Goals

Defining your marketing goals in advance of your inaugural call with an agency will prepare you to work with a marketing agency. Simply knowing the difference between marketing and sales goals will get you far before you even start.

• See the big picture: What are your overall business goals, and how can marketing support them? For example, if your business goal is to open new locations on the east coast, how can your messaging and branding change to get you there?
• Set specific goals: Ensure your intended marketing goals are measurable and specific. “Do better” is not a good goal, but “post better and more engaging content” is.
• Determine your target audience: Your marketing goals should align with the interests and needs of your target audience. As an example, if millennials are your target audience, you will likely be wasting your time and money on Snapchat ads.
• Ensure the team is involved: You probably don’t have your own marketing team, but since marketing impacts everything, you should involve important stakeholders in the goal-setting process. Sales? Customer service? Finance? Research and development?

3. Assign a Primary Point of Contact

It’s hard to make dinner with too many cooks in the kitchen, and it’s hard to streamline marketing with too many approvers in the process. Before you start talking to an agency, you should assign a point person who handles communications and final approvals. This person (or small group) should deeply understand your business, marketing goals, target audience and overall operations—and have the power to make actual decisions. Nothing’s more frustrating for both parties than a powerless decision-maker. 

Encourage open and transparent communication between your people and the agency. Foster an environment where both teams feel comfortable sharing ideas, raising concerns and discussing challenges. Be prepared to schedule regular in-person or virtual check-ins to maintain a strong rapport and ensure everyone is on the same page.

4. Be Ready to Test New Ideas

When working with a marketing agency, be open to testing new ideas and leveraging their expertise. Agencies bring fresh perspectives, industry knowledge and proven strategies to the table. Sometimes, those initiatives may seem out of the box or even counterintuitive, but it’s critical to trust the process. Approach the partnership with an open mind and a willingness to experiment, as this can lead to innovative solutions and better results.

At Elevate My Brand, we start most client relationships with a healthy dose of what we call “high-velocity A/B testing.” This means we test messaging, images, targeting, etc. in short spurts to learn what works—and what doesn’t. Knowing what not to do can be as crucial as knowing what to do, and the only way to know is to try.

5. Set Realistic Expectations

Before collaborating with a marketing agency, set realistic expectations. Measured growth over time is much easier to achieve than sudden viral success. Don’t over-promise anything to yourself or to your marketing agency. If you doubt you’ll be able to write two blog posts per week in the beginning, say you’ll be able to do two per month. Your marketing agency may push back and tell you that two posts per week would be best practice—and they’d probably be right—but if you can’t commit to it, then don’t. It’s way simpler to scale up than scale down.

Set a realistic deadline to ensure the agency meets your expectations and everything stays on track. Set up clear channels of communication as well so when expectations shift, both teams are in the know.

EMB Is Here When You’re Ready

Are you ready to take your marketing to the next level? Maybe a marketing agency partnership is in the cards for your brand. If you’ve decided on your budget and goals, assigned a point person, and worked to understand what’s expected, then it’s time! 

As an award-winning, woman-owned marketing agency with a detailed Discovery phase to support small businesses, Elevate My Brand is here to make your marketing goals come true. Complete our Entry Questionnaire, and someone will reach out to you soon!