Valuable Advice: What Kind of Marketing Company Do You Want?

Marketing companies are not interchangeable parts, but that is a common misperception. A business owner who is unsatisfied with his or her marketing company must determine the source of their dissatisfaction before changing companies, or it's likely the problems causing the dissatisfaction will continue. The first thing you want to do is factor out your biases with this question: What kind of marketing company do I want?

The Valuable Advice: The most valuable service a marketing company can offer you is strategic expertise.Clients who get the best results know strategic expertise manifests in the choice of strategies, the best use for tools and tactics and creative execution.

So what kind of marketing company do you want? Are you…

1 ) Hiring an expert for their wisdom (like an owl)

2 ) Hiring a creative you want to art direct (like a worker bee)

3 ) Hiring a company for fast results (like a jackrabbit)

If you want an owl, it won't work unless you are open to listening and being led by the marketing expert. I like to tell clients, you get a lot more out of us when you hire us for what our brains can do, not just what our hands can do. Clients who let us consult and listen to our direction get the best results.

If you want a worker bee, admit it. I have seen plenty of cases over the years where a client wanted to be the writer, designer and strategist. They just wanted someone to do the legwork. If you are hiring simple creative execution that you want to art direct, it is better to hire a designer rather than a marketing expert. If you want to be the writer, hire an editor who understands your target audience. In most cases, if you are working with an expert marketing company and asking them to do task work, you are underutilizing their service and overpaying for what you need.

If you want a jackrabbit, it's important to remember the long-proven axiom about Fast, Cheap and Good.You only can have two of the three on any one endeavor. If you want something fast and good, it will not be cheap. If you want something cheap and good, it will not be fast. And if you want something fast and cheap it will not be good. At Dog Star Media, we advise if you are even having a conversation that includes the words "fast" or "cheap," you are already making a mistake. Both fast and cheap campaigns do not build infrastructure and when they turn out results, those results are frequently substandard in quantity and quality. A lot of people will promise fast results if you spend with them. They are jackrabbits… be careful.

If you want to hire an expert who can guide you through marketing decision-making, please contact us here.