TechsPlace | Running a startup business can be challenging, most especially the sales and marketing aspect. While you probably have a good customer base, you want to attract more customers to expand your reach or scale your business for a steady flow of income. Fortunately, by hiring the services of a startup marketing agency, you’ll be able to realize your business’ full potential.
Here are ways to choose the best startup marketing agency for your startup business.
Take A Close Look At The Agency’s Portfolio
Working with a good marketing agency will help you deliberately position your products and services in a way that customers will easily understand your marketing message. An effective way to validate a startup marketing agency’s excellent marketing services is by checking their portfolio.
Here are the things you need to check in a startup marketing agency’s portfolio:
- Projects finished: Ask to take a look at the company’s finished projects such as the web page or website that they’re able to rank on top of search engine results pages (SERP) through their search engine optimization (SEO) effort.
- Services the agency offers: Determine the services of the startup marketing agency, such as search engine marketing (SEM), podcasts, audience identification, market positioning, advertising message testing, and growth hacking.
Test The Agency’s Customer Service
It may sound overrated, but testing the customer service of a startup marketing agency is a must. You want to ensure that someone is always available to offer help if you need one. Thus, determine how the agency communicate with their clients by calling their business number.
Here are important questions you have to ask yourself when rating the agency’s customer service level:
- Did the customer service agent answer all questions with confidence?
- How do I feel about the conversation?
- Do I find the answers relevant?
- Did the representative show genuine concern, or did they provide mere advertorial?
Narrow Down Your Choices
So, how do you identify your prospects and narrow down your choices when choosing a startup marketing agency? There are important considerations when choosing the right agency to handle your marketing, including the following:
- Online Reputation: To have a good grasp of the startup marketing services they’re offering, visit, and explore the agency’s website. The FAQs or Q&A section will provide you answers to commonly asked questions that potential or existing clients are asking. To know the people (organizational structure) behind the startup marketing agency, it also pays to visit the website’s ‘About Us’ section.
- Service Warranty: While there’s no standard warranty or guarantee in terms of the results of the future marketing strategies you’ll be availing, a good startup marketing agency takes pride in their work and would be proactive in providing service guarantee.
- Social Proof: Testimonials on the agency’s website serve as social proof. Also, social media comments, likes, and shares are evidence of the agency’s online reputation.
Read both positive and negative comments or reviews to give you some insightful ideas on how the agency treats its clients and performs their tasks.
Request For A Demo Or Free Trial
After you’ve narrowed down your options, it’s time to take steps to land a final decision. You can request for a demo or free trial, so you’ll be educated on what the company could do for your business coming out from their mouth.
This step is one way to confirm anything you read or heard about the agency, such as the agency’s marketing niche or specialization, such as SEO, social media marketing, email marketing, etc. It’s also the perfect time to clarify any doubts or questions as you can ask the startup marketing agency’s representative.
Ask How The Agency Price Their Services Or Bill Their Clients
Money for small, startup businesses can be tight. Every penny counts, and business owners just want to ensure that their marketing budget would be maximized. They are knowing how the startup marketing agency prices or bills their clients is paramount to making a sound decision whether to hire the agency or not.
Of course, you have to be reasonable. If you want excellent results, it comes with a good price, but not too expensive. A good marketing agency strikes a perfect balance between quality work and pricing. Be guided by the agency’s terms and conditions when it comes to payment terms and the services being included or excluded on the quoted price.
Conclusion
Choosing the best startup marketing for your business involves checking the agency’s portfolio, services offered, customer service, social proof, and online reputation. It’s also important to know their specialization or marketing niche by requesting a demo or free trial of their services and pricing.
