Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine October 2018 | Page 23

Marketing Collaboration - It’s a Symbiotic Relationship What to look for when partnering with a marketing agency & how to identify the best option for your business! H ave you ever been locked into a partnership or collaboration that you didn’t feel was mutually beneficial?? Whether you were unhappy with the quality of services, price point or didn’t feel like you were communicating efficiently with your team, not functioning in a state of symbiosis creates tension, hostility or even resentment. In order to ensure success when partnering with a marketing company, you should strive to find one that will allow both parties to work in a state of symbiosis. Symbiosis (adj) - any interdependent or mutually beneficial relationship between two persons, groups, etc. When you’re working in a mutually beneficial partnership, both parties will be happy with the results delivered on each end. Whether it’s high quality work, referrals, business leads or a form of payment, both parties benefit from overall happiness and increased productivity. In order to achieve a state of symbiosis with your marketing agency, you’ll want to be sure you’re partnering with the perfect team to help your business flourish! When interviewing potential marketing companies, there are a few things that you should look for to ensure that you’ll be moving forward with the right fit. Here are some of the most important details to look for in a marketing partner: • Do the services offered by the agency match what you’re looking for? - For example, a local artisan who makes and sells goods through her website should look for a marketing agency that has a strongly developed online and digital marketing team. • Do you feel at ease when speaking and expressing ideas with the team? - As obvious as it may seem, it’s extremely important that you like the people you’ll be working with. Marketing your business can be a challenging process at times. You may not always see results as quickly as you’d like, things you imagined in your head may not work when executed, and sometimes you may just disagree with a tactic. Having an easy line of communication and feeling like you’re free to express these concerns is essential to success. By: Rae Ann Rindhage Empire Creative Marketing [email protected] • Are you on the same page in regards to the tactics that will be used to market your company? - Clarity in communication is absolutely essential for creating an efficient and effective marketing strategy. If you’re only wanting digital ads and your agency is planning on moving forward with a printed ad in the local n e w s p a p e r, t h e re i s c l e a r l y a d i s c o n n e c t i n communication occurring that should be addressed. • Is this company within my budget? - Think of the car buying experience – luxury brands, bells and whistles, high safety ratings, etc… these are all going to influence the price of the vehicle. Similarly, an agency’s rate is going to be influenced by their experience, skill sets, location, size of team, resources and the marketing opportunities they offer to their clients. A larger agency is going to have more capabilities and services to offer, therefore their rate is going to be higher because the client will benefit more. Agencies with more experience and a wider set of skills will most likely be more efficient and produce better work than those with less experience, which will provide the client with a more desirable outcome - even if the rate is higher. However, if the agency’s rate is far more than what you can justifiably afford, you’re not going to be happy long term. It’s important to set a realistic marketing budget and work within those means. A proper marketing agency will work with you to identify the best course of action to use your budget most efficiently, which will in turn, generate more leads and more money for your business! Partnering with a marketing agency means forming an ongoing relationship that requires a solid commitment and regular communication on both ends. A symbiotic partnership functioning at its best is like a well oiled machine! While results aren’t always apparent immediately, working together with the