If you’ve been reading for awhile, you’ll notice that I generally recommend multiple agencies for each business.
The fear is generally, “won’t we be spending way too much money if we hired multiple agencies?” The answer is No. Keep in mind, the reason we’re outsourcing in the first place; to tap into talent who will achieve our goals.
Agencies almost always have core competencies vs. fringe competencies. They are better at some things they offer vs. other things.
We want to select agencies who have core competencies that we need. Ie. Your strategy dictates a need for…fill in the blank, SEO, Digital Advertising, Content, Social Media, Video Production, Branding, etc.
We will only enter contracts with agencies in their core capabilities. Not only based on the tactic (SEO, Social Media, etc) but also based on their experience in your industry, with your size of company and who have a proven track record of high performance.
It’s even more detailed than that.
Excellent agencies love me. Why? Because excellent agencies want to do excellent work with clients with needs and goals they can meet and exceed!
Most of the agencies I work with do not have a sales or business development team. They rely on referrals and repeat business. They are often not easily found in Google, they do not advertise, and they do not strive to grow tremendously year over year. Because they genuinely want to do excellent work for their clients.
I spend hours and hours each week interviewing and meeting with agencies, learning their core competencies, who they work best with, who they do not work best with, their pricing models and reviewing their case studies.
If I am not aware of an ideal agency for your business, I research and work with my large network of marketers, agencies and business owners to identify one.