3 Green Flags to Look for in Your Next Ad Agency
Every advertising agency has different strengths. So how do you choose the right one for you and your business? As the client, you want to work with an agency that provides the largest return on your investment. At Swash Labs, we understand that some business owners don’t know exactly what that looks like, or more specifically what they should be looking for in an ad agency to help them reach that goal.
At our agency, we employ operational procedures to ensure that all our projects are completed in a timely manner and with all decision-makers involved. The reason we’ve been able to service clients for 11 years is that we choose to spend a lot of time getting to know them, their businesses, and their ideal clients. Our clients know we care about their success. Unfortunately, this is not standard procedure across the marketing industry.
While we can’t guarantee that the agency you choose will provide your business with the specific results you’re looking for, we can guarantee that the following “green flags” are signs that an ad agency cares about the work it’s doing, as well as its clients.
Strategy
Cookie cutter marketing strategies are an issue we’ve seen some clients come across. Because every client’s business is different (location, size, audience, industry, etc.), it is important that your business’s agency-level marketing plan is customized accordingly.
Every agency does client onboarding differently, but the process should absolutely start with them asking questions about your business, its history, and what you want it to look like in the future. Furthermore, it is important that they understand your business’s current goal. If your goal is to drive sales, or to promote brand visibility, or to get more leads, your ad agency should be hyper-focused on that goal.
At Swash Labs, we use the onboarding process to gather as much information as we can about you and your business goals so that we can establish a solid marketing strategy that we continue to build upon. As certain milestones are reached and research is done, we are always in the background assessing your marketing mix and figuring out what could be improved. We’ve found a lot of success through consistently making improvements in our client work.
Consistent Reporting
Reporting is essential to the client-agency relationship. As the client, you may not understand every metric or why they continue to change, but you do know what positive results look like for your business. At Swash, we believe it is part of the agency’s role to explain these things to you and keep you in the loop about your conversion metrics, various audiences, what they like and dislike, and so on. After all, your ad engagement can be directly affected by changes you’re making in your business on the day-to-day, and vice versa. If the agency you’re considering does not automatically provide reporting, this could be a potential red flag. The marketing team should be more than willing to be open with the client about what they’re doing, what’s working, and what’s not. The reports and metrics are simply evidence of the effort that’s being put forth by your agency.
Here at Swash Labs, our clients get live reports to keep them in the loop about what’s going on with their advertising mix. We have monthly meetings with our digital campaign clients to go through the reporting and answer any questions, as well as hash out ideas for strategizing the next month. These sessions are called Co-lab Sessions, and they help us to not only educate our clients, but also connect the dots between our clients’ current business wins and our marketing efforts.
As a business owner, having an understanding of your marketing is beyond valuable. We believe that empowering our clients with this knowledge ultimately improves their business overall. When our clients understand what is going on in their marketing mix, it makes it easier for us to collaborate and solve future problems together. So before you sign that next advertising contract, be sure that they plan to show you some type of consistent reporting of your advertising dashboard.
Communication
The most important thing to note in your vetting process is whether you will be able to build a real relationship with your agency. You probably don’t want to put your brand or project in the hands of someone who doesn’t prioritize it. Unfortunately, some agencies might put their small clients to the side, or never deliver what they promised. Here at Swash, we set aside time for each of our clients to address any questions or concerns, strategize, and celebrate our wins for the month. We genuinely want to know our clients, so that we can successfully anticipate their needs.
If the agency you’re considering has positive reviews from past clients regarding communication, that’s a green flag. Before you decide to go with them, be sure to ask questions about the frequency of communication, like how often you can expect to receive feedback and updates on how to continually improve your marketing strategy.
As you shop around for a new advertising agency, be sure to ask questions about reporting, client-agency relationships, and how strategies are built, so that you can make the most informed decision as to which agency will care about your business the most.
