If you are looking for a checklist to evaluate your B2B marketing agency you should consider this excellent list from Hubspot. Hubspot make some of the world's most powerful marketing automation software to drive traffic to your site, actively convert them to leads and customers, plus a really strong marketing analytics offering. They rely on a global network of agencies to implement and deploy their software.
So they should know (in the spirit of full disclosure we are a Hubspot agency, so I guess that means we should also know!)
That said it's a really useful list and if nothing else emphasizes two key points.
1) B2B Marketing is about generating leads for sales....period.
This means implementing a clear process over time to CREATE MOMENTUM amongst your target audience. It is NOT a series of monthly or quarterly campaigns. Can your agency prove to you how many leads they are responsible for? They should. Ask them!
2) B2B marketing is evolving quickly as your B2B buyers spend serious time online researching their purchase decisions. You have to get yourselves found wherever they spend time online. This is called "inbound marketing." Those whose agency rely solely on "outbound marketing" using interuption based techniques like email, advertising and traditional PR are in serious danger of missing out on new leads altogether. Does you marketing agency have deep knowledge of inbound marketing techniques? Do they effectively blend inbound and outbound techniques?
Consider these 5 must-have characteristics when evaluating an agency partnership.
1. The Right Services
Hiring a firm to redesign your website won't get you more visitors. The two, seemingly connected, are two totally different agency skills sets. One is design-heavy; the other is content-heavy. To attract more traffic and leads, you need to hire a firm with traffic generation services like blogging and content creation, search engine optimization and link building, and social media campaign creation. Looking for more leads and customers? Then make sure you're vetting the premium content creation, landing page, and marketing automation capabilities of a prospective agency. Be certain an agency has the capabilities you need to meet your marketing goals.
2. A Clear Process
Content creation capabilities and social media case studies are great, but the real value of an agency's involvement will be in how they put the inbound pieces together into a comprehensive process and strategy. Marketing agencies should be able to clearly lay out and explain their lead generation methodologies for prospective clients. Being able to clearly show you the order in which things need to happen and the amount of time and resources required at each step will indicate that the agency has delivered ROI to clients before. Thus, you will also be able to infer that it has the game plan to do it again for your company.
3. An Emphasis on Measurement
Words like "metrics," "benchmarks," and "analytics" should be peppered throughout your prospective agency's pitch. Progress made toward your goals should to be measured at every step of the way, and a marketing agency worth its weight will be able to track all campaigns and report on performance regularly. You have goals. You are trying to meet those goals by hiring the agency. Therefore, it should be as focused as you are on charting success in an undeniable, data-driven way.
4. Strong Project Management Skills
B2B marketing is fueled by the creation of remarkable content aimed at your ideal prospects. In order to be successful, good marketing agencies will need to get inside your head to build that content and learn about that dream lead. Do the agency you're considering have the process and communication skills to make you think they will make reasonable and realistic requests of you and your team? Also, have they set clear expectations around what each B2B marketing component will require in terms of time and resources? Do you get the impression that they can manage campaigns with lots of moving parts? A good agency will make your life easier; not the opposite.
5. A Website Optimized for Inbound
Does the agency you're considering blog regularly? What is its own social media presence like? Are there optimized landing pages and premium content offers throughout its site? An effective inbound marketing agency should be its own best case study. Think twice about engaging with an firm that doesn't make the services it sells a priority for its own business.
We would like to offer you a complementary copy of our eBook: The race for leads.
What do you think of our list? What other characteristics do you think are must-haves for an inbound marketing agency?
