Almost any business which operates in the B2B area realised at some point that a lucrative digital marketing strategy, in order to stay afloat in the competition, is a must. If you are in the B2B industry and you have been considering building an in-house digital marketing team, this may sometimes be very challenging due to lack of expertise, dearth of employees, high HR costs and lack of resources.
Still, some companies can’t avoid establishing internal marketing department operations, mainly due to their scale, but even so, almost every company I can think of leans on external marketing agencies to handle some of the load.
Of course, there are many B2B businesses which decide to outsource their entire digital marketing and hire a third-party agency.
The process of selecting a B2B digital marketing agency can be overwhelming. Since there are multiple agencies competing against each other and touting to be the best of the lot, choosing the cream of the crop indeed becomes a difficult task. But that doesn’t demean the importance of choosing a company which is a best fit for your organizational needs. Read on to be better informed on how to settle down with the best digital marketing agency for your B2B firm.
Outsourcing or co-managing your marketing – Which one are you planning?
Way before you start thinking of comparing agencies, you have to think whether or not you want to pass over the entire online marketing tasks to a third-party agency or you’re just hiring an agency for seeking help with a particular activity or a single campaign.
Now, if you’re choosing to outsource just a part of your marketing load, your chosen firm should be extremely flexible while yet organised.
Since your marketing agency and team will collaborate on projects together, your 3rd party agency should accommodate to your schedule platforms and processes. The agency should also have a clear understanding of your company’s brand identity and tone of voice.
Ask the following questions to assess the capability of collaborative working of the agency:
- Can you show me relevant content examples and case studies?
- What strategies will your agency take to get a grip of my business?
- In what way will you delegate tasks with my team?
- How much time would you require?
Choosing an agency that is experienced in your niche industry
By now you must have realized that every B2B businesses have their own different considerations and requirements. An agency which has got an in-depth experience and understanding in assisting your niche industry can probably deliver better performance than one that isn’t focused. For instance, agencies that are focused on B2B tech and digital marketing must deeply understand complex and innovative technologies as well as the tech industry standards for communication materials.
So, keeping in mind such unique challenges and complexities, it’s always better to hire an agency which specializes in your niche or industry.
Does the agency have enough substance to prove their credibility?
With fancy graphics, industry jargons, quirky captions and lucrative sales pitches, it is very easy to be carried away by the aesthetics. But when you’re choosing the best fit company, you have to look beyond the gloss and check whether or not the company has substance. Can it show you detailed case studies from companies which display their proven results? In case they can’t, move on.
What areas are they experienced in?
Marketing includes endless tactics and activities, such as branding, messaging, SEO, content, social media management, performance, PR, industry events management and a lot more. Map the activities that you think fit you best and hunt for the agency that is experienced with as many of them as possible. You should prefer working with a single agency instead of splitting your activities between multiple agencies’, as the communication will be easier, internal processes will be simpler and the cost will probably be a lot more affordable.
Word of mouth
Don’t be shy, you must have colleagues in your industry who can refer you to agencies they’ve been working with and are satisfied. Don’t know anyone you can ask? Join professional Facebook groups and ask there!
To summarise, before you take any further step to choose a perfect B2B company, make sure you keep the above-mentioned points in mind to end up with the best possible choice.
