How to Work with a Marketing Agency

How to Work with a Marketing Agency

Working with outside agencies like PR firms, advertising agencies, and marketing agencies can cause a lot of problems for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

First, do you even need to hire an outside agency at all?

If so, do you need an advertising agency, a marketing company, or a PR firm? Do you need to hire more than one? All three?

Mostly that starts with understanding what each of those agencies can and will do for you, and what they won't.

Once you've identified the type of agency you want to work with, the next step is to clearly define what you want that company to do for you, what your budget for those services is, and what your goals and objectives are for that company.

Finally, it's important to understand what is expected of you.

Working with an outside agency doesn't mean assigning them a task and throwing them to the wolves. It means keeping the lines of communication open and being clear and consistent in what you're asking for.

All these topics and more covered in this episode of The Messengers podcast!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Google Podcasts, find a link to your podcast app here, search for The Messengers on your favorite podcast platform, stream the audio by clicking the play button below, or scroll to the bottom of this page to watch the episode on YouTube.

Show Notes:

[03:32] - How to Set a Marketing Budget

[05:27] - An outlook on the future of PR as it relates to marketing. This blog post offers an interesting take on PR for small businesses for additional research / reading: Your PR Firm isn't Worth What You're Paying Them

[06:38] - Defining the Marketing Mix - the 4 "P's" of marketing / Marketing 101

[09:56] - Entrepreneur, Wantrepreneur, or Freelancer: Which One are You

[14:15] - The Difference Between Hiring a Professional and an Amateur (skip to 06:45 in the video for specifics, but the whole episode is worth a listen!)

[20:15] - Good SEO tips and why your website copy shouldn't read the same way your print marketing pieces read.

[22:00] - Your responsibilities when working with outside vendors

[26:45] - Time management tips coming up in next week's episode!