7 Signs You Should Hire a Marketing Agency

Your consumers’ behaviors are constantly changing. That means you probably wake up every morning asking yourself, how do I ensure my sales and talent pipelines are full? How do I build brand awareness in an already noisy world? And how do I reach my audiences with so many platforms available?

We get it. We are a marketing agency writing about hiring marketing agencies. But honestly, we see businesses come to us who DON'T need our services or help and others who need MORE than they think.

Hiring a marketing agency can be one of the best decisions you make for your business. But when is the right time to hire a marketing agency — and is it the right next step for your business? Let's talk about it.

Why should I hire a marketing agency?

We find that most businesses should think about hiring a marketing agency when...

1. You simply don't have enough hands on deck

Maybe you’re wearing a whole wardrobe of hats, from CEO to marketing director. Or maybe you’re a one-person marketing department and don’t have the capacity to keep juggling all of the requests sent your way. 

A good marketing agency becomes part of your team — they act like your marketing department because they care about your business more than just handing over tactics on demand. They’ll think, act, and execute marketing tactics as if they hold a stake in your company, and they’ll keep a close eye on results to make sure that what you’re doing is working.

2. Your growth has plateaued

When your business growth hits a plateau, it can feel like you're stuck in a rut (despite your best efforts to generate marketing ideas that will push you forward). This stagnation might be due to market saturation, outdated strategies, or simply a lack of fresh ideas. A marketing agency can inject new life into your business by:

• Conducting a comprehensive audit: They’ll analyze your current marketing efforts, identify what's working and what's not, and uncover hidden growth opportunities.
• Bringing fresh perspectives: With a team of diverse experts, a marketing agency can bring creative ideas to the table that you might not have considered. And because agencies work with a wide range of industries and companies, they can look at what has worked for other companies to help inform your strategy (cutting out a lot of guesswork).
• Using analytics to make decisions: While most businesses can look at their marketing data, it often sits untouched because companies either don't know how to read the data or don't have time to apply it. But for marketing agencies, using this data to inform next steps is the bread and butter for any strategy. Say goodbye to untouched, unused data!
• Digging into new channels: They can help you tap into existing and emerging marketing channels or platforms that align with your brand and audience, expanding your reach and driving growth.

3. You're launching a new product or service

Launching a new product or service is a thrilling yet challenging endeavor. It requires a well-orchestrated plan to capture attention and drive sales. A marketing agency can support your launch by:

• Ensuring your new offering stands out: They'll do the due diligence to ensure your product or service isn't lost in the noise. From SEO research to competitor comparisons, marketing agency teams can combine their skills to make sure you stand out visually in search engines, in your future digital marketing efforts, and more.
• Crafting a compelling launch strategy: To maintain momentum, they’ll develop a comprehensive plan that includes pre-launch teasers, launch day events, and post-launch follow-ups. They can also assist you in setting an attainable launch goal (whether that's selling 2 or 200 of your offerings within a designated timeline).
• Creating buzz: Depending on your product or service, you may want to consider a targeted PR campaign, an influencer partnership, social media promos, or something else. Marketing agencies can take charge of creating and organizing your rollout to boost excitement and anticipation around your new offering.
• Ensuring consistent messaging: They’ll ensure your brand message is consistent across all channels, reinforcing your brand identity and value proposition.
• Monitoring and adjusting: Post-launch, they’ll track performance metrics and make necessary adjustments to maximize impact and achieve your launch goals.

4. You need to rebrand

Rebranding is a significant undertaking that involves reshaping your brand's identity and perception. It can be difficult to know where to start, how to pitch it to stakeholders, and how to ensure that your brand is still recognizable in the marketplace.

A marketing agency can guide you through this process by:

• Conducting brand audits: They’ll assess your current brand perception by talking with your team, customers, or prospects to identify what is working and what isn't. During this stage, they'll help determine what elements of your brand need changing and which can be left untouched.
• Completing a competitor brand analysis: They'll look at what your competitors are doing, identify what your brand is missing, determine where you could outshine the competition, and ensure no overlap will confuse potential buyers.
• Developing a cohesive brand strategy: They’ll help you define your brand’s core values, mission, and vision, ensuring they resonate with your target audience.
• Designing a new visual identity: From logos to color schemes, they’ll create a visual identity that reflects your brand, is easily recognizable with customers and prospects, and will stand out in the market.
• Implementing the change: A good agency can determine what needs updating (and in which order those updates should happen) to ensure a smooth transition and maintain brand loyalty. 

5. You're expanding into new markets

Expanding into new markets is an exciting opportunity for growth, but it requires a deep understanding of local nuances. A marketing agency with experience in your target market can facilitate this transition by:

• Conducting market research: They’ll gather insights into local consumer behavior, preferences, and cultural nuances to tailor your approach. 
• Localizing your marketing efforts: They’ll adapt your messaging, branding, and campaigns to resonate with the local audience, ensuring cultural relevance and acceptance.
• Identifying key competitors: They’ll identify competitors in your new markets and help you tailor a launch strategy that will allow you to compete effectively and entice prospective customers.
• Building local partnerships: They can help you establish relationships with local influencers, media, and businesses to enhance your market presence and credibility.

6. You're struggling to stay ahead of the competition

With industries and technology changing so quickly, staying ahead of the competition has become more complex than ever before. A marketing agency can help you maintain your competitive edge by:

• Keeping up with trends: Because they live and breathe marketing, marketing agencies can help you take advantage of the latest trends and technologies, ensuring that your strategies are always tailored to your business (vs. just doing what everyone else is doing right now).
• Implementing out-of-the-box ideas that stand out: From AI-driven analytics to interactive content, they’ll introduce new tools and tactics to engage your audience and drive results.
• Continuous optimization: They’ll regularly review and refine your marketing efforts, using data to pivot your approach and enhance performance and ROI. (That means no more dead data!)
• Taking calculated risks: By encouraging creative thinking and experimentation, they’ll help your brand remain dynamic and adaptable in a changing market.

7. You need specific skills to drive results

Businesses need a wide range of talent (versus one or two specialties) to effectively market their product or service. The problem is that most companies don’t have the budget for an entire marketing department, so they end up with one or two people responsible for updating the website, writing, designing, and coming up with the next year's strategy.

Agencies are made up of experts dedicated to a niche area of marketing — and they can be brought into your business as needed to work toward your business’s goals. That means you’ll get the skills of an entire marketing team, often for the cost of one or two full-time employees. 

What to look for before hiring a marketing agency

If you’ve spent any time looking for marketing help, there’s no denying that there are a lot of different agencies out there. That makes it all the more important for you to do your homework and find the one that is best for you and your organization. 

You want to find an agency with a reputation for doing good work and creating an exceptional experience. Here are the top five things we believe you should look for before hiring an agency:

A lot of curiosity

All too often, marketing tactics and strategies quickly contribute to an echo chamber. You'll talk about email workflows, blogs, videos, and webinars — but they'll fail to explain how those ideas will drive the specific growth numbers you need to show your stakeholders.

To make the most of a marketing agency investment, you need a group of people who are willing to roll up their sleeves, try something new, and do whatever it takes to hit your goals (whatever that looks like). 

A human-focused approach

For consumers to resonate with your brand, your agency must care about more than meeting a scope of work — they must put themselves in your company’s shoes (and the shoes of your consumers) to understand how to communicate your mission and value add. 

A trusted agency will conduct persona interviews with your customers and prospects, looking beyond demographics and going straight to the source to learn about pain points and barriers to entry that keep them from converting. They'll speak with your sales and marketing teams to better understand how you present your brand to the marketplace. And they'll use all of that information to inform a strategy that will drive results.

Talented team members

The people who make up your agency team are what you're paying for. They should be talented, motivated, and have what it takes to achieve results. Don’t be afraid to ask about the team members who will work on your business (and their past work and qualifications). 

Results-driven work

Don’t just take an agency at their word — make sure they have the numbers to back up what they can do. 

Most agency websites feature a portfolio of all the great work they’ve done. But if it’s unclear how a campaign performed or how the agency used its strategy to get the final results, it isn’t easy to know the difference between something that just looked good and something that added value to a company. Don't hesitate to ask questions about these projects to better understand how the work performed.

Transparency

If it looks too good to be true, it is. Just like any other business, agencies don’t always get it right. Don’t be shy: Ask about strategies that didn’t work and had to be revisited to drive success. An agency that’s willing to share with you how they course-corrected can show you how they will handle challenges your business might face once you’re in the thick of carrying out your strategy.

Are we a good fit?

Vye is known nationwide as a fast-growing agency where curiosity and creativity thrive. We excel at understanding the emotions behind decisions and using that information to create powerful marketing strategies that propel our clients forward. As the vital link between sales, marketing, service, and operations, we're not just an expense — we're a growth essential.

“We started our partnership with Vye when we realized we needed to reach a new demographic...From completely redesigning our website to running our social media, they have been a part of our organization.”
— Sam Switzer, United Way of Central Minnesota

Curious what a partnership with Vye could look like? See how we've partnered with businesses like yours to hit big, lofty goals.