What Do You Look For in a Startup Marketing Agency?
What does a startup marketing agency do? A good agency will help you define what you are trying to achieve, how you plan to reach it, and how to track the results of that plan. They will help you create metrics to track your progress so you can make quick decisions about what actions to take next. In this article we will discuss these three areas:
A marketing budget is an essential first step when establishing your company. Depending on the scale of your startup, however, you might have different priorities and requirements. Are you pre-products, post-products, pre-warehouse, funded (Series A, B, C)? Or are you on your way to Series D, E, F? Your budget determines where you can spend most of your money.
Next, how do you plan to execute your strategy? Many agencies include plans for marketing strategy in their service package. If you plan to have a physical office or hire staff, these costs should be included. If you plan to outsource work, such as call center or marketing, those costs should also be part of the service package. A good startup marketing agency will help you define your strategy. They will help you develop a targeted approach to bring in new customers and build relationships with existing customers.
Finally, what are your personnel levels? This is important because it affects everything from your pipeline to the number of leads you receive and close to how successful your launch is. It will affect how much you spend on training, how quickly you close deals, and how many employees you need to operate smoothly. You will want to ensure your agency has the appropriate level of senior management. When hiring a startup marketing agency, ask about their level of expertise and potential management and staff.
How will your business development be handled? The best agencies will work with you to implement your marketing tactics. They will keep you up to date on any new trends or technology that may become relevant to your business. A good marketing agency will offer business development services from start to launch through all stages of development, including growth and maintenance. Growth and maintenance activities are especially important in a startup because it allows the business to grow slowly yet steadily. A startup marketing agency will be especially helpful in setting up your business's marketing tactics in place from the very beginning.
How will your business and agency come together? Once you've defined your strategy and operational plans, it's time to put them into action. Will you work with the agency on an individual basis? Will you hire a team of specialists? Are you going to partner with a third party? Your answers to these questions will dictate the outcome of working with an agency and the success of its work.
Are you open to a data-driven approach? Agencies should be able to help you create a creative strategy that leverages your strengths while using the latest technology to give you the edge you need to succeed. A good startup marketing agency will develop a data-driven approach by asking you to explain your goals, seek your input, and then use the information you've collected to develop an effective marketing strategy. This approach ensures that your strengths and weaknesses are taken into account and that you're given the resources you need to make a difference in your industry.
How will your work be measured? Agencies should understand the need for metrics so that they can provide you with reports on a regular basis. If you're starting a small business, your metrics might involve how many clients you have in the first few days, but they will likely go up as your business grows. For larger startups, having a metric is even more important, because you need to know how well your tactical execution measures are working to ensure that more customers are returning to your site.