The digital world’s rapid development demands that businesses adopt marketing strategies beyond generic one-size-fits-all solutions. The need for a comprehensive marketing solution makes full-service marketing agencies invaluable. Full-service agencies deliver comprehensive marketing solutions that span strategy and branding to content creation and SEO while managing social media and other areas under one roof. The biggest advantage? A unified team will fully understand your objectives while maintaining consistent messaging across all channels and scaling operations to match your business growth which helps you save time together with resources.
It is essential to recognise the complete benefits these agencies present before selecting the right one. Do you need clarity on why choosing a full-service agency will benefit your business? Explore this blog post to discover why you might need a full-service agency. Having identified the reasons for, and evaluated the benefits of outsourcing your marketing, it’s time to choose the right full-service marketing agency for your business. With so many B2B marketing agencies to choose from, we’ve put together some top tips to finding an agency that suits your needs.
- Reputation and results – through research and referrals
- Take a look at who the b2b marketing agency has worked with and what their customers are saying about them.
- Are their clients actively engaging with them on social media?
- Do they have great testimonials?
- Do they have any long-term client relationships?
- Are they happy for you to speak with their current customers or distributors for references?
- Look at examples of their work to assess the quality and creativity.
- Do they have case studies you can have a look at?
- What results have they achieved?
- What websites and content have they created?
- What visual content and messages are they sending out via the media and social media on behalf of their clients?
- Ask how they measure success, track performance and report results.
- Specialist knowledge and expertise
- To do an excellent job for you, B2B marketing teams will always need to learn the nuances of your business, products and services but by choosing an agency with experience in your field they will be able to:
- offer consultancy and advice as well as deliver to your brief.
- formulate a marketing plan and implement activity much quicker.
- recognise and know how to respond to your customers’ pain points.
- Don’t forget to ask about the team’s individual experiences:
- An agency with a team that has varied backgrounds, industry and commercial experience brings fresh thinking and new ideas.
- A blend of different marketing specialisms provides you with greater scope to develop and evolve your marketing.
- Range of services
- If you’re looking for a medium to long-term marketing partner, choose an agency with a wide range of services including strategic marketing, written and visual content creation, campaign delivery and analysis.
- Find out if the agency has experience in both digital and traditional marketing?
- Check what tools the agency currently uses but also how open they are to using new or different marketing technologies.
- Ask about the team’s individual expertise and qualifications. If you need a specific service, what expertise and experience does the agency have in-house?
- Culture, personality and values
- Set up an initial introductory meeting to test the chemistry and get answers to any questions you’ve not been able to satisfy from your initial research.
- If you’d like to meet the team that is likely to work on your account, ask for them to be included.
- Ask about the agencies approach, processes and procedures to ensure they align with your business culture.
- Planning and pricing
- Ask about their pricing model, what is included in the monthly fee, what additional costs are there likely to be and how will they manage your marketing spend.
- Good b2b marketing agencies have lots of value to offer. Marketing is a professional service so think about relationship over transaction, value over cost. Have open, honest conversations with your shortlisted agencies about what to expect.
- Try before you buy
- If you’ve not worked with a b2b marketing agency before, ask if you can start with a small project to see how they approach it before committing to a larger project or longer-term marketing plan.
Choosing 4CM as your full-service marketing agency
We are a full-service b2b marketing agency specialising in manufacturing, engineering and logistics. Our clients range from SMEs to large multinational organisations that develop, manufacture and supply products and provide services throughout the entire industrial supply chain. We have experience of marketing raw materials, industrial components, production software, finished products, manufacturing processes, logistics and other services targeting a vast range of sectors from aerospace and automotive, through food, marine and packaging to rail, utilities and water treatment.
Our expert team of marketers has business acumen and experience of strategic and digital marketing, PR, content creation and graphic design. This includes strategic workshops, brand positioning and identity, website design and build, SEO and development of creative content as well as tactical marketing such as social media, email marketing, media relations, videography and event support.
We will work as part of your team delivering as much support as is needed. For some clients we are an outsourced marketing team, for others we manage or support on large projects or offer services to complement their in-house sales and marketing teams. Because we are full-service, we offer flexibility with marketing that suits your changing needs over time. Check out some of our case studies and see why our clients like working with us.
If you need help with your marketing, contact us today.
