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How to find a marketer with whom it will be profitable to work?

What to expect for an entrepreneur who is only broadly familiar with the concept of marketing and is looking for an adequate contractor in the face of a marketing agency that will close all the functions related to advertising. In my practice, I realized that most entrepreneurs have a distorted understanding of marketing in general and how the promotion system looks. And this is normal, because the entrepreneur must fulfill his tasks, and the marketing agency has its own internal kitchen. The most important thing for a normal contractor is to give the customer the results that it is important for him to provide.

How does it usually happen?


Negotiations between decision makers at the agency and the business owner look like tendering or a conversation between two deaf and dumb people. The entrepreneur expects to hear a concrete decision and a step-by-step plan of action. And the representative of the agency sprinkles with the terms, splurges and tries not to give out his “secret knowledge” so that the entrepreneur, God forbid, go and put all these ingenious decisions into practice.

But the paradox is that just the same entrepreneur turned to the agency to close this pain - they implemented the strategy that will lead to the result. No one in your place, dear marketers, will do your job. It’s one thing to say what you’ll do and another thing to really do it. Your intellectual property is completely safe.

The main reason for the failed negotiations between the agency and the company is a misunderstanding. The company does not understand what to do and what it will receive from the agency. The agency is afraid to reveal all the cards and thus does not close the client, is afraid to give any guarantees. For the same reason, I hear well-established cliches from entrepreneurs about the fact that marketing does not work, there are no normal contractors on the market, and that all agencies can only simulate violent activity beautifully.

How should everything happen in practice so that all parties are satisfied?


Negotiations do not start until the company voices its clear business task . What is the purpose of contacting a marketing agency? Count what exhaust you plan to receive from cooperation. It often happens that it is simply unprofitable for small businesses to contact the agency. His math does not allow you to allocate a budget for promotion.

Ideally, if the company has clear scaling indicators. For example, to receive 100 applications per day for the purchase of goods, instead of the current figures of 30 applications. Based on the average check, those resources that are already used by the company, the advertiser will be able to clearly predict the results and the budget that will be needed to implement the plan.

There is another important point in this picture - you need to choose an agency that works plus or minus with projects in your niche or is ready to show exactly the same cases with successful indicators. This is one of the criteria for the initial selection of an adequate contractor. If you have positive experience in implementing such a model, then you can count on the adequacy of the strategy that the agency will offer.

Most of the agencies that currently exist on the market are process people. They endlessly test something, talk about abstract indicators, prepare reports for you and implement those solutions that do not lead to the ultimate goal. For example, they offer you SEO site promotion when you are not going to attract a larger percentage of traffic through your site. For example, they introduce a CRM system when there are not so many applications and this is not a primary optimization task.

What should the agency provide you in the first round of negotiations?


First, the contractor should study you, and take for this a complete slice of information necessary for immersion in the business. You must give an exact task and request a solution that contractors are ready to offer. At the initial stage of negotiations, the agency should show you the cases, some solutions in your niche and convince you that he has enough power to give the result:

  • staffed
  • technical capabilities
  • expert potential, etc.

Then, attention, the contractor and your potential business partner offer their vision of the situation and offer their step-by-step action plan that will lead to the result. This is strategic marketing.

Strategy and action plan is a constructive starting point for cooperation. After the company understands what it needs to receive, and the agency understands where it is necessary to move so that the customer is satisfied, an agreement is concluded that sets out the conditions for cooperation.

These are the logical and understandable rules of subordination that will help companies successfully find their ideal contractors, and agencies to find customers with whom you can create successful cases.

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