With a productive marketing strategy implemented in a company’s business plan, not only would it successfully reach to potential customers, it would also enhance their brand and achieve a competitive edge against rival companies. This is done by understanding the company’s goals in terms of business and marketing, researching your audience, profiling your competitors and testing new ideas.
The effects of a well-made marketing strategy will be immensely favourable in the long run, but not every company has the necessary skills to develop one, especially smaller businesses and new companies. Having your own in-house marketing team can be costly and you may not have the right people for the task.
But nowadays, marketing services are readily available and abundant in the form of marketing agencies.
Marketing agencies are companies that carry out marketing strategies in order to achieve their clients’ business goals. Their services include advertising, marketing consultations, social media management, web design, search engine optimization and much, much more.
Not only is it a cheaper alternative, they also offer the chance to work with marketing experts as well as allowing space for companies to focus on their primary business. While it does offer many benefits to various types of businesses, they are still disadvantages to hiring these third-party agencies which may affect your business.
Over-Expectations
Goals are common in business and they’re easy to understand. The more promising they sound, the more optimistic we feel for our future. For marketing agencies, in order to get hired or to keep being employed, they would set high goals for themselves and their client, with the hopes that they would get picked or would still be paid for their services.
The problem lies in how unrealistic they set their targets, only to please their clients who aren’t exactly savvy with how marketing works. When deciding to hire an agency, it’s best to look if what they offer relates to what you expect in your end. Before we plan on the target, we should know if we could achieve it.
Quick Results
Many businesses are working under a limited budget and are expecting results as soon as possible. This puts the marketing agency under pressure to produce whatever positive findings they could get. One of which is creating ads for your business and getting them seen online.
While getting on the first page of Google may seem like a feat, it doesn’t really mean anything when all it takes is using the right key words to get the desired result. But for businesses who aren’t familiar with how it works, they would brush it off as a win. To these agencies, making a good impression is their only choice of ensuring that their job won’t be jeopardized.
Never A Guarantee
The point of marketing is to increase awareness of your brand. While marketing can affect the growth of sales, it is not only the factor that drives it. Other ways to increase sales include providing different range of products and services, expanding available markets, improving sales channels and analysing the final price.
Because of this, the marketing aspect of a company should never guarantee the final result of sales. Business is made up of many cogs and wheels working together to create a system. If you wish to invest in an agency, keep in mind that it may not be the life changing answer that you need to succeed.
Pay Over Partnership
The relationship between an agency and their client is a simple one. The client pays money to the agency and they return with their services. This partnership is driven by money and that’s the problem. These types of agencies that brag about their so-called achievements and making sure that the bill is received only care about getting paid.
Unlike real partnerships that work together to help each other find solutions to their shared problems and accomplish their goals, these agencies truly don’t care about the problem unless you pay them more. There are marketing agencies that are willing to spend time with their clients but it is a tricky road to know which ones are worth your trust.
Report Manipulation
Nobody wants to disappoint their client, because the worst that could happen is that they’ll lose their biggest money maker to the entire agency. And the best way to make their final report look promising, is simply filling it with what they did well and leave out what they did wrong.
Similar to the window dressing strategy, these types of reports are dishonest and manipulative, allowing agencies to control the narrative of what actually happens behind the scenes. Clients should know the truth of the situation so they could know what went wrong and learn from their mistakes. Ignoring the stains won’t make it go away.
Perfect Portfolio
Before hiring an agency, it’s always best to check on their background and their previous work. It’s a requirement for agencies to show their portfolio to potential clients, but the problem lies in how they present it. They would definitely list down their accomplishments but would they do the same with their failures?
A great-looking portfolio from an agency is quite appealing, but it’s more important to know how they got to where they are. Background checks into their current and previous clients can shed more light to the agency. If they refuse to cooperate by not sharing their references and other necessary information, it’s best to look elsewhere before we fall into a trap.
Multiple Clients
For these agencies to survive, one client is not enough. So, they have no choice but to accept many businesses who demand for their services. To juggle many jobs is no easy task, and to please every one of their clients is even harder. If they can’t focus on one, there wouldn’t be a chance for them to focus on you.
To make sure they don’t lose their clients, they may risk presenting false data to make the assumption that they’re doing well. If we move forward with false data, it may hurt the business in the long run. It's best to check the stability of the agency to know if they’re willing to handle your company’s marketing before we invest in them.
Wrong Target
You may know enough about the agency you just hired, but do they know enough about you? Knowing your audience is crucial in marketing, but if you don’t know who you’re working with, you won’t know who you’re targeting for. Using similar tactics with previous clients may not work as not every business is built the same way.
Researching your client is necessary to know their target audience, how to market to them and understanding the right sales approach. Without proper research, you may risk targeting the wrong demographic and bringing zero result to your client’s business.