Promoting your products and services shouldn’t always be an intimidating venture to start with. All you have to do is to find an agency that fits your objectives and delivers the right ingredients that will make your brand gleam brighter than the waters off the Great Barrier Reef.
At any rate, choosing the right advertising agency has to deal with the fact that you have certain creative needs to be met. Knowing these needs should help you narrow down your search. But even if you did find an agency you think can “walk the talk” so to speak, you would still have to make sure you have made the right choice.
For many businesses in Australia, creative advertising firms are not that difficult to look for. In fact, the country is home to a lot of companies specializing in product promotion and brand-building. For sure, most of these agencies have won awards for best practices. But it remains to be seen if these same companies can bring your brand the exposure it needs to grow.
To be safe, you need to ask the right questions before you can partner up with an ad agency. Here are just a few of them.
Do you have local capacity?
What this entails is that ad agencies should know the ins and outs of the market they are going to engage. Demographics and other important intelligence are, in this case, essential and should provide the knowledge in order to create ad campaigns tailor-fitted towards one’s audience. Before making the pitch, ask the company if is capable of making content that resonates well with the Australian market.
Related: Every Ad Agency in Australia Needs a Good Telemarketing Strategy
Who were your past clients?
This is another question that must come before a pitch is made. To know an ad company’s actual capacity to create effective messages, you need to look into its previous clients. Were there any complaints regarding the delivery and the quality of rendered services? Were there any high-points indicated in reviews mentioning the company? Does the company’s roster of previous clients include big brands? Take these questions into account and see if the firm’s background will convince you to pitch in.
Related: Overcoming Marketing Challenges for Digital Advertising Agencies
What tools and platforms do you use?
When it comes to advertising, the medium has always been the message. The choice of platform or communication channel is highly essential, mostly because this choice will influence the way you can maximize your message and engage as many people as you want.
What metrics do you focus on?
When ad campaigns are implemented, how will you exactly measure their success? This where metrics and analysis come in handy. An effective ad agency, in this case, is one that makes sense of the variables that show whether or not certain strategies are producing the right results as expected. ROI and engagement rates are the metrics to concentrate on, and you need to make sure if the agency is capable of interpreting these numbers and utilizing them for future ad campaigns.
Related: How Advertising Agencies Can Use Multi-Channel Marketing
What activities can you perform?
Since advertising comprises of several distinct disciplines, it is important to ask the agency its range of services and capabilities. Right now, SEO, copywriting and online video production is the best methods to go. And this is because of a lot of people, from consumers to business leaders alike, make better decisions online than through traditional media. One thing’s for sure, digital marketing activities are necessary to place your brand front and center where your target audiences can see them.
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Do you outsource your activities?
Ask the agency if it taps another service provider for certain tasks. Even more important is to ask if how often the core ad team coordinates with the outsourcing partner. Moreover, there should be ample space for quality assurance, so ask whether there is a system for checking the content for any errors or consistencies that can potentially put your brand under a bad light.
Related: Sample Telemarketing Scripts for ADVERTISING
How much should I spend?
Price considerations are vital. This is mostly because you need to maximize your resources in order to get the most benefits. Price negotiations are the trickiest part of choosing the right ad agency, and you have to ask if there are any added fees that you should be aware of. More importantly, you also need to ask if there are provisions for rebates and refunds, just in case the campaign you purchased doesn’t turn out well.
