6 Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring a Marketing Firm in Houston

In today’s world, using marketing to your advantage is of utmost importance if you want to succeed and, given the number of people who go online as their first source for product information, that means mastering digital marketing. After all, the internet has made commerce quite competitive, and with an effective digital marketing strategy, implemented to perfection, you’ll find your business is an “also ran” that soon ends up on the trash heap of failed businesses (see the graphic below to see how hard it is to succeed in today’s digital world). While mastering marketing has never been easy, the realm of digital marketing takes more than a few ads with catchy phrases. You must master more technical topics such as SEO (search engine optimization), content marketing, social media, and email marketing, which require knowledge of coding, search algorithms, graphic design, video, and much more. You can’t simply put a schlocky ad filmed on a shoestring on the local cable channel to drum up business. Moreover, these skills are in high demand and therefore don’t come cheap. If you don’t have the skills to succeed in the digital world, think about hiring a marketing firm in your local area, whether that’s Houston or some other city.

Why marketing is important

Digital marketing utilizes modern tools and technologies to promote your brand online, where consumers spend the majority of their time. In fact, 86% of internet users start their search on a search engine before making a purchase. A whopping 79% of them purchase online rather than going to a physical store. You only had to venture out for Black Friday shopping recently to see the impact of digital’s role in sharing deals and digital purchase options, illustrating the massive impact of digital marketing on in-store shopping, instead of rummaging through sales ads in the newspaper, as might have happened in years past.

Statistics continue to highlight the profound shift in consumer behavior wrought by the internet and ubiquitous connectivity. The shift becomes more evident in the post-COVID era, as this graphic demonstrates.

Digital media helps create strong brands that tend to rule the marketplace. It helps bring its vision and mission to the forefront of potential customers. Digital marketing helps build a strong identity that appeals to its potential audience. Here are some advantages of digital marketing:

• Build a brand image and awareness
• Achieve a high reach without spending a lot of money
• Improve ROI
• Higher customer retention
• Engage customers and prospects to improve reach and brand image using UGC (user-generated content)

Hiring a marketing firm to help you succeed

Hiring a marketing firm in Houston, for example, or anywhere else is a serious consideration not only due to the cost of hiring a firm, but also the potential damage to your reputation you might face from an inept firm.  While hiring a marketing firm is often less expensive than hiring someone in-house, mistakes in either hiring situation can be costly.

You only have to look at the mistake made by Asus Computers when they hired someone to manage their social media under the mistaken notion that anyone young knew how to run one effectively.  Thinking he was joking, he posted a seriously sexist ad on Twitter that turned off its target market and garnered seriously negative press..

Clearly, you would much rather avoid such mistakes. Below, I list some of the common errors that people tend to make when hiring a marketing firm in Houston or anywhere else. Your task is to remember them and do your best to avoid repeating them.

1. Hiring randomly

As you may have already guessed from the discussion, you can’t hire a marketing firm randomly or hire your cousin because he manages his podcast with 75 followers. Hiring a friend or taking a recommendation from one without doing your own research is a recipe for disaster. Instead, you should ask the following questions:

1. What’s your success rate? Be sure to get data from prior clients and that the data reflects KPIs (key performance indicators) rather than vanity metrics such as clicks.
2. When will I see results? Remember that digital marketing often takes a few months before you see tangible results, maybe a little faster for online advertising. Be wary of a firm that promises instant results. The firm should offer a concrete timeline with deliverables distributed along the timeline.
3. Who will be involved in managing my account?
4. How frequently will I receive updates and reports? What’s the reporting schedule for each type of report? How fast do you respond to my queries?
5. Can you provide case studies from work done for other clients? Be wary if they mention a specific company’s results, as confidentiality is critical. If they share a company’s results with you, they’ll likely share yours with others.
6. Can you provide a list of clients? May I contact some of them?
7. What marketing tools and software do you employ?
8. What’s the experience of your team?

2. Not researching more companies

The idea, of course, is for you to research more companies, not just one and be done with it. So, what you have to do is find several potential marketing firms in Houston and then take your time to research them in detail by asking the questions above. Visit their official websites, gather information from other sources that may have something to share, and search for more relevant information online. This way, you will get to check experience and anything else you need to know before making a hiring decision.

3. Not checking specific services

Another thing to consider before hiring a marketing firm is whether they offer all the services you require. Some companies may offer only SEO, for example, or only SMM (social media marketing), or PPC advertising, such as Google Ads. While others may be full-service marketing agencies, meaning that they provide you with everything you need from start to finish.

If you’re relatively inexperienced, you may want to choose a full-service agency, preferably one that begins its efforts by educating you and studying your existing business. An agency that starts by building a plan, laying out your options and the cost associated with each one, offers a timeline for deliverables, and promises regular reports, offers the best option for most firms.

4. Ignoring reputation

Here’s one more crucial mistake to avoid. Ignoring reputation. If you find that a lot of past clients are complaining about certain marketing firms, either through reviews or when you contact them for feedback, that should be a red flag. Put simply, you should aim to hire reputable and reliable companies, which is why ignoring their reputation is never a good idea.

5. Not discussing any kind of timeline

Okay, it is completely normal for you, especially if this is the first time you’ve hired an agency, to be a little unclear about your objectives and timeline. But, the agency should represent an expert in the industry. They should offer guidance and help you with everything from building realistic goals to determining an optimal budget to crafting a timeline.

More tips on how to hire the right company: Business News Daily

6. Choosing based on the prices

Price shouldn’t be the deciding factor in any aspect of your business. Sure, I know you have to consider the prices, and that you have to find solutions that fit with your budget, but remember, you have to spend money to make money. Sure, price is one factor to consider, but the bigger consideration is which firm will do the best job for your business. Only consider price if faced with two or more firms that appear to offer equal opportunities for your business to reach its goals.

Conclusion

Hiring the wrong agency to handle your digital marketing, or any other business-related task, is a recipe for failure. Your business means too much to you to risk turning over such a critical function to just any firm. Hiring the right marketing firm is a make-or-break decision. I hope this post helped you become a better judge when it comes to hiring a marketing firm.

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Hausman and Associates, the publisher of MKT Maven, is a full-service marketing agency operating at the intersection of marketing and digital media. Check out our full range of services.