5 Reasons To Fire Your Agency Marketing Services Firm

There are many reasons to fire an agency marketing services provider – but not all of them are blatantly obvious. What are some early red flags that should put you in hot pursuit of a new inbound marketing firm?

#1. They forget why they were hired.
Regardless of the size of your, the client's, business, you (should) have a very specific reason why you hired your agency marketing services provider. Make sure your agency knows what that reason is and make sure they are always keeping their eyes on that prize.

#2. They give you followers, not leads.
Twitter followers are great, but they’re not automatically going to grow your business. The same is true of all social media, blogs and even press releases and national media attention. Make it clear that you want the agency marketing services to generate sales leads – and that the marketing agency is developing and executing a plan to help you do that. Growing market presence is great, but it should all be aimed at ultimately growing sales.

#3. You can’t trace customers back to the agency’s work.
Let’s say you’ve seen some traction in the last quarter. Is it because your sales team has been upping their efforts or is it because of your agency marketing services program? Ask questions like “How many new customers did you bring me this month?” and “How many sales dollars did they produce?” Another key question: “What was the cost per customer?” A marketing firm that doesn’t have a defined plan and can’t (or won’t) share goal-critical metrics like these isn’t worth your time or your money.

#4. The agency doesn’t produce results you care about.
It’s important not to get caught up in buzzwords like “brand presence,” “QR code,” “microsite,” or “targeted campaign.” Sure, all of these agency marketing services can be great boons to your bottom line, but you need to make sure your marketing agency knows you expect them to prove their worth.

So, if you’ve shelled out for agency marketing services, you should be seeing more leads and more customers. If those aren’t the results your agency cares about – then you shouldn’t care to continue the relationship.

#5. They aren’t “thought partners”.
An agency as thought partner isn’t afraid to educate its client. They’re not worried they’ll teach their client so much about marketing that the client will ultimately bring their agency marketing services in house. An agency as thought partner is confident that the more educated their client is about what it takes to execute proper inbound marketing, the more value said client will see in their work and their results.

An agency as thought partner is also interested in learning. They’ll go out of their way to ask for a client’s opinion and insights and not assume that their expertise is the end all be all on the matter.

If you hire a “Yes Man” marketing agency, then you might as well just throw your money away entirely. It’s important to have an agency marketing services provider that challenges your thinking, challenges your assumptions about marketing and drives results for your business. That is why you hire them after all.