Is Your Marketing Firm Working For You?

Although your company may insist that strategies take time to implement, many clients find themselves wondering just how long that time will be. Shouldn’t there be a faster way to get branding done, with fewer costs involved? If you feel like your marketing company is taking more money than it is returning, these tips will help you get the facts so you can evaluate their performance.

Evaluating Your Marketing Plan

When you put your resources into a marketing campaign, you should expect significant returns. This is particularly true if you work with your company to devise an overall marketing strategy with different integrated parts, all working together to promote your business.

If your marketing firm never mentioned the possibility of integrated strategies, then you should undoubtedly wonder why your returns are taking a long time to show. Less reputable companies sometimes lack the experience and skills to create a solid plan as a top marketing company would offer; to make up for this lack, they simply don’t provide the product.

If you suspect your company might be one such marketing firm, the best solution is to cut your losses and switch to a marketing services company with a proven track record.

Defining Your Return on Investment

One of the critical components of marketing cost-benefit analysis is the return on investment, often abbreviated ROI. If you have good ROI, for every dollar you put into a program or whatever it is you are funding, you receive more than that dollar’s worth of benefits. If your business is losing money because of an investment, then you will have poor ROI.

ROI analysis is a powerful tool for evaluating the performance of a marketing firm. But in some cases, results-driven by the marketing plan can be challenging to determine. Counting hits on a website is one thing, but determining actual new business generated can be much more difficult.

The best way to get an estimate is to look at the gross increase in sales since the beginning of the marketing campaign, comparing that record to previous months, or to the same time in the year before the marketing began (if such a timeframe is available). While there may be some growth not directly attributable to the marketing campaign, you will get a basic idea of what returns your company might be getting.

What to Do If the News Is Bad

If you are working with a top agency, whether with a Chicago marketing company or a company in another city, likely, you won’t have to consider any bad news. In all probability, your marketing plan is just taking a bit longer to become fully effective as branding and other elements fall into place. However, if you chose a marketing firm with a less stellar record and less experience, you may have to worry that your investment isn’t going as planned.

If so, switch to a reliable marketing services company instead. Look for one of the top ones, with the experience and skills to create an excellent marketing plan for your business. Cut your losses now, and start a marketing plan that works.