Know-How Exchange : Other

Great questions! The retainer should be based on the amount of work you are going to need your agency to perform. You need to figure out what your overall goals and objectives are and you need set a realistic marketing budget in place to accomplish those goals. You can find any "agency" to work with in any budget small or larger. The problem is, you get what you pay for. So first start by asking yourself these questions;

1.) Do you want a traditional marketing agency or an online marketing agency or both?
2.) Do you need them to be local or can they be out of your geographic area?
3.) Why after 61 years do you feel you need a marketing company now? Make sure you are hiring one for all the right reasons.

I would highly recommend you find at least 4 agencies you are comfortable with and then make the investment to bring them all in for a face to face meeting. Even if they are going to be out of state, it's always good to meet face to face since you are going to be making a hefty investment in an agency.

As for what to ask the agency. Well that boils down to what's important for you. For instance, are you going to want customized reporting and can they do that? Do they need to be able to handle many services under one roof or is it okay if they have partners? ie... web design, print services, audio/video capabilities, search marketing etc.... I would also ask what kind of success they've had working with small or medium sized companies. The reason i say this is because every agency is going to spit out a large house hold brand they work with. However, i believe you can get a sense of how an agency really is by how they've been able to affect their smaller clients. Smaller clients have smaller budgets, therefore it take a lot more creativity to market them since you have limited resources. Larger companies have huge budgets so you can do pretty much anything and come out some what successful.

anyways, i hope this helps if even a little. I have my own agency out of Dallas and would be happy to speak further with you about your needs.

Good Luck!

Anthony

Trice,
You need to think about what you want them to do for you. At this point in your carreer... (your other post gives a little more background) .. I absolutely, positively recommend you delay signing up with anybody.

I would suggest putting somebody on board only after you have figured out a long term or at least middle term game plan.

Marketing people are very convincing. You don't want to be convinced yet...