4 Things to Consider Before Choosing an Ad Agency

So, your business is ready to take the leap. You want to advertise so you can increase revenue. However, you don’t want to just place ads without some thought behind where you advertise. Therefore, you want to sign with an advertising agency. Keep in mind, there are 4 things to consider before choosing an ad agency.

Knows My Business

Obviously, there’s a big difference between someone who knows business versus someone who knows your business. For example, an ad agency may have a lot of experience increasing client revenue. However, what if all of their clients are restaurants, and you’re a commercial real estate developer? With this in mind, ask yourself if the agency understands what you do. Are they knowledgeable in your industry? If the answer to yes is both, and they have a proven track record of success, that’s a great first sign.

Cost

Listen, no one wants to pay more than they should. Agencies with over-the-moon prices are the ones with sky-high rent checks on Madison Ave. On the other hand, you should be suspicious if an ad agency is giving you too good a deal. If an ad agency is significantly lower than all the other ones you researched, it means they’re lacking experience in that service. In other words, you’re not just a client, you’re a guinea pig. Remember the old adage–if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Trust

Frankly, this is one of the most important of the 4 things to consider before choosing an ad agency. Unfortunately, advertising is an investment. Very few campaigns are going to pay dividends immediately. Therefore, you need to trust that the agency will make good on your investment by yielding results. Fortunately, there are some indicators throughout the process to look for:

• Is the agency hiding anything, like hidden fees?
• Are they constantly trying to up-sell me?
• How promptly do they get in touch with me?

Ad agencies don’t have just one client, but the one you choose should care about you and your business. Having said this, open communication with a good response time is critical. Also, you’ll learn quickly whether or not they care about your business, or just your check. If an agency isn’t upfront about service charges, there’s a chance you may be paying for a lot more than you wanted. Finally, you need to understand that a salesperson’s job is to sell. Granted, there is a big difference between a service that’s mutually beneficial and an up-sell. For instance, your local business attracts customers in a 10 mile radius. A smart campaign would be a social media campaign that targets this area. Everyone wins. In comparison, an up-sell would be an agency trying to pitch you a national TV commercial that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. The agency wins, but you go bankrupt.

The Work

Obviously, you need to see what they’ve done! Look at their reel, or view their portfolio. Take your time to really examine the work. Ideally, their work will be creative and showcase that they think outside the box. Why? This illustrates they take their time to look at problems from all angles. You need to know what the box is to know how to go out of it.

Fortunately, after you review these 4 things to consider before choosing an ad agency, you can see that Colossus Media Group is a great choice. As the best digital marketing agency in NJ, we take the time to fully understand all of our clients. In fact, we go out of our way to build a relationship with them before we even sign them as clients. It’s these relationships that help us create work like this. So, if you’re ready to work with an ad agency, call Colossus Media Group today.