Find out how to find the right B2B marketing agency for your company. Here is a list of things you may want to consider before signing any contract.

1. B2B Marketing
Finding the right B2B Marketing Agency

2. Finding An Agency
• Finding the right agency is crucial for any business involved in B2B
marketing. It can take time to find an agency that is the right fit for
your business or sector. However, investing this time to find the right
company and the right people can lead to long term rewards. It’s
critical that when choosing an agency that you invest this time
throughout the process in order to find the marketing agency.

3. • If you decide just to go with the first agency you meet, then this may
lead to problems down the line and you may not get the results that
you want first time. Although choosing an agency requires
investment in time up front, choosing the wrong agency can have all
sorts of costs. For example, you may have end a contract early which
may lead to financial penalties. In the end it will also affect the
bottom line and this is a major reason for finding the right agency
first time around.

4. Ensure Agencies Understand
Your Niche
• The first and key step in choosing a B2B marketing agency is that
they know your niche or have experience in your sector. An agency
needs to fully understand the industry you are targeting and the
people in it.
• A good place to start is look at their previous experience and who
they currently work with. Every agency will have a track record and
set of case studies to speak about in their pitch and these should be
in line with the sector your company is targeting. This will give you a
very good indication of whether or the not the agency is the right fit.
• It is very difficult for a B2B marketing agency to break into a new
sector and you do not want to be running the risk on their behalf.
This could be very costly if they simply do not have the knowledge or
understanding of your sector. Most agencies specialise in one sector
and offer specific services such as B2B technology marketing
services or B2B digital marketing, so make sure you pick someone
for your sector.

5. What Are Their Tactics?
• Furthermore the agency needs to understand not just the sector, but
also the people in it and what tactics they respond to and their
purchasing habits. The agency needs to have a deep understanding
of the prospects you are targeting and what motivates them. If this
is not present, then you should look at interviewing a more suitable
agency. You will also need to consider how strategic the agency is in
terms of understanding channels and brands and the buying habits
of procurement departments.

6. Finding The Right People
• People are what make up every
organisation and in B2B marketing this
is a very important factor when
choosing the right agency. It’s critical
that when choosing an agency that you
look at the senior management of the
agency and how they interact with
staff.
• Are the staff motived in the right way?
Remember that they will be contacting
organisations on your behalf, so it’s
important to understand that they staff
there are happy, motivated and hence
productive in what they do.

7. Know Your Agencies Staff
• You will also need to look at how they deal with external elements
and whether or not the staff are senior enough and have the right
level of knowledge to interact and communicate with senior staff in
external companies. Oftentimes what will happen is that an agency
will win a project and all of the communication with external
companies is left to the less senior members of the team and hence
this is why many campaigns fail, in particular telemarketing
campaigns.
• It is essential you know the people who will be working on your
campaign to ensure that they have the right level of experience for
the campaign. After all they will be contacting senior people in large
corporations on your behalf.

8. • Whichever agency you decide to choose, make sure that it is not a
rushed decision because you are unhappy with your current
agency, this will lead to problems further down the line. The
decision needs to be an informed one, if you are to get the kind of
returns you are looking for.

9. Find Your Agency By:
• Researching lots of different agencies.
• Find out how they operate.
• Get to know their experiences
• Make sure they understand your sector
and business area well.
• Get to know them and make them a part
of your team.
• Find out their approach to seeking you
new business clients.
• Find out who they have worked with
before and their clients.
• Test them out, if you don’t like them or do
not get on well, then find someone who
you do work well with.