Choosing Your Marketing Consultant: Red and Green Flags

Gartner’s Annual CMO Spend Survey that interviewed hundreds of chief marketing officers and marketing leaders reveals that many marketing budgets have dropped to 7.7% of the overall company revenue. Four years ago it used to be above 10%. That’s unfortunately the challenge that many businesses face.

However, a proper marketing consultant will stretch your budget further. They know how to decrease customer acquisition costs and generate an impressive return on investment. Here’s how to distinguish the great marketing assistant from the less-than-stellar ones.

 

Red Flags to Watch Out For

In the world of marketing, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. And, if you can’t clearly understand what it is that they’re promising to deliver or how much it will cost you, it’s even a bigger red flag.

A good marketing consultant will know their limitations. They’ll work with specific industries and be clear about what they can achieve from the start.

Lack of Transparency

Two of the things that you should have clarity on are which strategies will be used and which performance metrics will be tracked. Your marketing consultant should know these before they start.

There should be no ambiguity about what the goals are or secrecy over what has been achieved. As such, double-check that regular reporting is included in their service.

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Overpromising and Underdelivering

It’s clichéd, but true. While marketers should market their own services well, overexaggerations are warning signs.

Be wary of marketing agencies that promise massive results or improvements. It’s even a bigger red flag when these results can be achieved in a short span of time. This is especially true of search engine optimization (SEO). 

If they guarantee instant results, there’s a good chance that they’ll resort to black hat techniques. Whatever success you’ll enjoy won’t last. In fact, it could end up leaving you in a worse position than before you started working with this agency. 

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This is another reason why regular reporting is non-negotiable. It’s one way to keep the agency accountable. Without reports, it becomes easy to underdeliver as there’s no objective means to measure that they’ve delivered on what they said they could achieve. 

High Staff Turnover

A high staff turnover can often indicate that there are some internal problems, especially if senior employees are regularly replaced with junior team members. 

Sure, it’s their problem to sort out. However, it can end up disrupting your project, which can lead to potential delays. 

Even if it doesn’t impact their ability to meet your deadlines, it can become frustrating having to “reintroduce” yourself to a new account manager regularly. When working on a digital marketing campaign, you want continuity, which is harder to achieve when the team assigned to your account regularly changes. 

23.7% of over 500 marketing professionals interviewed identify talent acquisition as their biggest challenge.

Limited Communication

Many digital marketing campaigns are long-term projects. It also requires collaboration. As a client, you’ll want to be kept in the loop and given opportunities to add your feedback. 

Building a long-term partnership is already challenging on a good day. It becomes harder than it has to be if the other party is bad at communication. 

Limited communication isn’t synonymous with doing little talking, though. Listening plays a big role in communication. You want to find a marketing consultant that actively listens to your pain points and suggestions and when it’s their cue to reply, they do so promptly.

Lack of Industry Experience

While the digital marketing consultant might specialize in the marketing service you’re interested in, it doesn’t mean that they know your niche just as well. They need to be knowledgeable about the specific service as well as the industry in which you operate.  

At the same time, effective marketing strategies require more than simply knowing the basics of the industry. There are subtle nuances and rigid regulations that you need to plan around. 

Take the healthcare industry, for instance. In this case, marketers will need to be well-versed in patient confidentiality laws when sharing photos.   

Unclear Contract Terms

Another area where there needs to be complete transparency is when it comes to contract terms. 

A double red flag is vague terms and conditions and being rushed to sign. Limited-time deals are commonly used as a marketing strategy when selling products, but when it comes to services, it’s best to take your time. After all, you’re searching to build a long-term relationship with your marketing consultant, not buy a consumable.  

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Green Flags to Look For

Marrying for money isn’t a good idea. So, why should potential cost savings be the only reason to choose a marketing consultant? There are various boxes that marketing assistants should tick for the client relationship and, ultimately, your relationship with your target audience to grow.

Proven Track Record

One way to rule out a pattern of underdelivering is by checking the agency’s track record. 

Here are signs that they deliver more often than not:

• A sizeable client list,
• Good reviews, 
• Positive press mentions on reputable sources.

For example, Ninja Promo ticks all three of these boxes. We have: 

• Over 290 projects in our portfolio (continually replenished),
• Received dozens of positive reviews,
• Been featured by the likes of Forbes, Influencer Marketing Hub, Digital Agency Network, and more. 

Clear Communication Channels

As mentioned earlier, communication is one of the crucial criteria for choosing your marketing consultant. Aside from using your early interactions as the measuring stick, also check which channels they use. 

The agency should immediately offer several communication channel options. That said, communication across multiple channels simultaneously is unacceptable, as important information can be lost. It’s rather a case of offering clients a list of communication methods so that they can choose the one that they use most often. 

For example, Ninja Promo most often uses Slack and Telegram, but we’re always ready to adapt to the client’s needs.

Transparent Pricing Models

Like with marketing objectives, pricing models should be clear. It should be explained upfront whether the partner will charge per hour or project. It’s not uncommon to use more than one pricing model, but in this case clients need to know for which tasks an hourly rate applies. 

At Ninja Promo, we take it one step further to offer transparency as well as flexibility. We offer three subscription plans, each with crystal-clear hourly billing. For a fixed monthly fee starting from $3,200, you can get access to a team of specialists. No hidden costs; no surprise charges.

Strong Client Testimonials

As mentioned earlier, you can use reviews to evaluate shortlisted agencies’ track record. While a star-rating can give you a quick idea of if the agency shows potential, the real value comes from what the client has written about their experience. 

In addition to the agency’s own business website, you should also look for reviews on third-party review platforms like:

• Clutch

• Trustpilot

• DesignRush

For example, on Ninja Promo’s Clutch page, you’ll see that our high-quality work, punctuality, and communication are three traits that stand out. What makes these review sites such a valuable resource is that it provides honest, authentic feedback.

Comprehensive Service Offerings

Marketing agencies that offer a comprehensive list of services stand out as true partners in growth. By working with a company that offers more than one service, you can develop and implement integrated campaigns. 

Irrespective of which industry you operate in, consistency in messaging is needed to create a solid brand. If you, for example, entrust social media to one agency and paid search ads to another, this becomes harder to achieve. 

Also, if you end up having to work with multiple agencies, communication can become fragmented and strategies disjointed. 

For example, Ninja Promo offers a wide range of services. We can help with strategy, develop that idea into a user-friendly website or mobile app, and design a brand identity and various content pieces. Then, to help you market those assets, you can use all the main digital channels—email, social media, SEO, and more.

Industry Expertise

Industry expertise matters because a one-size-fits-all approach rarely works in marketing. You need a marketing partner with a detailed understanding of your market’s dynamics, target audience behavior, and marketing trends to come up with tailored strategies. 

Plus, relevant industry expertise also means that execution will be more efficient. Less time needs to be spent on getting acquainted with the nuance’s of your industry, resulting in quicker turnaround times.  

To check if a potential contractor has expertise in the required field, you can refer to their portfolio. Ninja Promo, for example, lists their recent projects by industry. This way, you can tell at a glance the industries that we serve. Be sure to review our portfolio to get a better idea of the types of challenges we’ve helped businesses in the specific industries to overcome and the types of results we’ve achieved.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line to finding a marketing partner that can grow your bottom line is to prioritize a proven track record of relevant industry experience. A deep understanding of market dynamics allows marketing teams to tailor strategies which can provide you with a competitive advantage. 

Then, look at how they communicate. Goals and pricing should be clear. If they can’t clearly sell their own service, will they be able to market your offering effectively? We highly doubt.