When you’re looking for a company to handle your marketing, first you’ll want to ask yourself what your marketing goals are. After you’ve clearly defined your marketing goals, you’ll want to find a firm that specializes in areas that match up with your goals, has an established track record of success, and falls within your marketing budget. We’re going to define a few areas where you should focus your efforts when looking to outsource your marketing, then provide a few resources.

Define Your Goals

To lock in what type of marketing firm you’re looking for, decide what type of marketing you are looking for:

Online Marketing Methods

• Pay-Per Click Marketing
• Organic Search Engine Optimization
• Banner Ads
• Affiliate Marketing
• Newsletters

Print Marketing Methods

• Direct Mail
• Magazine Ads
• Brochures/Flyers
• Billboards

General Marketing Methods

• Branding
• Permission Marketing
• Positioning
• Lead Generation

The more clear a picture you have of your goals, the better your end result will be. If you know what you’re looking for and define it all in easy to understand, written terms, it will make the entire process of searching for and hiring an external marketing firm easier.

Ideally, you would like to choose a firm that has a local office, as many of the marketing goals and objectives are best explained in person. You should look for a firm that deals with clients on a personal level, where you’ll be a face, and not merely just a number. You can do this by assessing how much personalized feedback the firm gives you on first impression. Are they willing to create a few samples for you free of charge? Are they able to understand your requirements, and give back to you ample concrete details defining every aspect of the project you are proposing? Can they offer you at least three clients as a reference, so you can research existing relationships they have?

The more you understand what your goals are, and the more effectively you can communicate them to the firm. If you feel that you’ve given the firm a clear understanding of your goals, and ample time to come back with a proposal, and they have failed to fulfill, then maybe you should shop around a bit more until you are truly comfortable with the vendor.

Firms that Specialize

Another aspect to consider is specialization. Once you’ve determined what type of marketing is your main goal, you should seek out a marketing firm that has strengths in your top one or two areas where you know you are going to focus most of your marketing efforts. There are many different types of marketing firms, many with specializations in only certain areas. Be wary of the guys who tell you they do everything, as most of the time these firms will do a lot, but nothing extremely well.

Lasting Relationships

Check out the track record of the marketing firm, and ask for a few referrals. See how long these other clients of the firm have been in business with them, and how they like the service. Ideally you’re looking for a firm that has at least a few extended relationships, and clients that feel the firm has delivered not only on the initial contract, but continually throughout the duration of the relationship.

Assess Your Budget

You’ll need to pay whomever you decide you want to handle your marketing tasks. This can sometimes be the trickiest piece of the puzzle, but any project needs a little financing to get off the ground.

Once you have all the pieces in place, you can move forward with a relationship that will last, and contribute to the overall success of your product, brand and overall prosperity of your business. Make sure you do your research, validate that the firm you choose can deliver on all the different pieces above, doesn’t have gaping holes in a specific area, and you’ll be well on your way. Growl.