The B2B agency behind your success

An experienced agency will clearly represent what they specialize in on their B2B website. If you look around an agency’s website and don’t have a clue who they work with or what services they offer, run!

Ideally, you want to work with a marketing agency that is experienced in B2B marketing, rather than B2C. Additionally, if you are a service-based business, you want to work with a marketing partner who understands service-based businesses. For example, if a firm specializes in ecommerce marketing, they likely aren’t the best fit to help you achieve your goals.

Get an understanding of the services they offer and see if they can provide everything you need. For example, if public relations help is at the top of your list, you likely want a PR-focused agency. If B2B web design is your initial focus, you want to hire an agency who has extensive website design experience. If an agency doesn’t offer the main services/assistance you need – they won’t be able to help you achieve your goals. Also, sometimes it is advisable to split up duties between multiple agencies since finding an agency good at everything is not likely.

This is an important consideration for taking on a marketing partner or B2B agency, but is often overlooked. There are agencies of all sizes out there with various capabilities. While it’s ok to outsource certain things, you want to be sure they aren’t outsourcing the major components of your marketing plan. For example, it makes sense to bring in freelance writers to work with you on drafting content, especially if you are looking for an experienced writer who is familiar with your industry or has industry-adjacent knowledge. However, if you are looking to design a new user-friendly B2B website design, the agency should have designers and developers on staff. All design and development do not need to be in-house, but there should be an experience design and development team overseeing all aspects of the project.

Check to see if the B2B marketing agency has specific industry niches in their portfolio of work. For example, Bop Design specializes in technology, SaaS, finance, and consulting industries. This is important because having experience in your industry means an agency will know what works and doesn’t work. They will also have a foundational knowledge of your business and the learning curve for understanding your business will be much smaller.

Be wary of any agency that says they do not have particular industries they focus on. They might be trying to “be everything to everyone,” which means they don’t have true expertise.

The sales process is an introduction to what it will be like to work that B2B marketing agency. If the sales process is convoluted or hard to follow, that is often an indicator of their internal customer service. Similarly, if their sales process is seamless, informative, and sensitive to your needs, you can expect a smooth relationship.

During the sales process, it’s important to find out who you are working with. For the majority of agencies (and B2B firms in general), your sales contact is rarely ever your point of contact for an ongoing marketing project. Sales people are awesome at building relationships and business development, but often lack the skills needed for successful ongoing project management. As such, once you complete the sales process, you should be introduced to your main point of contact who will work with you on your strategy and execution. Find out who this person is and what other team members will be working on your projects.

We know it’s cliché, but you get what you pay for, particularly when it comes to the services of a B2B marketing firm. Working with an experienced, senior team of B2B marketing professionals can help you reach or exceed your B2B marketing goals, but it’s not cheap. Think of the partnership as an investment, not a cost.

Likewise, if you think you are getting a smoking deal on retaining the services of an agency, you should

a. check your contract to see what is actually included or

b. be skeptical on what they can deliver and the quality.

If all the quotes you get are in the same neighborhood for cost, you are likely comparing apples to apples – but you should still verify that.

The biggest reason companies look to hire an outside B2B marketing agency is not from lack of internal marketing acumen, but rather because of limited internal resources. For most of the clients Bop Design works with, there are two to three internal marketing professionals who are highly experienced at managing and marketing their firm’s brand. They look to us to help fill in the gaps where they just don’t have the resources.

The three biggest resource limitations many B2B companies face are personnel, time, and budget. While they may have several members on their marketing team (or only a Marketing Director), they aren’t able to add the number of employees they would need to execute a comprehensive marketing strategy. As such, the current team members don’t have time to research all the latest trends or determine the most appropriate methods and channels to use. Lastly, they don’t have the budget to hire an internal team, subscribe to all the necessary tools, or invest in the planning and reporting of strategic plans.

Team of Specialists: You get the best results when you work with experts in the field. For example, you don’t want to have eye surgery from someone who took one seminar on optical health. Partnering with a B2B marketing agency gives a company access to experts in all facets of marketing: design, copywriting, digital outreach, inbound, direct mail, web development, conversion optimization, analysis and tracking, campaign creation, automation, print, advertising, nurturing, etc. The agency employs a team of specialized professionals that has deep skills in a particular area.

Up on Current Trends: In addition to working with an experienced, knowledgeable team, a company working with an agency can be certain the agency employees are current on the latest marketing trends. As an internal marketing professional, you are likely aware of all the recent advances and news affecting your firm’s industry. Likewise, an agency’s employees stay current on the latest trends in marketing and are using them on a daily basis on client campaigns. They know what is working, what is overblown hype and can discuss the latest techniques and tools with you to ensure they are the best fit.

Vendor Relationships: A comprehensive B2B marketing strategy utilizes various channels, tools, and tracking software to ensure that campaigns are working and producing results. Many of these channels, tools, and software require ongoing relationships and subscription services. By working with a marketing agency, a company will experience the benefits of these tools without having to make the additional investment or spending the time to manage them.

For example, Bop Design uses a variety of paid tools on behalf of ourselves and our clients, all of which have a subscription cost. Here is a small sample of the subscription tools we pay for and utilize for our clients:

• Semrush – SEO tracking software for monitoring keyword performance and site audits.
• PR Newswire/Cision – Publishing press releases and managing influencer lists.
• DataBox– Organizing reporting information.
• CrazyEgg – Heatmapping and A/B testing.
• Staging Pilot – Testing how WordPress and plugins will affect the website in a safe, test environment, rather than a live website.
• Tiny PNG – Shrinks images to a better size for web use.
• GatherContent – Helps clients organize and migrate website content.
• BugHerd – Tracking website bugs during development and content entry.
• And many others

Wait, hiring an outside agency means cost savings? Yes, it does, and we can break it down by the numbers. The minimum folks needed to run a successful B2B marketing strategy complete with blogging, downloadable guides, pay-per-click advertising, email marketing, website updates, and print advertising campaigns requires the following positions:

• Graphic Designer – to make sure all marketing materials are consistent with the brand and source photos, videos, animations and manipulate them for each individual piece.
• Web Developer – to ensure everything on the B2B website works, fix issues as they arrive, manage plugins, code new landing pages or website features.
• Copywriter – to draft and edit all copy and content to ensure the value proposition is clear and the text speaks to the desired audience.
• Pay-per-click Specialist – to manage all PPC campaigns (AdWords, Bing, and Retargeting) to ensure budgets are maximized and driving the right leads (not just traffic).
• Analytics Specialist – to evaluate the efficacy of all programs, ensure everything is tracking properly so campaigns can be evaluated on their ROI and lead generation capabilities.
• Technical Manager – to make sure all things work together seamlessly and ensure the user experience is great and search engines can easily access the website.
• Project/Account Manager – to ensure the strategy is executed properly, all tasks are completed, and the campaigns are driving results. This person is the client’s advocate to ensure everything is seamless and easy for the client, while also completing a lot of the tasks in the campaigns.

Now, these are the minimum of specialists required on a successful B2B marketing campaign. There are many other specialists that can be drawn in as needed: media buyers, SEO managers, content strategists, video specialists, conversion specialists, printers, mail houses, and more.

So, let’s break down the numbers.* We are giving the range, so you can get an idea of entry-level, mid-level vs. highly experienced, skilled employees.

• Graphic Designer $40,000 – 83,250
• Web Developer $62,500 – 110,000
• Copywriter $55,000 – 105,250
• Pay-per-click Specialist – $52,000 – 94,750
• Analytics Specialist $49,000 – 104,250
• Technical Manager – $62,000 – 126,000
• Project/Account Manager – $53,500 – 98,000

If a company hires all these positions at entry level to manage their B2B marketing plan, the minimum yearly spend would be $374,000. For a company looking to hire the best of the best to work on their campaigns, the yearly salary costs (not including money spent directly on advertising) would be $721,500. And this doesn’t factor in the cost of benefits!

One of the final reasons we’ll cover here (although there are many others) for hiring a B2B marketing firm is to drive and track measurable client leads. An outside marketing agency can build on the great work of an internal team and, without adding any additional overhead, drive additional leads or help to nurture existing leads. It’s important to consider the revenue of a new lead. If a typical deal for a consulting firm is $50,000 with a chance for recurring revenue from future projects, it makes sense to spend money to get more of those types of leads. Closing one lead can often pay for several months of fees for a B2B marketing agency.

While hiring an outside B2B marketing agency isn’t ideal for every single B2B firm, it makes sense for a majority of companies. It enables firms to reach growth projections and increased revenue goals without adding a bunch of overhead or taking time away from servicing existing clients.