5 biggest mistakes when hiring a marketing agency, according to Dener Lippert » Portal Insights

Every entrepreneur or entrepreneur will at some point in their life hire (or at least consider hiring) a marketing agency. With so many possibilities to increase sales through the internet and an increasing need to grow in the market, it is natural that the “time to put the pedal to the metal” arrives for everyone.

But like many phases in a company's life, outsourcing marketing to an agency should be approached with caution. It is very common in this process for people to make basic mistakes that result in losses, headaches and frustration.

What care are these? Dener Lippert, CEO of the largest marketing and sales consultancy in Latin America, gives the answer:

1. Hire an agency because you need a lifeline

If what you sell is in demand and competitive in the market, you may even be able to make your company grow with 'more or less' marketing.”

But certainly no marketing, no matter how good it is, will save your company if it doesn't have this fit – or even if it does, but needs a huge restructuring.

So, if you are considering hiring a marketing agency because your company is in trouble, give up on that idea.

Marketing is not a magic formula, but a process that has a learning curve and, above all, needs a minimum amount of time to mature before starting to bring ROI (Return on Investment).

How much time? It varies a lot for each situation, but in our experience it takes at least 3 months to start seeing a significant result.

Marketing, therefore, is nothing more than a way of enhancing the results of an already validated business, which only needs a process to gain scale – or, in rare cases, to validate a business through experiments but without expecting results. .

2. Completely delegate the marketing service

You looked for recommendations or searched online for agencies, held some meetings, made your choice and signed the contract with the one that best met your expectations.

Work done! Now you just have to wait for the professionals to work their magic and come back in a few months to reap the results.

Right!

No… Far from it.

The claim that it is possible to completely outsource marketing is incorrect. In more than 10 years of experience serving companies of the most diverse segments, sizes and contexts, we can safely say that it is impossible to achieve results with completely outsourced marketing.

This happens because no one will understand your product and market better than you and your team, who then need to work hand in hand with your marketing partner to make things happen.

A good analogy to clarify this is to imagine that your company will always be the driver of the car, while your marketing partner will be your car.

3. Thinking that marketing is a project, not a process

In the same way that no one wants to lose weight and then gain weight, no company wants to sell for a while and then stop selling. Marketing is a process, which in order to generate more and more results (and continue working) needs to be constantly refined.

It's important to make this clear because many people confuse marketing as a project – something with a beginning, middle and end, which you only do “when you need to”.

You need to be willing to learn as the process builds. If you are not willing to understand how this works in your own business, how do you intend to demand results? How will you know if you are evolving or not?

Furthermore, knowing the why of things makes it much easier to see the path your company needs to take to grow.

4. Wanting to sell a lot by investing little

If you have never invested in paid media, it is natural (and recommended) to want to invest little at the beginning (around R$ 2500 / Month) just to validate the channels that make the most sense, the main KPIs and start building an intelligence of performance.

But it's important to understand that significant return on investment only happens when you put the pedal to the metal. How much is recommended? If it is making a profit, there is a progressive increase plan and there are no clear signs of a drop in performance, there is no limit.

With a positive ROI and a job well done at scaling media, the more you invest, the greater the profit from your strategy.

5. Micromanage the agency

As one of the greatest marketers in history, Steve Jobs, said: it makes no sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do.”

Yes, in everyday life, when fires break out and the fire strikes, it can be difficult to hold back the impulse and tell everyone what should be done, but that is a mistake.

A mistake because, no matter how aware you are of marketing, it is unlikely that you will have all the information to make better decisions than your partner, who is involved daily with the operation and data analysis.

Of course, be careful not to make the second mistake we mentioned here, which is “delegating” the service. When in doubt, remember the car analogy: your company (pilot) gives the direction and the partner (car) does what is needed to reach the destination.

Do you already have a marketing partner? I recommend reading this text about how to demand results.