Better B2B Marketing Series

MARKETING PLANS WEBSITE DESIGN LEAD GENERATION CONTENT RESOURCES BLOG 386 Huron Street Toronto, ON M5S 2G6

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Finding top marketing agencies for B2B and then selecting the right agency to work with is a challenging assignment.

This post takes a look at how to search for Top Marketing Agencies and provides a B2B Marketing Agency RFP

example that you can use to gather information during the process. And if you are looking for a B2B marketing agency

offering lead generation and nurturing services be sure to check out Brainrider’s pricing and project packages.

Finding top marketing agencies for B2B

A quick search for marketing or advertising agencies returns tens of thousands of agency listings. Even when you limit your search to B2B marketing agencies the number of options can be overwhelming. And while B2B trade publications sometimes publish lists of award winning top marketing agencies for B2B they are often paid content, out of date or limited in scope.

Here are three tips to for finding top marketing agencies for

B2B:

1. Define the agency capabilities that you are looking for. The phrase top b2b marketing agency is not very descriptive in practice. There are a huge range of potential capabilities that meet that description. A more focused look at key capability areas including brand strategy & design, offline advertising, online advertising, content marketing or lead generation & nurturing will narrow your results and improve their relevance. And prioritizing the capabilities that you are looking for will result in a better match between agency skills and your needs.

2. Look for practical B2B experience. While Madison Ave. advertising agencies are famous for their TV and print work, they generally hate working on complex B2B projects. Developing millions of dollars of branding, TV commercials, and glossy print ads for big budget brands like IBM, Accenture, or SAP rarely qualifies them for complex sale B2B marketing, lead generation and nurturing, or B2B website development. But while smaller agencies will be more responsive based on your budgets make sure they are experienced with B2B marketing campaigns and comfortable learning about and understanding the complexity of your business, targets, messages, and products. Look for agencies showcasing campaigns similar to what you need. Check their blog, website, and resources for points of view about email nurturing, lead generation, forms, landing pages, content development, and more to be sure their thinking backs up their hype. A great search is to combine “B2B marketing agency” + the capability you are looking for + blog, for example “Top marketing agency for B2B website design blog ” or “Top marketing agency for B2B marketing automation blog “.

3. Agencies tend to have a main competency, for example creative design, ad creation, videos, branding, strategy, digital or lead generation. While they often list multiple services they will emphasize and showcase their main focus. A quick scan of their home page, blog, and client projects will let you identify what they love doing. If they don’t love what you need don’t put them on your list.

Better B2B Marketing Series

MARKETING PLANS WEBSITE DESIGN LEAD GENERATION CONTENT RESOURCES BLOG 386 Huron Street Toronto, ON M5S 2G6

416.900.3310

Top Marketing Agencies: Selecting The Right Partner

Once you have a list of top marketing agencies the key is selecting the right partner. Depending on how long your list

is you can issue a formal RFP or just contact each agency, share your requirements, and informally request a proposal.

In theory a formal, structured RFP process does a better job of delivering apples to apples comparisons of different

agencies. In practice the RFP process is about as helpful as the resume when recruiting employees. (for a great

perspective ask your sales team how effective they think the RFP process is when your customers are looking for the

right partner) In other words it rarely gives a good picture of the real candidate.

But if you keep your RFP short and limit it to gathering relevant information and providing details about your

requirements it can be an efficient tool when managing 4 or more agencies on your comparison list.

Top Marketing Agencies: Request for Proposal Example

Here is an RFP example including key sections and questions. Agencies can write and you don’t want your selection

process to include reading long essays. So be sure to ask submitting agencies to keep their answers to less than 400

words each and the RFP submission to 4 pages or less.

Section 1: Background & Statement of Work

Purpose of the RFP

Objectives of the assignment

Scope of the assignment

RFP Stages & dates

Your contact information

Section 2: Agency Information

Agency Contact information

Agency size and years in business

Agency leadership team with short bios

Agency capabilities ranked by experience

Top 10 agency clients ranked by project size

Client references

Agency methodology

Section 3: Agency Proposal

Recommendations

Deliverables

Performance metrics

Budget

Critical path

Section 4: Agency Fit

Describe how this assignment and the plan your are recommending match that of another customer you have worked with.

Detail how the recommendations, deliverables, and metrics you are proposing fit the objectives of the assignment.

Identify the critical success factors for this assignment.

Explain how will you involve our marketing team, management team, sales team, and subject matter experts in your process.

Outline how you approach project management and client management