4 Reassuring Benefits of an Inbound Marketing Retainer Agreement

Imagine the world of business without chaos and surprises (unfavorable ones, that is).

No more adjustments or last-minute changes. No more additional, unplanned costs, and no more unexpected projects that will take you all night to complete. Sounds good, right?

Engaging in an inbound marketing retainer with a reputable agency achieves all of this. It helps you decrease the negatives and increase the positives with a partnership build on transparency, honesty, and loyalty.

It’s natural to be hesitant when considering a new marketing solution, especially when that solution includes hiring another company  or signing a contract.

You may have feelings of being “locked in” or feel like you “have no say” in the activities and plans that will go into your marketing.

Entering into a partnership with an inbound marketing agency, however, is the exact opposite.

By signing and inbound marketing retainer agreement, you’re actually enabling your company to grow with new ideas, campaigns, and dedicated experts.

There are a bunch of benefits to making the switch to working with an agency, but these 4 I constantly see from my happy clients.

1. Documented Plans, Progress, & Results

Does this sound familiar?

You’re struggling to get qualified leads to prospect.  You know you need more money to try new tactics because the activities you’ve been implementing  aren’t producing the results you hoped for, but you don't have success that you can leverage to make your boss give you the additional funds. 

Do you know what’s working and what’s not? STOP GUESSING.

With the set budget and detailed strategy that comes with an inbound marketing retainer agreement, you can know exactly where your money is going and why -- and I think its safe to assume that getting an approved marketing budget is a lot easier when you have the support of results and proven methodologies behind you.

A great inbound marketing agency will ensure they are setting SMART goals based on what success means to you, and they will work with you to document the perfect plan to achieve those goals, all while keeping you fully engaged so you’re up-to-date on all progress. (i.e. Weekly status calls are a good way to connect and pivot, if needed, based on outcomes of specific tasks.)

Keeping all strategies, tasks, and results documented allows you to learn from your campaigns and make any necessary changes or improvements. This also gives a crystal clear view of your return on investment.

So many businesses will try anything to get more leads, but most of them never even know if their efforts are working or not.

Documenting data like the original source of a lead, their marketing lead score, and their actions on your website will let you know exactly where to remove your budget from and where you should actually be allocating it to, thus, increasing ROI.

2. Dedicated Team/Relationship Development

Perhaps the best part of entering into an inbound marketing retainer agreement is the relationship to be built.

If you simply want someone to do your work for you, then the inbound partnership route may not be the best solution for you. With a retainer, you’re not just hiring a person or a team to do your work for you; you’re hiring an extension of your marketing team.

Your team should be completely dedicated to working with you, not for you because tactics alone won’t get you results, strategy and implementation will.

You’ll know you have the right team when they exhibit:

• Trust. They will make you trust them through everything they do.
• Understanding. It’s extremely important that they understand you and your organization thoroughly in order to execute on all the small (and big) details.
• Passion. Passionate people get stuff done. And they’ll never stop trying...or caring.
• Value through helpfulness. It’s one thing to be helpful. It’s another to provide value behind helpfulness where it really matters.
• Joy in your friendship. Be friends with your partner, and you’ll get more accomplished. It’s as simple as that.

An agency with these qualities wants to accomplish your goals. They will do anything to help you succeed. Your success is their success, and your failure is their failure.

3. Endless Resources, Knowledge, & Recommendations

What could be better than having someone on your team who knows everything about inbound marketing? How about someone who knows everything about inbound marketing and your company?

With an inbound marketing retainer, you’ll have access to a limitless resource whenever you have a question or need some advice.

With, your agency will have vast knowledge of your company and your industry, including strengths, weaknesses, competitors, trends, and opportunities.Not only will the team possess the knowledge needed to produce positive results for your organization, but they’ll also provide you with real, honest opinions and suggestions for how to get those results.

Trust me, you want someone who will push back on you when they know your objectives are unrealistic, and you’ll search for that confirmation when you know your idea rocks.

4. Results-Oriented vs. Task-Driven

Like I mentioned before, if you’re looking for someone to just implement the tactics without providing any real insight or suggestions, an inbound partnership may not be right for you.

However, if you want -- and need -- someone to help you move your company in the right direction through marketing strategy and big ideas, you’ll want to highly consider hiring a knowledgeable inound agency.

An inbound agency is always focused on achieving your business goals and the work necessary to do so. In comparison, a task-driven company is solely focused on completing the task they’ve been hired to do, with your overall business goals becoming the secondary focus.

It’s important to decide which is right for you.

Another huge benefit that comes from working with an inbound marketing agency is the “all-in-one” aspect you’ll receive.

Instead of hiring multiple companies who specialize in one or two areas, you’ll be able to get the best blogging, social media, website development, graphic design, content creation work, and more from just one company, all with a strategic base to support the reasoning behind each campaign.

Find the Agency That Will Make it Happen

By engaging in a partnership with a skilled and trusted inbound marketing agency, you’re taking the next step to growing your business. It becomes easier to develop a strategic plan mapped back to achieving your goals, which also leads to better documentation of results and planning new campaigns based on those outcomes.

When searching for the right agency for you, make sure they are knowledgeable and able in every aspect of what you need to complement what you already have.

Every agency will say they can help you, but it’s important you find the one that really will make it happen.