Is a niche marketing agency the right choice for your business?
When you are searching for a digital marketing agency, there are many things to consider. In some cases, there may even be an option to choose an agency that specializes in your company’s vertical offering. But, you might want to think twice before choosing a niche marketing agency. Sure, there are certainly some perks to working with a company that has already worked with a lot of businesses just like yours, but there can be some hangups to that as well. Here are 4 things to think about before choosing a niche digital marketing agency:
#1 Niche Digital Marketing Can Cause Strategy Homogenization
One thing that we often hear when chatting with potential clients is that they “want to go with an agency that has a proven track record of success with other companies just like theirs”.We get that. It’s easy to get sold on the idea that what works for one company in your vertical market should work for your business as well. But the flip side of that is that you would be selecting an agency that does all the same things for you and a whole bunch of your competitors as well. How would your company stand out in the crowd?
You want a marketing strategy that will work well for your specific business. What is good for the goose is not always good for the gander. While your competitors may be having success with one strategy, you need to make sure that you are staying ahead of the pack. Your digital marketing agency should be doing their homework to get to know the ins and outs of your business, which should in return, spark some new marketing ideas along the way.
#2 Pricing Models
If a digital marketing company has decided to build their entire business on a niche model, you better believe that have figured out how much companies like yours are willing to pay for their services. You could very easily get boxed into a pricing model that does not make sense for your needs. One price fits most type packages are usually based on minimum services. You might see a hefty price tag when you try and customize your package to work for your business and not someone else’s.
#3 Less Personalized Service
If you do a google search on the term, “should I go with a niche marketing agency” you’ll get lots of results. The problem is, that most of these search results are actually geared toward benefits for the agencies. They list lots of reasons for digital agencies to move to being niche focus. There are probably many reasons it does make sense for a digital agency to move into specializing in one or two niche vertical markets. There are many efficiencies in being able to create repeatable processes. But, how does it really help clients? When the skill set becomes highly focused in one or two areas, it is hard for new clients to get the level of personalized service that they should come to expect from an agency.
#4 Repetitive Design and Content
Don’t discount the boredom factor. There are many aspects to digital marketing that are very exciting. But, there are also many things that must be done with regularity that are monotonous and boring. If you are tasked with designing the same type of website over and over again, what do you think would happen? Everything in the design process would kind of start to bleed together, which can lead to boring design. The same can become true with content writing. You run the risk of paying a lot of money for an overdone design and repetitive or perhaps even worse, duplicate content. Neither of these things will help your digital marketing strategy, if fact, they will hurt it.
So How Do You Choose The Right Digital Marketing Agency For Your Business?
The best thing to do when you are ready to shop for a new agency is to do simply that. Shop around. Make sure that you talk with at least three different agencies about your marketing objectives. If you are exploring niche agencies, include at least one or two non-niche agencies. Be clear with each company about what it is that you are hoping to accomplish. Find out how things will be customized to fit the goals of your business. Ask who will own the rights to any creative marketing collateral. Find out how objectives will be measured. Do your homework! The agency that is the right fit will become quickly clear.
At 90 Degree, we love to help businesses discover their personality, grow and find new customers. We would love to hear about your digital marketing needs! Request a proposal or give us a call today!
