Our agency has been running for over a decade in Asia; every day our Business Development team is involved in new commercial discussions through very different Agency selection processes, such as Tender, Request for Proposal and direct approach. From Fortune 500 clients to fast-growing startups, we have noticed that our potential clients are not always asking the right questions before picking their future partners.
Hence, we shared our humble recommendations to help organisations ask unusual questions and anticipate mistakes to pick the best digital marketing agency that fits their needs.
How to choose a digital marketing agency: Here are the top mistakes to avoid during your Social Marketing Agency selection process.
01. Clear objective definition
Selecting or prioritising objectives when selecting your Social Marketing Agency is essential because it provides clear direction and focus, ensuring all efforts align with broader business goals. Well-defined objectives help tailor strategies to attract the right audience, optimise resource allocation, and serve as measurable benchmarks to evaluate campaign success.
Without specific objectives, campaigns risk becoming scattered and ineffective, wasting time and budget.
Additionally, clearly defined objectives allow marketers to monitor their progress, implement data-driven changes, and promote growth by concentrating on high-impact initiatives that yield the best return on investment. This strategic focus turns aspirations into actionable, results-oriented marketing campaigns that foster ongoing business enhancement and a competitive edge.
✅ Highlight the top 1 objective in your brief to help the agency understand what your number one goal is.
✅ Feel free to break down objectives per campaign sequence if you must address specific objectives at a particular time of the year.
🛠 Example to avoid: Objectives are: Brand Awareness, Audience/Traffic Growth, Conversion
02. Share budget indication during the briefing phase
Marketers are often hesitant to share their estimated budget with shortlisted Social Marketing Agencies, as they logically don’t want agencies to increase cost and margin to match the available budget artificially. On the other hand, social media marketing strategy development requires some visibility on the potential investment to be developed accurately.
Here are the key reasons to share a ballpark or estimated budget with shortlisted agencies.
- Enables Realistic and Tailored Proposals
- Encourages Healthy Competition and Innovation
- Reduces Risk of Mispricing and Wasted Effort
- Improves Efficiency and Decision-Making
- Supports Transparency and Trust
✅ If you reveal the entire budget, please share a detailed pricing table. This will facilitate an apples-to-apples comparison for your team. It will also boost motivation for your team, ultimately enhancing the proposal quality, as your shortlisted candidates’ agencies will clearly understand the potential outcome if selected.
✅ If sharing the Total Budget conflicts with your organisation’s policies, we recommend disclosing only the media budget. This allows your agency to tailor strategies based on your media investment capabilities and prevents agencies and clients from developing and reviewing inaccurate proposals.
03. Realistic Proposal Submission Timeline
Communicating a realistic proposal delivery timeline to your future social media marketing agency when replying to a tender is essential. The more time your agency works on the proposal, the more quality and insights can be gathered so that your agency can develop a comprehensive proposal. This is even more important if your company expects a creative mockup to be part of the produced proposal. Remember that the most active agencies tend to be the ones that brands seek out the most, and they need time to allocate resources to build a high-quality proposal.
Communicating a realistic timeline to your supplier for replying to a tender is essential for several key reasons:
- Ensures Quality and Completeness of Tender Responses
- Builds Trust and Strengthens Supplier Relationships
- Facilitates Effective Project Planning and Management
- Reduces Risk of Delays and Operational Disruptions
- Enables Efficient Evaluation and Decision-Making
- Supports Compliance and Reduces Errors
✅ Proposal excluding Creative Mockup production on one market: 7 to 10 working days
✅ Proposal including Creative Mockup production on one market: 15 to 20 working days
04. A reasonable number of shortlisted Agencies
Brands and organisations generally strive to collect and assess several agency proposals to select the best fit. It is advisable to shortlist a few agencies to enable the client to evaluate each proposal thoroughly.
Here are the main reasons for shortlisting a few agencies during your tender process:
- Ensures Qualification and Capability
- Streamlines the Selection Process
- Facilitates Better Evaluation and Negotiation
- Enhances Transparency and Fairness
- Reduces Risks and Improves Decision-Making
- Encourages Healthy Competition and Innovation
✅ A fair tender generally includes 3 to 5 shortlisted agencies
05. Fair behaviour during a Pitching meeting
Any brand or organisation must remember that the work done during the commercial phase is almost always unpaid. It’s an investment from the agency to convince brands to engage a Social Marketing Agency. While a vast majority of organisations respect general practice, agencies often face challenges during a pitching meeting or call.
Here are some basic tips about pitching or proposal review meetings:
- Keep your camera on when your agency is presenting, if the presentation happens remotely
- Always ask questions or make comments during or after the presentation
- Please make sure all the invited decision makers or stakeholders are joining
- Most importantly, you should share feedback with the non-awarded agencies
Key Takeaways: Mistakes to Avoid While Choosing Your Digital Marketing Agency
- Clear objective definition, prioritisation and quantitative target
- Share Budget indication or estimation during the briefing phase
- Realistic Proposal Submission Timeline based on deliverables
- A reasonable number of shortlisted Agencies (between 3 to 5)
- Fair behaviour during a Pitching meeting
Check our previous articles:
Social Marketing Agency: How to choose a digital marketing agency (article 1/3)
