In episode #553, Eric and Neil reveal some important things that big agencies won’t tell you. Tune in to hear what you should know before signing on to work with a major marketing agency.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: What Most Marketing Agencies Won’t Tell You
• [00:37] There are good and bad clients.
• [00:45] They measure this using the labor efficiency ratio.
• [01:04] When the whales are profitable, you are going to spend more time on that client.
• [01:24] Most agencies are pitching a dream, but they aren’t always able to deliver.
• [02:10] When you go to Chipotle or Taco Bell, you’re expecting the same thing every time.
• [02:20] When you have an agency with hundreds of clients, you are looking to deliver the same experience every time, to everyone.
• [02:32] Eric recommends that you actually have an in-house marketing person to have a laser focus on your goals.
• [03:12] Maybe start with an agency, then hire someone full-time, then consider using an agency again.
• [03:32] When you are starting out, you say “yes” to everything simply because you need to earn revenue.
• [03:40] When you’re established, you can be a lot more selective.
• [03:53] Eric feels the quality of his work suffered when he was doing every aspect of marketing and was trying to deliver on things that weren’t his or his agency’s strengths.
• [04:34] The quality of paid ads and SEO is better now, because he isn’t spread so thin.
• [04:56] People on Eric’s team want to add services, but he’s trying to temper that.
• [05:22] When working with an agency, you have to ask them what their strengths are.
• [06:04] You only want to work with people on things that they are good at.
• [06:22] Full-service agencies are big, brand names, with great revenue, but the quality suffered because they couldn’t possibly specialize in anything.
• [07:00] That’s it for Today!
• [07:04] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special edition of Crazy Egg, the heat mapping tool.
• [07:09] Tweet at Eric @Ericosiu and let him know if you want them to curate their podcast content.

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