On the surface, there are many factors that may indicate that a HubSpot partner agency is the best around, but in order to find the right one to suit your needs and ambitions, you’ll have to dig a little deeper.
First of all…
What are your needs and ambitions with HubSpot?
There are several types of HubSpot agency, each with different (and often specific) selling points. Amongst them are; full-service agencies, web-focused agencies, tech-migration agencies, creative-led agencies, and sales consultants.
Before you commit, you need to fully understand what your focus is, and ask questions to this end when you’re shopping around.
Crucially…
Tier rating isn’t everything.
The HubSpot tier rating system indicates how many clients that agency has sold HubSpot services to. Not necessarily what they have done with them.
The efforts of a HubSpot agency that is cluttered with many HubSpot clients may be split thinly amongst them. If you think you’ll require a more hands-on approach, with an agency you can meet in person, or call at any time to help you overcome a challenge, a smaller agency may be the way to go.
So…
What should you be looking for?
Firstly, it’s important that the team you’ll be working with are HubSpot qualified, so be sure to check that they hold the relevant HubSpot certificates and know what they’re talking about.
Beyond this, it all depends on what you have the capacity for within your own organisation, and how much you want to outsource to your chosen HubSpot partner.
To cover every base, you need to consider the following key areas:
- Inbound strategy & positioning
- Buyer persona development
- Marketing automation
- Expertise in SEO & keyword optimisation
- Editorial & content planning, creation & distribution
- Inbound website design & development
- Social media strategy, execution, & analysis
- Sales & marketing alignment
- Sales engagement / inbound sales training
Then ask…
What else do they bring to the table?
The agency you choose to work with needs to show a great understanding not only of the ins and outs of inbound marketing methodology but also of your industry.
Simply rolling HubSpot techniques out blindly isn’t enough to ensure success in your field. You need an agency that is going to take the time to map the terrain and find the best-tailored approach to it.
An agency that holds too strictly to the HubSpot methodology, isn’t necessarily a good thing. A good HubSpot partner needs to be agile in their approach, offering the best service for you specifically.
Ultimately, HubSpot is a tool. And there’s no single way to get the most out of it.
Therefore…
Look for like-minds
You’re looking for a HubSpot partner, not a vendor. You want an agency that is going to challenge you, pushing you forward with expert insight, killer strategy, and exciting content.
You need strategy, execution, and distribution that matches your business ethos and approach. Many HubSpot partner agencies are great at strategy, but when it comes to offering top creative to match, it can be severely lacking, making the strategy essentially useless.
If you’re an organisation that likes to maintain its image with a certain level of creative output, you should be looking for a HubSpot partner that offers in-house creative.
This way, you get to add expert inbound marketing strategists, amazing digital creatives, and high-quality copywriters to your team all at the same time.
And…
If you’re an organisation that is continuously looking to the future and wants to be at the forefront of your industry in years to come, you should be looking for a HubSpot partner that is geared for the future.
Essentially, future thinking strategy needs future thinking creative to match! So make sure your ambitions are equalled, or exceeded by the agency you choose to partner with.
Also…
If you’re coming from a niche sector,
you should be looking for an agency that has specific expertise in that area.
If you’re a manufacturing company, then a HubSpot partner agency that specialises in inbound marketing is probably your best option.
Or,
if you’re looking to modernise the marketing of your financial services company with inbound marketing and HubSpot, you need an agency that fully understands where you are now, and where you want to be as you push to rival the growing competition of FinTechs in the space.
Finally…
Take steps to understand the relationship your starting.
If you can, as well as speaking with the team you may work with, you should aim to meet them before you commit. (Whether in person or via skype, depends on how crucial you feel a local agency is for your needs.)
- Do they know what they’re talking about?
- Do you think it’s a good match?
- Are they set up to offer what they say they offer, or do they outsource creative or other aspects to a third party?
- Will you be able to work hand in hand with them as you grow your business?
- Do they understand your business, your industry, and your ambitions?
- Do they share your vision?
- Do they genuinely want to drive your business forward into the future, or are you just another statistic to tip them into the next tier?
This should be the start of something great and choosing the right HubSpot agency for your needs and ambitions can be the difference between HubSpot success and HubSpot failure.