8 Skills Marketing Agencies Should Offer Their Business Clients

Word-of-mouth referrals begin with excellent customer service. You don’t want your clients feeling like there’s something left to be desired in your business model. That’s why we asked eight entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneurship Council (YEC) the most important thing marketing agencies should offer their clients. Their answers are below.

The following answers are provided by members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Proactivity

I encourage all agencies and vendors to be proactive. I shouldn't have to email you about the status of a project or inform you of a new trend or opportunity. Being proactive also demonstrates that you care as much as I do about our success.

– Andrew Thomas, SkyBell Technologies, Inc.

2. An Education

Beyond just doing a marketing campaign, I want someone to educate me on it. Why they are doing it a certain way, how they are executing and tracking it all and why successful results are expected. It's scary for agencies to share their secrets, but it creates more confidence and trust in the long run.

– Brooke Bergman, Allied Business Network Inc.

3. Quality Content

Quality content is king these days. Having marketing agencies explain this to their business clients and offer high-level work is very important. Content creation on a consistent basis is a capability that is highly needed and sometimes undervalued.

– Jason Grill, JGrill Media | Sock 101

4. Benchmark Analytics

In any sales driven Internet business, what matters most is marketing performance. Even more so, it's important how the performance compares to peers. The role of comparative analytics can never be understated. Advertisers must be able to see how their specific ads are performing compared to a benchmark of peers, or it is simply noise.

– Charles Moscoe, Scumbag.com

5. Targeted Information

I market on behalf of recruiting technology companies and one thing I've noticed is that, before I get to them, all of their copy, social sharing and campaigns are full of jargon that was written by and speaks to tech types. That's not their audience! Marketing pros need to guide their clients on how to best speak to and reach out to their real audience.

– Maren Hogan, Red Branch Media

6. Scrappiness

I wish marketing agencies would have a hustle or scrappiness about them. A lot of agencies tell you why they CAN'T do something: no budget, tight timeline, production limitations; but very few will pull up their sleeves and get it done. I need to know that I can give you a paperclip, a wrench and a box and you can pull off something amazing.

– Kim Kaupe, ZinePak

7. Out-of-the-Box Thinking

Too many marketing agencies get comfortable with their marketing program and fail to offer more out-of-the-box thinking. The reason this would help is that different tactics work for different businesses, and in order to identify the best marketing tactic you've got to be willing to try things, even if they're a little out there.

– Andy Karuza, Brandbuddee

8. Creativity

Often marketing companies simply ask you what you want or how you want something to work. If they would focus more on creativity and allow free flowing thoughts from their team, it would be more beneficial.

– Sam Bahreini, VoloForce