Inbound marketing is one of the most powerful methods to meet and exceed your marketing goals. The inbound methodology involves building lasting and meaningful relationships with your customers while empowering them with the right content along their buyer’s journey.

Given its importance, finding an inbound marketing agency in Toronto that can masterfully bring together the multiple elements of the inbound methodology becomes imperative in today’s business climate.

However, not all inbound marketing agencies are created equal. With numerous marketing agencies out there, looking for the right one can become daunting.

In this blog, let’s dive into what you need to know to find the right inbound marketing agency Toronto.

Things to Look for in an Inbound Marketing Agency in Toronto

The first thing to do when evaluating an agency is to ask for their credentials and portfolio.

The portfolio should speak about the kind of problems they’ve solved and at what scale. If they’ve solved similar business challenges with relatively similar clients, you can consider evaluating them further.

Their experience should also talk about their ability to solve new challenges and their ability to adapt to newer technologies in the inbound marketing space.

The agency should be able to provide tangible numbers for metrics such as – leads generated, website traffic, impact at each stage of the marketing funnel, social engagements and more.

More specifically ask for their experience and metrics according to the inbound marketing flywheel.

You can refer to metrics that are unique to your industry as well. The important thing is to validate their experience by asking for data points. Client testimonials and case studies are great proof points to consider.

The Inbound Marketing Agency’s Toolkit

There are multiple marketing automation and analysis tools that are needed to run a successful inbound marketing practice.

These can be tools like a versatile content management system (like WordPress or Drupal), a marketing automation system (like Marketo or Pardot), a CRM system (like Salesforce), analytics tools (like Google or Adobe Analytics), and social media management tools (like Hootsuite) and more.

Different technologies are used at different stages of the inbound marketing flywheel as well as the marketing funnel, which makes them critical to effectively engage with the digital marketing ecosystem out there.

The inbound marketing agency in Canada that you’re evaluating needs to have a strong understanding of these tools and when to use them. They should be able to implement these technologies for you through an inbound marketing campaign.

It is essential to use these tools but it is also essential to use these tools in the right way. Recognizing that each customer path differs basis the stage of the funnel they are in, and choosing the right tools to convert them is what sets apart the great inbound marketing agencies from the good.

Setting Realistic Goals Within the Available Budget

No matter the costing model you opt for with your agency, you should be well aware of the results they’ll deliver and the goals they’re targeting within that budget.

Review your budgets against the goals you want to achieve. Your expectations may be too high or too low compared to the advertising budgets you’ve allocated.

Goals should be defined across each stage of the funnel. An inbound marketing agency that only sets goals for the top of the funnel will never see any conversions because your leads will remain stagnant and drop through the gaps.

Here’s a list of the most common goals the agency should be aiming for at each stage of the funnel –

• Awareness – keyword ranking, organic website traffic
• Interest – time spent per session, engagement rate, bounce rate
• Consideration – downloads, registrations to virtual events
• Intent – requests for a product demo

Each of these goals will require a different set of tactics, from blogs and lead nurturing at the awareness and interest level to case studies and more targeted efforts such as PPC and programmatic advertising as you go further down the funnel.

Ensure that the agency is well aware of the goals and the tactics required to achieve those goals.

An Agency Should Know the Ins and Outs of Your Business

The right inbound marketing agency in Canada should be able to gather basic information about the business/ industry you’re in and the product or service that you sell. Beyond this, it should also know the trends, competitors and history relevant to your industry.

Buyer personas and customer behaviour differ across industries. Even the content types, marketing channels and communication styles can vary across B2B industries.

An understanding of these basics plus your sales and leads cycle is a must-have in any inbound marketing agency.

These are some things that must be discussed between you and the agency you are considering. This will further help in channel optimization and goal setting.

Get to Know the Team (Virtually)!

The people you’ll work with within your inbound marketing agency matter. They will be running your inbound marketing strategy, and knowing them will help you get a better understanding of their credentials.

A typical team will consist of a content editor and writer, graphic designer, strategist, account manager, data analyst and social media experts. This can further extend to agency partners depending upon your channel mix.

Knowing the team’s past achievements and projects will help you gauge their credibility and a general culture fit with your marketing function.

A strong inbound marketing agency team will also devote senior talent with deep expertise to your account. This will ensure strategic oversight and attention from the agency’s leadership.

Some of the team members might be rotating but that’s not always a bad thing. One of the biggest benefits of hiring an inbound marketing agency is that the agency brings in talent and expertise from across the length and breadth of its clients and projects.

Our expertise team will keep your sales teams engaged with good quality inbound leads, delivering predictability in pipeline growth and sales forecasting. Talk to us about how to build sales momentum on your website.