Which is the best marketing agency? 6 criteria for choosing correctly
- Arjan Shahani
- 12 hours ago
- 13 min read
Just like in basketball or soccer, where the question of who is the "GOAT" (Greatest of all time) is an eternal debate, in the world of marketing it is common to hear people asking "which is the best agency?" so on this occasion, I decided to share in a few lines, the answer I consider most accurate.
The best marketing agency isn't necessarily the biggest or the cheapest. It's the one that understands your business, shares your goals, and has the processes, capabilities, and experience to generate measurable results.
Table of Contents
Why do so many companies end up disappointed with their agency?
The 6 criteria for choosing the best marketing agency (for you)
Is Werko Marketing Solutions the best marketing agency for you?
The question about "the best marketing agency" is ill-posed
Because, just as I spend hours debating with my son about the supremacy of Michael Jordan over LeBron James (mind you, I do it for fun because I know there is no single answer, but we enjoy the conversation), it is impossible to define the best because there are multiple variables to grade and some even have NOTHING to do with the conditions and characteristics of the agency, but with the client's profile.
More important than placing a medal on "the best marketing agency", is identifying the ingredients that make for a good fit between the client's pain points, needs, and desires AND the agency's capabilities to UNDERSTAND and SERVE them, generating consistent RESULTS.
Why do so many companies end up disappointed with their agency?
I share with you some of the causes I have identified, having been on both sides of the equation (because for a long time I was a client and prospect of agencies, and now I have the pleasure of offering our services).
How to choose the best marketing agency without basing it only on price
It's natural to want to watch the budget. After all, nobody wants to spend more than is necessary. However, when price becomes the primary criterion for selecting a marketing agency, companies end up paying more than what they are saving.
And the problem is not hiring an inexpensive agency. The problem is assuming that all agencies deliver the same value and that the only difference between them is the price at which they are offering the same service.
I'll give you a concrete example: we know several "agencies" (I purposely put the word agencies in quotation marks) that promise to handle your company's social media management at prices that are sometimes as low as 30% of what we charge.
As a reference, we:
Carry out a thorough process to define content strategies that contribute to the desired positioning of your brand,
Establish communication lines that we index and monitor their performance to plan future content,
Plan content calendars and mock up to correctly reinforce the messages,
Propose and develop designs aligned with a brand manual,
Schedule posts using cutting-edge technology enabled by machine learning to identify optimal times by channel and audience and to ensure that posts contain the meta-information to achieve greater and better reach,
Our reports don't just publish vanity metrics directly, but present analysis based on indexed content and comparing with main competitors.
We do this by putting your brand in the hands of experts who have optimal use licenses and work tools.
I recently contacted one of these "agencies in quotation marks" and realized it wasn't a group, but rather it was a recent graduate with no professional experience or sector knowledge, who basically asks ChatGpt to auto-generate copy and art without any strategic direction and publishes manually. Of course, their Instagram profile had over 50K followers although their posts generated no reaction (a bot follower farm in Russia surely appreciated the 5 dollars paid to build their fake community).
In marketing, the consequences of a bad decision are rarely reflected only in the invoice amount. They are reflected in lost opportunities, campaigns that don't generate results, months of work without a clear direction, and the need to start over with another provider.
Is the biggest agency really "the best marketing agency"?
There is a common belief that bigger agencies necessarily offer a better service. After all, if they have hundreds of employees and recognized clients, they must be the best option, right?
Not necessarily.
Large agencies often have extraordinary talent, robust methodologies, and access to significant resources. However, they also operate under structures designed to serve large accounts. This means that many medium-sized companies and brands end up becoming secondary clients within a long list of priorities.
I remember when I worked at HEINEKEN MEXICO and was responsible for the Coors Light brand. Our budget was miniscule compared to the Tecate Light brand, which is the highest volume brand in the portfolio of this brewing company. Even so, and due to the "benefit" of group hiring, the same creative agency that served Tecate Light served us and we even had the same person assigned as account executive. The result was that when both the Tecate manager and I needed something, my call was always answered later. The art we requested took longer and was often of considerably lower quality (it was noticeable they were assigned to junior designers within the team). Even sharing the same sales ticket, the service level was radically different because the agency felt it had more to lose if it failed the big brand.
The best agency is not necessarily the biggest. It is the one with the right structure to accompany your company in the stage it is in.
For some organizations that will mean working with a multinational, large-scale agency. For others, a highly specialized boutique agency will be a better investment.
Is "the best marketing agency" the most creative one?
It is indisputable that creativity is important and is an essential ingredient in any marketing effort. However, it can be dangerous if it is the only variable used to select the agency you are going to work with.
Many clients can be impressed by an agency's creative portfolio without asking something much more important: did that creativity generate business results? Did that creativity serve to position the brand and help it meet its objectives? There are times when executions are very creative and very entertaining but don't even make you remember what brand presented them.
A campaign can win awards, accumulate thousands of views, or receive recognition in the industry and still fail to generate sales, leads, or growth for the company that hired it. That is why I will always prefer and value more having received EFFIES (awards for advertising efficiency) than the awards I received from Círculo Creativo. Both are valuable and both involve a lot of work, but it gives me greater satisfaction to have put creativity at the service of the business objective.
Because at the end of the day creativity is a tool, not an objective.
The best agencies understand that creativity must be inserted into the pursuit of a clear strategy. Before asking themselves how to get attention, they ask themselves what behavior they want to generate, what problem they are solving, and how they will measure success.
In marketing, creativity without strategy is entertainment. Creativity with strategy is growth.
Is "the best marketing agency" the one with the most recommendations?
One of the most important decision drivers when someone looks for an agency is the recommendation they received from someone who already worked with a specific team. I recently saw a study that mentioned that in the B2B world around 75% of qualified leads originate from referred sources and it doesn't surprise me. It's easy to think "if it worked for my friend, it will surely work for me" and often that evaluation is very accurate.
I want to be very clear in saying that recommendations from current and past clients are among the things we value most at Werko Marketing Solutions and effectively, they have been one of the sources that most feed our commercial funnel. Having said this, I think it is important that each client understands that behind a recommendation is a specific situation, a specific budget, a specific pain point or need, unique capabilities, sector in which it operates, etc.
An agency well recommended by one client is not necessarily going to be the best agency for another, although a good experience is usually a reflection of the meticulous work behind delivering a professional service. More important than finding "the best agency", you have to look for "the agency that is best for what I need."
The 6 criteria for choosing the best marketing agency (for you)
If we already established that there is no "the best marketing agency", but the one that suits you best specifically, I don't want to leave you with just that. Rather, I share with you 6 things worth looking for to validate that correct fit so you can reach the agency that is "the best for you."
Want to evaluate if your current agency meets these criteria?
Schedule a conversation with our team.
1. An agency that understands your business model and wants to boost it.
Any agency that promises results like "X guaranteed leads per year" indiscriminately must be disqualified immediately and labeled as a fake.
First, because in our world there are no guarantees or magic formulas.
Second, because it is illogical to think that someone who doesn't understand if what you sell is penthouse apartments in Florida or nuts in a hardware store in Chattanooga can promise you the same volume of leads applying the same tools with the same budget. To work effectively with you, an agency must dedicate time to fully understanding critical elements of your model to be able to propose the right strategies and tactics.
If they don't take the time to understand,
Who are the ones making the purchase decision for your product or service,
What your commercial processes are like,
What the moments of truth are,
The average value of your clients,
The stages in your commercial funnel and their normal time per stage,
Specific factors that generate trust in your market
And the true differentiators of your product,
Then they will hardly be a valuable ally to position your brand and pursue your objectives. A tool that we developed precisely to achieve this level of understanding and alignment is our Brand Strategy Map, which also serves many other purposes of strategic value for our clients.
Beware of agencies that have the same solution and the same promise of success for everyone.
2. An agency that has clear processes
Avoid complications and surprises by ensuring your agency has clear processes and reviewing that those processes are compatible with the way your company or brand operates and its expectations.
By this I mean clarity of processes and proven methodologies. Someone who operates based on methodologies can very easily outline schedules, define workflows, and give clarity around roles and functions. If you ask me to develop a website, I must be able to very easily present my way of working and explain each of the phases so that you know how meticulously we work, have visibility of times, stages, and decisions, and can check if that is compatible with what you are looking for.
Beware of agencies that "we'll see and adapt as we go." Companies without clear processes usually fail, either in time, in form, or both. Does the agency you are working with have clear processes? Are these processes compatible with what you are looking for?
3. An agency that is transparent in accountability and results measurement
Beware of agencies that always give you good doctored results or that don't define what it will mean to successfully achieve a project. Also beware of those that don't define their efforts based on specific objectives.
I have said it many times: it is in function of a healthy and fruitful relationship that it is relevant to have an understanding of the Measures of Success. Let me give granular examples to make the idea clear: if together we establish Brand Awareness objectives in a campaign and I ensure that all variables are set to pursue that objective, the success of that campaign cannot be measured by conversions in phone calls. The alignment between setting objectives, developing tactics to pursue them, and consistent accountability is very important and your agency must not only know it, but ensure that you understand it too. Good agreements help ground expectations, strengthen relationships, and celebrate success.
4. An agency that isn't afraid to say NO
Have you noticed that any idea you want to bounce off ChatGPT is always received with an "Excellent! What a great idea you had" even though you could be saying the most stupid thing that ever occurred to you? That level of condescension is fueled by instructions that privilege liking you over telling you the truth... and if you dislike getting it from an AI, it should make you REVOLTED to get it from who you are supposedly looking for to be your ally and protector of your brand health.
Beware of companies that prefer to sell you something you don't need than tell you the truth... or those that just to close a sale tell you they can do something that isn't really in their DNA to deliver. I talk more about these situations in this article I wrote a year ago but which is still very current.
5. An agency that has comprehensive capabilities
This may seem obvious, but it's worth saying. If an agency offers a specific service, it must be able to show you that it has the capabilities to deliver it at the level you need it. For example, if they say they can design your website with SEO and GEO logic, they should be able to show you how they do it and give some examples.
It is also worth recognizing the value of working with agencies that understand the interconnections between tools and can manage them:
An agency that knows about Search Engine Marketing (SEM) understands that part of its success depends on having a Website Destination optimized for SEO and recognizes that results from a Google Ads campaign can fuel the cost-efficiency of organic traffic generation efforts.
Whoever offers Backlinks strategies should be able to link those efforts with Schema Markups work that potentializes them even more.
The one who understands analytics knows they can get from a social media performance report, actionable truths to execute in email marketing campaigns.
The most successful strategies, especially in digital marketing, are those that recognize the links between tools that are part of the ecosystem. The agency that can integrate these learnings into multi-channel efforts will always be leveraging its efforts much more in favor of your results.
In digital marketing, it is better to work with agencies that have comprehensive capabilities than with One Trick Ponies (agencies specialized in a single service) that operate excellently in disconnected silos without taking advantage of the systemic vision.
6. An agency with which there is cultural compatibility
One of the most underrated factors in choosing "the best marketing agency" for your needs is cultural compatibility. Beyond experience, technical capabilities, or the size of the agency, it is fundamental that both organizations share a similar way of working, communicating, and making decisions. An agency may have an impressive portfolio, but if its pace of work, level of structure, style of communication, or strategic approach doesn't fit with your company's expectations, the relationship will probably end up generating frustration for both parties.
In the end, an agency is not simply a provider; it is an external team that will actively participate in important decisions for your business growth.
The best client-agency relationships are not those that generate fewer disagreements. They are those where there is enough trust to have difficult conversations when the business needs it.
Is Werko Marketing Solutions the best marketing agency for you?
Hopefully yes... because we love finding clients with whom we can achieve incredible results.
If you are looking for an ally, it's worth getting to know us and evaluating if we could form a successful binomial. At Werko:
We prioritize strategy clarity BEFORE execution
That's why our slogan "We think before we brand." We like to deeply understand our clients and the environment in which they operate to have better ideas on how to tackle their needs.
We measure everything that can be measured
And we don't skimp on the cost of doing it. That's why we have top-level tools like Sprout Social and we are certified in the use of analytics tools. That's why we always report based on value variables for the client and ensure our campaign efforts are linked to clear objectives and pre-agreed Measures of Success.
We are boutique-expansive in scale
We are an agency that works with hybrid collaboration formats. We have a relatively small in-house team but a network of trusted collaborators and allies whom we call upon as needed and per project. This enables us to have a flexible talent pool while controlling fixed costs, so that we can offer you top-level services at more competitive prices and with greater capacity and response speed than large agencies. This scale also ensures that your account and its needs are never distant from our organizational leaders.
Over 20 years understanding how companies from multiple sectors make decisions
Just check the CV of the Werko leadership team and our success case portfolio to value one of our most important differentiators against agencies of our scale. We have experience in Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, consulting, and B2B.
We love connecting the dots in digital ecosystems
And we have the installed capacity and comprehensive services to do it.
We are passionate about having fun with our clients while pursuing their objectives together
And I believe that is what is behind each of the opinions they share with us when we conclude projects or project milestones or in each rating they leave on our profiles.
The best agency is not the biggest. It is not the most famous. It is not the cheapest. It is the one that understands your business, shares your way of working, and has the ability to help you reach your goals.
For many medium-sized companies looking for growth based on strategy, technology, and measurement, Werko Marketing Solutions can be that partner.
We want to be the best marketing agency for the best clients. Do you want to be one of them? Let's talk.
FAQ
How to know if a marketing agency is good?
A marketing agency is good if it has methodologies and processes in its services, gives clarity on expected results, has comprehensive capabilities, good client references, has a broad portfolio, fits with your organizational culture, and understands your business model.
How much does it cost to hire a marketing agency?
Hiring prices for a marketing agency are very varied in Mexico depending on the scope of the projects, ranging from no less than 500 USD and can exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
What is the difference between a boutique agency and a large agency?
The main difference between a boutique agency and a large agency is the quality of personalized attention that a boutique agency can give. Generally, a large agency faces communication challenges with its clients.
How long does a marketing strategy take to give results?
A marketing strategy is a medium and long-term bet. There are no magic formulas that work immediately. But with strategic planning and execution, results can be achieved consistently in a few months.
About the author
Arjan Shahani
Managing Partner at Werko Marketing Solutions and co-founder of Shahani Initiatives. He has over 20 years of experience in consumer and B2B marketing, as well as business consulting. His primary focus is business profitability through strategic marketing.
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