Portfolios are universal tools that showcase how competent a professional is in their craft. They’re used by almost everyone as a supplement to their resume or as proof of their experience. They can be used by individuals and companies alike. Artists have copies of their pieces, writers have copies of their articles, and even architects have photos and addresses of their previous projects. ENX2 Marketing has its own marketing portfolio.
In our portfolio, we show websites we’ve created for our clients. Anyone can see the sites we made years ago and compare them to the work we’re doing now. It’s a way to show our growth and how we’ve honed our craft in the art of website design. This is far from the only service we offer, and definitely not the only way to make a marketing portfolio.
Other ways can be to show off everything and anything the agency has ever done. Some want to focus on recent work or what they consider their best work. With so many different portfolios, it’s hard to figure out what to look for. When marketing agencies usually have multiple services, portfolios can become all the more confusing.
If you’re a law firm or a small business looking for a marketing agency to take on your marketing efforts, here are three things to look for in their portfolio.
Look for Clients Similar to You
When looking through a marketing agency’s portfolio, you want to find clients that are similar to you. This can take the form of other law firms, restaurants, or charitable organizations. How similar they should be is up to you.
It may be important that a marketing agency have law firm experience with the same law practice as yours, or something similar. Criminal defense law firms would not use marketing tactics that a personal injury law firm utilizes. The same can be said of a restaurant that’s part of an inn or hotel and a typical restaurant. Having room and board is vastly different from a seafood-focused restaurant.
You know better than most what kind of professional experience your marketing agency should have. You’re only going to find out if a marketing agency has that experience by looking through their clients before their content. An agency can have a portfolio of beautiful graphics and well-designed websites, but if they’re not for a client in your field or a similar one, it may not matter.
Look for Clients Different From You
In most cases, you should first look for clients similar to you in a marketing portfolio. Then you look at clients that are different from you. Take note of how many different industries they have experience in and which ones they don’t. That will tell you that they have marketing tactics they can bring to expand your target audience.
An agency that specializes in what you do and an agency with a wide array of experience each have their own draws and drawbacks. If you ever want to expand your marketing influence, a specialized agency may not have the experience you need. This can trap you in a marketing bubble, and you’ll keep marketing to the same people if your target audience isn’t large enough. But, specialization means that they have the experience to optimize your audience to the fullest. If you have local competitors, a specialized agency will work best, and their portfolio will reflect that.
An agency with varied experience will have many different skills that can help you. If you need to expand your client base because you’ve reached the bottom of your current tactics, a marketing agency with diverse experience can help. This may mean they aren’t the best marketing agency for you if you want to double down on your target audience. They may not bring in new ideas that you want to utilize.
The best option is to find an agency that has specialized experience in your industry and a mix of experience in other industries.
Look for the Agency’s Marketing Results
After considering whether or not they can market to your current audience or expand your audience, look at their work to see if they can do so well. Experience is one of the most important things when it comes to partnering with or hiring anyone. The one thing that’s consistently more important is results.
You can have all the experience in the world and still consistently have a poor showing. The same goes for marketing agencies. Look through their portfolio now that you know what clients to look at. See what kind of graphics the agency makes, how their websites are designed, and whether or not they reach out to you.
It’s not a bad idea to compare and contrast older examples with newer ones so you can see if the team’s output has improved or deteriorated as time has gone on.
Check Out Agency’s Marketing Portfolio
When you look at our marketing portfolio, it shows how we’re both well versed in law firm marketing and general marketing. This means we have a large number of law firm clients around the country. We know how to target your audience and maximize your client retention.
This also means that we have experience from outside the law firm industry. We have ideas and strategies seldom used by law firms to bring in new clients. The best mix of specialization and generality in marketing is to find a moderate middle between the two.
That’s ENX2 Marketing, the marketing agency with a portfolio that shows how skilled and varied our marketing skills are. Contact us today, and we can make a pitch for how we can help you get more clients.