If you’re reading this, you likely have so much work you’re ready to consider outsourcing.

Since your business’s inception, you–the small business owner–taught yourself marketing DIY, watched webinars, scoured the internet for definitions, and read all you could about the field.

All on your own, you took your business from unknown to recognizable among those in your niche community. Now you face the challenge of entrusting your reputation to someone else.

This is not an easy emotional transition for small business owners. But it’s a major milestone toward continued growth and profitability. While your reasons for outsourcing are unique to your business, rest assured that the process of hiring a marketing agency is standardized. 

If you feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available, consider this article as a roadmap to remove doubt about how this process should work. 

The Benefits of Hiring an Agency or Consultant

Once your business reaches a critical moment in its growth cycle, you may consider delegating departmental responsibilities to contractors or external agencies.

As outlined in the 1983 Harvard Business Review article, The Five Stages of Small Business Growth by Neil C. Churchill and Virginia L. Lewis, there are key moments in a small business’s growth cycle during which owners must choose a path.

Whether you find yourself in the existence, survival, or growth stage, hiring an external marketing agency or consultant will grant you greater efficacy (Churchill & Lewis, 1983). This is because your external team member’s sole focus will be promoting your business, whereas your attention is divided across many responsibilities in accruing new business and daily operations.

The lack of dedicated attention likely resulted in inconsistent marketing or outdated sales materials. With specialists, they’ll raise new ideas while you pivot your sales approach or messaging based on the results. 

Digital marketing is an expansive field and can be expensive. Small business owners with limited budgets may opt to hire a single contractor or single-member agency instead of a larger agency. This is because agencies with entire teams dedicated to one account could cost tens of thousands a month. 

The Benefits and Challenges of Hiring External Marketing Support: 

What to Expect

Digital marketing agencies and marketing consultants almost always specialize in a single area of marketing, such as any of the following:

• Marketing Strategy
• Market Research 
• Website Development
• Search Engine Optimization
• Content Creation
• Social Media Marketing 
• Email Marketing 
• Paid Advertising 
• Event Marketing 
• Public Relations and/or Communications 

Before contacting an agency or contractor, sift through their website and social media to assess their client base and specialty areas.

At the start of your search, review your previous marketing efforts. Then write down what you want to continue with the help of a specialist. This exercise will result in a list of ideal services you need: communicate these on your consultation calls.

Steps to Hiring an Agency or Consultant

If you cannot complete a task on this list of recommended steps for hiring an agency, we recommend examining your business development plan for the best potential working relationship.

For example, missing business goals would make it difficult for a marketing agency or consultant to supply marketing goals that align with your business objectives.    

1. Define Your Business Goals 
2. Evaluate Your Budget
3. Familiarize Yourself with Basic Digital Marketing Terms
4. Conduct a Google Search of Nearby Agencies
5. Search Partner Hubs, Agency Listing Sites, Repositories & The Better Business Bureau
6. Shortlist Your Favorites
7. Evaluate Their Digital Marketing (Case Studies, Social Media, Blog, YouTube)
8. Schedule a 30-minute Consultation 
9. Request a Proposal
10. Gather Input from Your Team
11. Take Additional Calls (as needed) 
12. Sign a Statement of Work (SOW) or Master Service Agreement (MSA) 

Questions to Ask During the Hiring Process

During initial calls, the agency or consultant may want to understand your business and try to anticipate any goal-setting challenges down the road. During final calls, you’ll ask questions to assess fit, approach, pricing, and qualifications.

Below are helpful questions to ask during these latter calls with a digital marketing agency or consultant:

• Can you provide examples of successful campaigns for businesses like mine? 
• Who from your team will be working on my account? 
• How do you measure success for a project like this? 
• What are your pricing models? 

Digital Marketing Agency Pricing

Most digital marketing agencies won’t list their prices online. This is because marketing contracts are unique to each client’s business size, scope, scalability needs, and budget constraints. 

However, you can benchmark pricing data by asking around. Typically, you’ll want to start your conversation with a consultant or agency with a clear project scope. This will help you obtain an estimate following your initial calls.

At GrowthSpurt Strategies we’ve figured out a standardized process for common marketing scopes of work with similar clients. Because we usually work directly with the owners of small business owners with relatively simple websites and content needs, we can list our prices online. 

Finding a Marketing Agency or Consultant Near You

While conducting a Google Search, use localized terms like the marketing service area you need, and your city and state.

Another option is leveraging AI to scan for nearby agency listings or contractor sites for the particular service area you need. Just be vigilant in examining the results as AI results can include hallucinations, as described in this Google Cloud article.

Other search options include professional associations and industry partner sites like the American Marketing Association, Semrush Agency Partners, and HubSpot Partner Marketplace.

If you’re looking for a single-member digital marketing agency in Northern New Jersey, we’re based in Bergen County!

Download the Free Guide: How to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency in 10 Days

The bottom line–the search for an external marketing partner is an important task and you’ll thank yourself for taking the time to speak with an expert. 

The result could be a long-term business relationship and the steady growth of your business. That translates to better reach to your target markets, better quality leads, and faster-closed business. 

This no-nonsense guide feeds the following:

• An in-depth into typical project scopes
• Typical out-of-scope work for marketing agencies
• Detailed description of core marketing agency services
• Playbook of how to approach the hiring process across 10 days
• Sites to visit and tools to leverage during your search
• 12 detailed questions of what to ask during your calls
• The qualities of a helpful digital marketing agency
• Behaviors to look out for on your calls
• The marketing landscape: traditional vs. digital marketing

Source List:

• American Marketing Association. (2025). Marketing job board. Retrieved on January 30, 2025.
• Churchill, N. C., & Lewis, V. L. (1983). The five stages of small business growth. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved on January 30, 2025.
• Google Cloud. (2025). What are AI hallucinations? Retrieved on January 30, 2025.
• HubSpot. (2025). HubSpot solutions directory. Retrieved on January 30, 2025.
• Qualtrics. (2024). Customer experience trends. Retrieved on January 30, 2025.
• Semrush. (2025). Find a digital marketing agency. Retrieved on January 30, 2025.