Hello.Email Marketing can be daunting. Whether you’re overworked oroverwhelmed, sometimes you just can’t do it alone. This guide will help youfigure out if it’s time to call in some help. And if you decide to get help withyour email marketing, we’ll let you know what to look for in an agency orconsultant, and how to manage the relationship.

What should you look for? What questions should you ask? And what shouldyou expect from a good agency-client relationship? Let’s get started.

Should I Hire an

Agency?Email marketing is a specialized skill. Whether you or one of your employeesis an experienced email marketer or you’re starting from square one, your in-house skill set will help determine what you're looking for in an agency. Timeis also a big factor. Do you have enough of it to involved yourself with everydetail of an email-marketing campaign? Do you have the necessary time orinclination to teach yourself? Think about these kinds of questions are youlook at the list below, which includes some signs it’s time for professionalhelp:

You want to start marketing through email, but you have no idea where

to start and don’t have the time to learn (or read our helpful guides ). Ifthat’s the case, get help now.

You’ve done some email marketing, but you want to take it to the next

level. It can be hard to ramp up revenue or increase efficiency. An agencycan help guide you in the right direction, or take over the whole darn thing.

You know what you’re doing, and if you just had a few more hands,

you could really go places. An agency or consultant can seamlessly helpyou knock it all out.

You need help with one step. Your team is filled with creative wizards, butyou can’t tell if their flowery prose is selling your flower pots. Or maybethere’s a left-brained stats freak whose campaign needs a shot of creativity.Contracting out analytics or creative agencies or consultants might be theway to go.

People aren’t actually getting your email, or you’re not getting their

responses. These issues can ruin a great campaign. Someone else canmake sure you don't miss those opportunities.

Your email list is out of control or non-existent. An expert can help yougrow your list responsibly. They can also track things like customerbehavior, so you can better target each individual recipient with theappropriate message.

Any of these problems sound familiar? If so, don’t fret. Next, we’ll talkspecifically about what these email-marketing agencies can do for you.

What Can an

Agency Do for

Me?Overview of agency services

Your next decision is what type of services you need when it comes to emailmarketing. That information will help you determine whether you’re lookingfor an interactive agency, an email marketing consultant, a deliverabilityexpert, or something else. Here’s a basic rundown of services that agenciesprovide:

Strategic Consultation

Tell them your goals, and they’ll give you a plan of action.

Marketing Campaign Management

They can take over the whole thing if you want them to. Just provide thedirection, and they’ll run your campaigns for you.

Creative Development

They’ll write, format, and produce your emails. Pretty emails have to comefrom somewhere, and sometimes it’s an agency.

Acquisition and List Optimization

They can grow your list using email best practices to increase revenue whilelimiting bounces, unsubscribes, and complaints.

Vendor Selection

Vendors send out your emails. An agency will look at what your needs areand help you pick the vendor that will best meet them.

Deliverability

Content is essential, but it’s also paramount to make sure everyone on yourlists gets your emails on time.

Campaign Metric Analysis and Optimization

Metrics tell you how well your campaign is working. You can then tweak andoptimize it as needed to reach your goals.

Integration and Customization

Your email marketing needs to be consistent with all your branding, bothonline and offline. It’s also important for your marketing to work togetheracross all platforms.

When you first make contract with an agency, ask to see an overview ofwhat they offer. Some firms specialize in just one facet of marketing, so it’simportant to make sure they meet all your needs. Be specific about whatyou want--diligence is vital when picking an agency to work with.

Selecting services

Sometimes, you may not be able to put your finger on exactly what yourcompany needs. Time to figure that out.

When selecting an agency, you have to ask yourself some tough questions.Sit down with your team and have an honest discussion about where youare today--and where you want to be tomorrow--when it comes to marketingyour business. You should then talk about how you can reach those goalsover the next year or two. You don’t have to spell it out day-by-day, but theclearer your vision, the better an agency can detail your prospectivepartnership.

Here are some tough questions to ask yourself and your team:

What’s your overall marketing plan?How does email fit in it?What’s working with our current email marketing? What isn’t?Should we start our campaign from scratch, or revise what we alreadyhave?Do we need our own IT department involved?Who else do we need to talk to within our company?When should this start? And when should it finish?What’s our budget?

What’s our forecasted volume per month? Per year?What sort of return on our investment (ROI) are we looking for?How will we measure success?What are our biggest challenges to overcome in the next six, 12, and 18months?

Once you hammer out some answers to these questions, write up a briefsummary--or at least be prepared to talk about it when meeting withpotential partners. The answers to these questions will guide your initialconversations.

How Do I Narrow

Down the List?Now it’s time to get some information from the agencies you’re considering.This is only the start of the conversation. Here’s what to look for in apossible partner:

Make sure they understand your business model, along with your

company’s missing statement.

Check out their previous work and see if it appeals to you.

Talk to them to see if you get along. Culture is important. Develop amutual understanding of your brands and how you each do business.

Try to meet as many people in the company as possible, especially

those you’ll be working with directly. Personality shouldn’t beunderstated, as you could be seeing a whole lot of these people.

Gauge from your own interactions, or talk to some of their other clients,

and make sure these guys will get in touch with you if something

comes up. Don’t wait until you’re already getting complaints fromcustomers.

Asking the right questions

Tell potential email partners what you want when you sit down with them,but remember also that good conversations are about asking goodquestions. Here are some sample questions that you should tailor to yourown business to get an even better sense of how these people can meetyour needs:

General

In addition to email marketing, do you have any other marketing services?Is email marketing a core part of your business? Do you specialize in anyparticular area of email marketing (creative, analytics, strategy)?What makes you different from the other folks I’ve talked to?Do you work with any of my competitors?How long have you been in business?What email service providers do you work with right now? Could you workwith others? Which email programs do you like and why?How much will this cost me? Do you have a minimum? Hourly rate?

Strategy

How do you come up with a strategy for email marketing?Its this one-size-fits-all, or do you have specific ideas for my company?Can you show and/or tell me about other email-marketing programs you’rerecently developed or managed?Can you help me convince my boss that email marketing is a good idea?What are some concrete ways my company can increase revenue withemail marketing?What problems do you see with my current email-marketing strategy?What are some major challenges in email marketing? How can weovercome them?Can you talk about the current state of email marketing and whichemerging trends may affect it? In what ways?

Creative

Do you offer creative design services (email, landing pages, Facebook)?What’s your creative-development process? How much input will I have?Will my emails look good on any platform or client? How do you check?How can you help me make my content better? Can you do it for me?

Production and Fulfillment

How many email campaigns are you managing for your clients right now,per week or month?What if I have an emergency after hours? Can I get in touch with you?What if I have a last-minute request? Can you always fulfill it?Can you send out emails on my behalf if I want you to?What other platforms can we use (social media, mobile, web analytics)?

Deliverability

Is there a deliverability expert on staff?Can you guarantee all my emails will send where they’re supposed to,when they’re supposed to?Can you adequately troubleshoot any problems I may have? How do youmonitor my emails to ensure things go perfectly?

Development and Integration

What development resources do you have on staff or work closely with?Can you help me with database integration with my email serviceprovider?Can you work with my IT guys to code for our website if needed?

Once they answer all of your questions, make a list of two or three finalists.Look at the cost, and decide which is the best fit for your company. Someagencies work on a per-project basis, while others work on retainer.Regardless, once you’ve made a decision, iron out a contract and makesure all parties understand the expectations of this partnership.

I've Got My

Agency. Now

What?Congratulations. You've got yourself a partner! Now it's time to focus ondeveloping this relationship and making sure you achieve all your goals.Treat your partner as an extension of your marketing team. Some things tokeep in mind:

Remind yourself and your partner what your goals are. Make sure everyoneon the team is on the same page.

Make sure everyone knows who they should be in touch with, and how to doso.

When you start a new project:

Define goals. Get that out of the way right off the bat.

Be specific. Your agency partner can help you, but provide as many detailsas you can.

For each project, be sure to decide together:

How to work togetherPrioritiesMilestones and goalsTimelineHow often you'll receive updates on progress

Stay in touch with your partner. Just like any relationship, you have to spendtime together. Weekly status calls or daily updates are often a good idea foragencies.

That's it. You're now in a productive partnership with your new email-marketing agency. Good luck!

Keep reading for information on MailChimp's Expert Exchange Program anddirectory of agencies.

MailChimp's

Expert Exchange

ProgramAre you a MailChimp user who's looking for an expert? Maybe you wantsomeone to create a few custom templates for you, help you wire up yourinterface, or even just handle migrating your list from another email companyto MailChimp. MailChimp's Expert Exchange Program (EEP) can help. Andwe'll even help foot the bill.

Here's how it works:

1. Choose a company and let us know who it is. You might have anagency, designer, developer, or freelancer you're already comfortableworking with. If that's the case, ask them to email(expertprogram@mailchimp.com). We'll get them registered as anofficial MailChimp Expert right away.

If you're not already working with someone, read through this guideand check out our list of MailChimp Experts. Select one, email them,and explain you're interested in working with them as part ofMailChimp's Expert Exchange Program.

2. Agree on project scope and cost with your expert. Decide exactlywhat your expert's going to do, and how much they charge for thatservice.

3. Have your expert send MailChimp a copy of your paid invoice via

email (expertprogram@mailchimp.com). We'll take up to 50 percentoff your monthly bill for up to six months, or until we've reimbursedyou for half of the cost of your project--whichever comes first.

Agency Directory

Digital Marketing Agencies

89 degrees

http://89degrees.com/#capabilities

Campaign strategy and managementCreative contentExecutionAnalyticsAcquisition and retention

@89degreeshttp://www.facebook.com/89Degreeshttp://blog.89degrees.com

781.221.5400Burlington, MA // USA

Blue Moon Works

http://www.bluemoonworks.com/email-marketing.html

Email marketing strategyContent planningSegmentation planningMulti-channel executionReporting and analytics

@BlueMoonWorkshttp://www.facebook.com/BlueMoonWorksInc

http://www.bluemoonworks.com/Blog

New York, NY // USA

BrightWave Marketing

http://www.brightwavemarketing.com/services.php

Creative, coding and messagingStrategy and consultingList growth and retentionCampaign managementMetrics, analysis and optimization

@BrightWaveMarketinghttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16020781869&ref=tshttp://brightwave.blogspot.com/

Atlanta, GA // USA

Carlyle Inc.

http://www.carlyleinc.com/internet-marketing-services.php

Search optimizationSearch marketingEmail marketingWebsite analysisWeb designConsulting

@rorycarlylehttp://www.facebook.com/rorycarlylehttp://carlyleinc.com/blog/

Colorado Springs, CO // USA

eRoi

http://www.eroi.com/eroi-does-online-marketing/services/

Campaign strategy and management

Creative contentExecution and analyticsAcquisition and retention

@eroihttp://www.facebook.com/eroihttp://eroidays.com/http://theemailwars.com/http://returnonsubscriber.com/

Portland, OR // USA

FSC Interactive

http://www.fscinteractive.com/eMarketing.aspx

Campaign strategy and managementCreative contentExecution and analyticsAcquisition and retention

@fscnolahttps://www.facebook.com/fscinteractivehttp://blog.fscinteractive.com/wordpress/

New Orleans, LA // USA

Idea Park

http://ideapark.com/index.php#page=OurWork

Campaign strategy and managementCreative contentExecution and analyticsAcquisition and retention

http://www.ideapark.com/#page=OurBlog

Minneapolis, MN // USA

Precision Dialogue

http://www.precisiondialogue.com/

Campaign strategy and managementCreative contentExecution and analyticsAcquisition and retention

@PD_Engagehttps://www.facebook.com/PrecisionDialoguehttp://blog.precisiondialogue.com/

Westlake, OH // USA

Modea

http://www.modea.com/services/

Campaign strategy and managementCreative contentExecution and analyticsAcquisition and retention

@modeahttp://www.facebook.com/Modea

Blacksburg, VA // USA

Mudbug Media

http://mudbugmedia.com/work/

Campaign strategy and managementCreative contentExecution and analyticsAcquisition and retention

@mudbugmediahttp://mudbugmedia.com/blog/

New Orleans, LA // USA

Digital Marketing Agencies

AlchemyWorx

http://www.alchemyworx.com/c/email-services

ContentDesignProductionDeliveryReporting and analysisCampaign stategy and management

@DelaQuist

+44 (0) 207 025 2100London // UK

ClickMail Marketing

http://clickmailmarketing.com/cmm_services.html

Delivery optimizationAPI integrationDeployment and supportEmail and landing page designEmail marketing strategyCustomization

@clickmailhttp://clickmailmarketing.com/whitelist/

650.653.8055San Mateo, CA // USA

eTale

http://www.etale.be/services.html

Consultancy in tactical, strategical and operational email marketing

Email service provider selectionHands-on and over-the-phone consultingProject managementIn-house training and coachingTemplate design and consultancyLanding page and registration page optimizationDeliverability consulting

@Kvanbeeckhttp://www.etale.be/etale-knowledge-center.html

+35 476 29 95 49Belgium

Glasner Consulting

http://www.glasner.com/services/

StrategyList managementCreative reviewIntegration plansVendor selection

@luke_tweetshttp://www.glasner.com/blog/

Montvale, NJ // USA

Inbox Orange

http://www.inboxorange.com/services.html

Email marketing strategyList building and managementEmail engagement and deliverabilityContent and copywritingEmail designProject managementReal-time reporting

HTML services

@luke_tweetshttp://www.facebook.com/inboxorangehttp://www.serifgroup.com/blog/

859.552.3454Lexington, KY // USA

IndieMark

http://www.indiemark.com/email-marketing-services.html

Email marketing consultingEmail template designDeliverability consultingEmail list growthManaged services and training

@indiescotthttp://www.facebook.com/pages/indiemark/304687868247http://blog.indiemark.com/

407.614.5952 x 101Orlando, FL // USA

Jeanne Jeannings

http://www.jeannejennings.com/

Email campaign strategyOpt-in list growthEmail messages, websites, reports and whitepapersEmail/web page wireframe layoutsOptimizing email, landing page and micro-site creative for ROI

@jeajen

202.333.3245USA

Red Pill Email

http://redpillemail.com/blog/available-email-services

Vendor selectionIntegration consultingEmail strategy and tacticsEmail account management

@jacaldwellhttp://redpillemail.com/blog/

USA

Relish Tray Media

http://www.relishtraymedia.com/services.html

Email marketingCRM and lifecycle email marketing program managementEmail delivery and whitelisting servicesVendor, RFP development and proposal evaluationSocial marketing strategyStrategic marketing campaignsIntegrated media campaignsBrand exposure ROICreative development and optimization services

@lizsingletonhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Relish-Tray-Media-Inc/139574762748737

USA

Shaw and Scott

http://www.shawscott.com

Email marketing consulting

@shawscott

206.709.7790USA

Style Campaign

http://stylecampaign.com/services.html

Custom email templates

@stylecampaignhttp://www.stylecampaign.com/blog/

818.762.8737Los Angeles, CA // USA

Synchronicity Marketing

http://synchronicitymarketing.com/products-and-services.html

Email message copy and creative reviewEmail marketing strategy brainstormEmail testing designs sessionUsing Twitter and Facebook for businessCampaign results analysis and metrics review

@synchmarketinghttp://www.facebook.com/SynchronicityMarketinghttp://synchronicitymarketing.com/blog/

561.967.9665USA

Tamara Gielen

http://www.tamaragielen.com/services.html

Over-the-phone consultingStrategy and consultingDesign and productionEmail program and campaign auditsDeliverability supportEmail program optimizationList growth and lead nurturingManaged services

Email service provider selectionWorkshops training and coaching

@tamaragielenhttp://www.b2bemailmarketing.com/

+32 (0)477 666 930Belgium

The Relevancy Group

http://relevancygroup.com/services.htm

Strategic market analysisSales representative trainingProduct development, including product and company positioningMarket analysis of prospect behaviors and attitudesWhitepaper development and marketing plan developmentSpeaking engagements including conferences and webinarsMarket survey developmentDelivery and analysis

@emaildanielshttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=110740428964926http://blog.relevancygroup.com/blog/the-relevancy-group

877.972.6886Spring Lake, NJ // USA

Treadline Interactive

http://trendlineinteractive.com/what-we-do

ConsultingResearchList growthDeliverabilityOptimization and testingIntegration strategy

@trendlinei

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Trendline-Interactive/154028497952221 ?ref=sgmihttp://trendlineinteractive.com/blog

224.633.1394Bee Cave, TX // USA

Interactive Agencies

BKV

http://bkv.com/interactive/default.jsps

Email marketing servicesContentDesignProductionDeliveryReporting and analysisCampaign strategy and management

@bkvadvertisinghttp://www.facebook.com/bkvadvertisinghttp://my.bkv.com/blog/

404.233.0332Atlanta, GA // USA

Definition 6

http://www.definition6.com/our-services/email-marketing.aspx

Campaign strategy and managementCreative contentExecution and analyticsAcquisition and retention

@definition6http://www.facebook.com/definition6http://blog.definition6.com/blog/definition-6

404.870.032Atlanta, GA // New York, NY // USA

Engauge Digital

http://www.engauge.com/discipline/idirect

Contact strategyContent strategyWireframingCopywritingDesignHTML developmentAnalytics and reportingAdvanced data analysis & modelingCampaign optimization (testing and design)

@engaugehttp://www.facebook.com/engaugehttp://blog.engauge.com/

404.601.4321Austin, TX // Orlando, FL // Pittsburgh, PA // USA

Mind Comet

http://www.mindcomet.com/#/services/email-marketing

StrategyBest practicesCreative servicesDelivery

@mindcomethttp://www.facebook.com/mindcomethttp://emailmarketingvoodoo.com/

800.668.1761New York, NY // Los Angeles, CA // USA