The wrong marketing vendor wastes budget, creates technical debt, and derails strategy. The right vendor multiplies your efforts. Evaluation matters.
Yet most teams select vendors quickly based on sales pitch or tool popularity, not fit for their business.
Vendor Types and Selection Criteria
1. Martech Tools (Marketing Technology)
Examples: HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo, ActiveCampaign
Evaluation Criteria
- Integration: Connects with your CRM, email, analytics, ads
- Ease of use: Can your team implement without consultant?
- Scalability: Works today and at 10x scale?
- Cost: Price per user, modules, implementation, training
- Support: Response time, quality, community resources
- Reporting: Native dashboards, custom reporting, data export
- Security: SOC 2, GDPR compliance, data privacy
Red Flags
- Requires large upfront implementation cost ($50K+)
- No free trial or demo
- Poor reviews on G2 or Capterra
- Long contract (aim for month-to-month or annual with exit clause)
- No clear pricing (custom only)
- Limited API or integration options
2. Agency Partners
Types: Full-service, performance/demand gen, creative, content, SEO, paid ads
Evaluation Criteria
- Experience: Track record with similar companies/industries
- Team quality: Who actually does the work? (Partner or junior staff?)
- Results: Case studies with real metrics, not just vanity metrics
- Communication: Regular reporting, responsive, transparent
- Cultural fit: Understand your business, aligned on strategy
- Cost: Clear pricing model, no hidden fees
- Flexibility: Adapt to your changes, not rigid approach
Red Flags
- Promises specific results ("guaranteed #1 ranking")
- Won't share case studies or references
- No clear reporting or metrics
- Requires long contract with penalties
- Can't explain their strategy in simple terms
- Focuses on activity ("we'll post 10 times/week") not outcomes
- Doesn't ask about your goals
3. Freelancers/Contractors
Types: Writers, designers, developers, strategists, paid ads specialists
Evaluation Criteria
- Portfolio: Quality work samples relevant to your needs
- Experience: Years in field, companies/industries worked with
- Rate: Reasonable for experience level and market
- Reliability: Meets deadlines, responsive communication
- References: Can you speak with past clients?
- Flexibility: Can scale up/down with your needs
- Specialization: Deep in one area (not jack-of-all-trades)
Red Flags
- Lowest bidder (often means lowest quality)
- No portfolio or references
- Doesn't ask about your requirements
- Requires full payment upfront
- Communicates poorly or unreliably
- Tries to upsell constantly
The Vendor Evaluation Process
Step 1: Define Your Needs
Before you look at vendors, define what you need:
- What problem are we solving?
- What outcomes do we need?
- What's our budget?
- What's the timeline?
- Who else needs to be involved? (Approvers, users)
Step 2: Create Short List
Research 3-5 vendors that fit basic criteria.
- Read reviews on G2, Capterra, Trustpilot
- Ask in Slack communities for recommendations
- Check case studies and references
- Look at pricing and terms
Step 3: Request Demo/Trial
Most vendors offer free demo or trial. Use it to evaluate:
- User interface and ease of use
- Features you actually need
- Integrations with your existing tools
- Quality of support/onboarding
- Speed and performance
Step 4: Reference Calls
Ask vendor for customer references in your industry/stage. Call 2-3.
Questions to ask:
- How long have you used this vendor?
- What problems did it solve?
- What was the implementation experience?
- How responsive is support?
- Would you recommend them? Any caveats?
- What would you do differently knowing what you know now?
Step 5: Negotiate Terms
Don't accept the first offer. Negotiate:
- Price (ask for 10-20% discount, especially annual contracts)
- Contract length (shorter is better, 12 months max)
- Setup/implementation fees
- Number of users/seats
- Service level agreements (response times, uptime)
- Exit clause (ability to cancel with 30 days notice)
Step 6: Pilot Before Scaling
Start small before committing long-term.
- Use free trial before paying
- Start with basic features, not enterprise package
- Run 30-day pilot with small team
- Get feedback before expanding to full team
- Make final decision based on pilot results
Comprehensive Vendor Evaluation Checklist
Capabilities & Features (Weight: 30%)
- Does it solve our main problem?
- Does it have required integrations?
- Can it scale with our growth?
- Are features well-documented?
- Is there a clear product roadmap?
Ease of Use & Support (Weight: 25%)
- Intuitive interface (we can learn without training)?
- Quality of help documentation
- Response time of customer support
- Onboarding training and resources
- Community (forums, user groups, Slack)
Cost (Weight: 20%)
- Initial cost (license + implementation)
- Monthly/annual recurring cost
- Cost per user or seat
- Overage fees or hidden costs
- ROI potential (will it pay for itself?)
Reliability & Security (Weight: 15%)
- Uptime SLA (99.9%+ expected)
- Data security and encryption
- Compliance (SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA if needed)
- Disaster recovery and backups
- Data ownership (can we export our data?)
Vendor Stability (Weight: 10%)
- Company funding and financial health
- Time in business (prefer 5+ years)
- Customer base size and retention
- Likelihood of acquisition or shutdown
- Transparency with customers
Red Flags Across All Vendor Types
- Unclear pricing or custom-only pricing
- No free trial or way to test before buying
- Won't provide references
- Poor online reviews (below 4/5 stars)
- Requires long contract (more than 12 months)
- High pressure sales tactics
- Can't explain features or benefits clearly
- No clear data privacy/security policy
- Doesn't ask about your needs (just pushes product)
- Will "customize" for you (scope creep risk)
Questions to Ask Vendors
- How do your customers typically measure ROI?
- What's the typical implementation timeline?
- Can we export our data if we leave?
- How often do you update the product?
- What's your uptime guarantee?
- How do you handle data privacy and security?
- Can you refer 3 customers similar to us?
- What's included in support?
- Can we do a 30-day free trial?
- Are there discount for annual commitment?
Avoiding Vendor Lock-In
- Ensure you own your data (not trapped)
- Prefer open integrations over closed ecosystems
- Keep contracts annual or shorter
- Maintain relationships with competing vendors
- Document all setup and configuration
- Don't become dependent on one person's knowledge
Conclusion: Take Time on Vendor Selection
Vendor selection affects your marketing efficiency and operations for years. Take time to evaluate properly. A few hours of research saves months of pain and wasted budget. Use this checklist, talk to references, pilot before committing, and you'll make better decisions.