Oftentimes, marketing heads of digital agencies and media companies are seen tearing their hair out at the money they have spent outsourcing agencies to utterly no avail. There’s no denying that trusting an external agency with your ideas, money and resources can be quite daunting. It’s understandable that everyone wants to settle for nothing but the best for their agency. Unfortunately, “best” is only a relative term.
There will always be a company with a marketing game stronger than yours. It does not necessarily mean that they are working with a marketing agency better than yours. You don’t have to go door-to-door looking for the award-winning agencies doing a great job in the marketing world. Instead, look for an agency that is compatible with your business needs.
You can never create an exhaustive list of jobs a digital marketing agency needs to accomplish for your company. There will always be tasks that spring up spontaneously as you get your nose in the business. A marketing agency compatible with your own would better understand and develop impromptu strategies than one which may have shelves upon shelves stacked with awards but an inflexible set of limitations. The following tips will help you determine the digital marketing agency best for the needs of your business.
Here are the 9 Tips for Choosing a Digital Marketing Agency for Your Business Growth
Inquire and make sure that results are communicated efficiently
Keeping track of results is an important part of everything from small individual campaigns to your overall marketing efforts. You should find out right from the start how those results will be communicated to you. Some agencies might provide a login for a dashboard where you can keep track of your own results in real-time. Others might send you a report once a month through email.
You’ll want to make sure that you’re going to be able to get at the information you want when you want it. You also are going to want more than just data. Data is useless if you don’t understand the meaning behind it and also don’t understand how it specifically impacts your practice. A good digital marketing agency will provide the data but also help you to glean actionable insights and strategies from that data.
Ask for referrals without fail
You need to ask for referrals before you decide to hire a particular digital marketing company for your brands. The agency should have an accessible portfolio where you can view what the past clients are testifying about the marketing strategies of that company.
The referrals will give you honest insights concerning the quality of services offered by the marketing agency you intend to hire. This information will provide you with a hint to back up your search for a reputable digital marketing agency. Word of mouth is more reassuring than hearing from the agency itself.
Check what clients the agency specialises in
If you own a supercar – you choose a specialist to service it, and you fit it with specialist parts. What you generally wouldn’t do is spend a lot of money on a performance vehicle, then take it to the local garage for cheap replacements. Similarly, you wouldn’t let just anyone poke around in your mouth with a power drill. You’d choose a fully qualified, experienced dentist.
When picking a digital marketing agency, look for one that employs specialists, not generalists. You want someone with artistic talent and an eye for detail to design your brand. You want someone analytical and who loves numbers to work on your paid search campaign. A front-end web developer who understands code and has been building websites since the dawn of the Internet will do a better job than the graduate who started building sites last year.
Make sure that the agency understands your data & analytical requirements
This is another fundamental that transcends design aesthetics and campaign tactics. Data, whether it’s campaign interactions, website user engagement or conversion analysis, is the underlying currency in digital media and marketing and your digital marketing agency needs to not only really understand this, but be hugely passionate about it.
A good digital partner will not only be able to tell you what is happening with your campaign and website traffic, but why, and how you can implement changes and strategies. It’s useful in many cases to provide prospective digital agencies with Google Analytics access to your account (subject to signing a non-disclosure agreement) and ask for analysis or review of your data. It is worth following through and requesting a formal analysis and meeting to discuss their findings.
Someone that is highly competent in data analysis, will come across with great confidence and be able to share important insights with you about the current state and history of your users, traffic sources and site content along with key recommendations. Asking if the agency or key team members are Google Analytics Certified should also reveal their commitment to Analytics, as these qualifications serve as a high-water mark for digital professionals.
Set an appropriate deal
Cost is a pivotal element to consider while hiring a digital marketing agency. However, getting lured by the cheap prices is not advisable as it might render substandard services in the long run. It is always better to consider the services which you get in return for your investment. If the agency provides you with an effective campaign that spreads your reach among the customers, your investment will serve the purpose.
Prepare yourself and your company for a long-term partnership
Look at the whole deal as if you were adding more team members to your company. You will have to cooperate for a long time, and I always encourage a transparent and open relationship in order to get the best results. Most importantly, you need to make sure that everyone is on the same page. The agency you hire has to understand your ideas, give you the necessary feedback, and at the same time, care for your campaign and make the decisions they think are right. In the end, it’s their expertise and knowledge that counts. They are the ones who will tailor your campaign, not you.
Understand their process and working
No two agencies will work quite the same way, but the process they use will have some similarities. You want to make sure you understand the way they work with clients and the process they go through to deliver results. Look for an agency that follows a process similar to this:
- Discover: Research and understand products, services, and USP\’s (Unique Selling Proposition).
- Deepen: Understand the business core and immerse themselves in your brand.
- Define: Develop specific strategies to deliver on KPI\’s.
- Deliver: Launch, track, and manage projects to meet goals.
- Detect: Test, adjust, and optimize work to maximize impact and ROI.
Look out for reviews
This should be obvious – but it’s worth a reminder to check out the agencies’ reviews. There are plenty of 3rd party review services such as Google Reviews, Facebook Reviews, TrustPilot, FeeFo – and plenty of trade-specific review platforms such as Trust-A-Trader.
Don’t expect 100% perfect reviews – if the agency has been around long enough, they are bound to have a couple of negative reviews – but see how they have handled them. All companies can have problems, but how the issues are handled frequently gives you an insight into the culture of the agency and how they treat their clients.
Be realistic about the reviews as well, and check them from a number of sources. Reviews have become such an import choice factor that some companies try to game the system and leave fake reviews. Do the reviews look real? Many review systems such as Google and Facebook allow you to click the reviewer and see what other reviews they have left.
A good review will often mention specifics, and sometimes a name of a person or team – you can usually spot a fake review for being too generic, short and by a person with no other reviews.
Visit the agency in person at least once
Before you make your digital agency choice, meet face to face with the agency. Meet the team and visit the office. This meet and greet will give you insight into how they operate, if they’re truthful about how big their company is, and whether you’ll build rapport and trust with their team. This can also tell you if they’re doing work in-house or outsourcing it overseas or to another agency, which can delay progress on certain aspects of your digital marketing campaign. This is a crucial part of choosing an agency, because if you don’t trust the people working on your account, why would you choose them to begin with?
Finding the right digital marketing agency does not have to be difficult or stressful. The right full-service digital agency will focus on finding the solutions to market your business and develop specific strategies to provide the best return on your investment based on the type of business you have.
Koffeetech Communications has all the tools and experience to implement your digital marketing strategy, including inbound marketing and outbound marketing. Contact us today to discuss your digital marketing needs or schedule a meeting. To learn more about us, be sure to visit at https://www.koffeetech.com/.
