So you have come to the decision that you are going to hire a Digital Marketing agency for your business. The grim reality is that crossing the next hurdle of choosing a marketing agency is very tough!
With new ventures originating day in and day out, and with almost negligible barriers to entry in the digital age, there is a humongous list of agencies to choose from. The right fit for your brand, the one which would act as the voice of your brand, needs to be selected carefully, keeping in mind the things to avoid having in your digital marketing partner, and the must-haves, most importantly.
Source: Hootsuite
Hop on to this detailed discussion around choosing the right Digital Marketing agency for your business!
How to pick the right Digital Marketing Agency?
Begin by recognizing your business goals and desired outcomes
Businesses come in all shapes and sizes, so do their goals. Start by understanding the goals of your business, whether you want a blog marketing service, a video marketing service, or any other service, and then go ahead and pick the agency accordingly. The Digital Marketing agencies, often claiming to be “full service” agencies, have a list of specialties. So, you’ll have to build itemized deliverables and their desired outcomes.
That way, once these deliverables are communicated with the agency, both your business and the agency’s time would not get wasted, and it will be a mutual understanding if they are the right fit for your business or not.
Pick up a marketing partner with a decent-sized portfolio
The indication of a reputed digital marketing agency is the list of clients that they have worked with, in the past or currently. This shows their expertise that they claim to have. A showcase of the brand logos or names on the website of the marketing agency is what you should be looking for, while looking for the right partner.
Source: Inteleqt
The previous work for some services like SEO or content marketing might not be displayed on the website, but the client list is a good indication of the Digital Marketing prowess carried by the agency.
Look for their reputation in the industry
To identify whether the Digital Marketing agency has that strong foothold in the industry that they claim to have, look for client testimonials, and reviews on their websites. If you find no testimonials or reviews, that is a good enough indication that they might not have the expertise that you are looking for.
These reviews act as social-proof of their specialty and their mastery over the service that you need. Negative reviews also demand attention to understand the areas where the agency is struggling, for you to have a clear picture of your expectations from that agency.
Source: Zoho
Apart from this, also look out for reviews on Google, to understand what other brands say about the Digital Marketing agency, about their past experiences of working with them. You can get to know a lot of ground realities. Clutch is a good place to review the industry reputation for digital marketing agencies. Just visit the website and search for the company name.
Ensure they have the right team for your project
Imagine hiring an agency for a blog content marketing service and having no content writer as a part of their team! Disastrous, right?
Before you sign any Digital Marketing agency for your project, research more on their team members on their website. The “About Us” section on the website usually talks about the team. Go check that out!
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If there isn’t any detail of the team on the website, LinkedIn comes to the rescue. Surfing the company page would fetch you the “People” section where you will find all the employees of the agency.
Check out their own website quality
Isn’t it an annoying sight to be offering website development services and not having a quality website of their own?
A website is something that showcases your seriousness towards showcasing your skillset, expertise, and client portfolio, along with the projects undertaken and delivered to date. If a Digital Marketing agency doesn’t have a high-quality website for their business, then you can’t expect them to deliver the desired outcomes for your brand.
Look for the company’s website, and if you don’t find it appealing enough to handover your brand’s marketing activities to, you’re better off finding out a better deal.
Look for their core values and the company culture
While choosing a marketing agency for your business, evaluating their core values and culture is as important as evaluating their work and clientele.
You are gonna let them manage your marketing, they are an augmentation to your business. Look for the way they describe themselves and their work on their website or while having a conversation verbally. If you find a match with your culture and core values, you can give them a shot, your business could be in safe hands that way. They shall gel well with your team and operate in a similar fashion as you do. Else, move on, there isn’t any dearth of high-quality agency partners out there!
Carefully assess the promises they make
Everyone likes realistic people to talk to and work with. Fake behavior and claims are a strict no-no!
Source: Fractional CMO
Similarly, while finalizing the right digital marketing agency for your business, look for and evaluate the promises that they make to you. Highly erratic and unrealistic promises on the website bear a big caution. And make your brows rise up!
For instance, an agency claiming to take your business to the number one spot on Google in a short time period, is basically making fake promises, since it is a concept of Search Engine Optimization which takes time and is an ongoing process, demanding regular efforts. The above claim shows that the agency is not well-versed in the industry, so you better hunt for a different partner.
See if they are easy to contact
A marketing partner makes it a simplified process for you to get in touch with them, not complicating it. A clear “Contact Us” section on their website, or a form to be filled out for them to contact you, is a clear cut sign that they are well organized and that shall reflect in their services for your brand.
If traversing their website feels like a puzzling task, better steer in a different direction to search for a different agency.
Wrapping Up
All your organizational projects deserve best of the best focus from the industry maestros. Be it a small project demanding only a few days streamlining and monitoring, or a routine project taking months to complete, the success totally depends on the people looking after them.
While deciding to hire an agency seems a very simple decision, trying to unravel the right one for you seems a daunting task. But, diving into the pointers mentioned above shall give you clarity as to what all should be the ideal characteristics of your agency partner, for you to achieve the desired results.
Pay due heed to the things to lookout for, things that are a strict no-no to have in your marketing agency, what kind of a team they should be having in their organization. Follow these tips and you will breathe life into your Digital Marketing strategies!
Owing to an ability to implement complex strategies, we at Fractional CMO, as a full stack marketing automation agency and having a customer-first approach, are a thought leader in marketing, design, and sales, and are driven by data and not guesswork to deliver the values that we promise.
