How to Choose the Most Suitable Digital Marketing Agency
The increase of digital agencies in recent years has made choosing the right one a difficult task. It includes digital marketing agency as one of the growth in the digital era.
Traditional methods of marketing like advertising on TV, newspaper, and radio are almost fading. With the internet, marketing has shifted to devices – and so we called digital marketing
Creating and maintaining a full marketing strategy takes a team. Therefore, hiring a digital marketing agency becomes a consideration.
Marketing agencies help you get more sales by leveraging different marketing tactics to attract your ideal customer.
Before deciding to hire a digital marketing agency, there are so many factors that affect the decision. Starting from the objectives, financial strategy, marketing activities, etc.
Deciding which digital marketing strategy will result in a better engagement for your brand may not be easy.
Sometimes, a company chooses a digital marketing agency without thoroughly researching the agency.
Even if they choose the right one because of its credibility and success story, we might choose the wrong plan. So, it might not be so cost-effective and goal oriented.
In order to choose the most suitable digital marketing agency for you, we are going to help you with this article on something to be noted or things to avoid.
But before jumping to the article, you might want to read the best proven digital marketing strategies in 2022 that might be very helpful for you to conduct marketing activities.
In-House Digital Marketer vs Digital Marketing Agency
The first question, do you really need a digital marketing agency as an external marketer? The answer could be found after you analyze your company.
So, what’s the difference between in-house marketer and agency?
Everything in this world constantly changes, including trends which might affect the digital marketing activities.
In-house digital marketers are better in terms of understanding the company’s branding and conditions.
Digital marketing agencies are better in terms of remaining up-to-date on something that most companies don’t have enough time to look into.
Navigating the digital landscape is a challenge.
Between understanding your target audience, choosing the right channels, and the increasing pressure from your C-suite, it can seem like you’re juggling too many tasks with not enough time.
So, it depends on what you need.
Also Read: 3 Marketing Lessons Squid Game Can Teach Us
Guide to Choose Agency
Here is the pros and cons hiring a digital marketing agency according to RevLocal.
Below are 5 points to guide you on choosing a digital marketing agency:
1. Determine your goals or objectives
Different companies have different goals and objectives, as well as digital marketing agencies that handle different marketing specialities, activities, and tricks.
The best digital marketing agencies excel at one or two things with their other services being add-ons or secondary options.
Marketing activities cover Search Engine Optimization (SEO), web design, social media marketing, content writing, and many more digital marketing skills that are needed by the market.
By defining clear goals, you would know which marketing tools work best to achieve your objectives.
It also helps you to manage your marketing budget. For example, you choose between to write a blog that converts organically and paid ads that converts paid prospect leads or customers.
You might want to introduce a new product or service or maybe your goal is essentially to build a community online.
From there, you could decide based on your needs. Whether you are going to use a digital marketing agency or an in-house digital marketer.
2. Manage your marketing budget
Set aside your marketing budget from the overall budget. If not, you would spend much much more.
Understand your goals and/or objectives, then you can figure out what kind of marketing tools would help you to reach what you aim.
A good marketer should be able to work with any reasonable budget.
If you find a good agency but realise you might be in a tight position to afford it, you could try to negotiate with the agency. It might result in a long term contract, though it depends.
Also read: Interesting Facts of Digital Marketing Bootcamp
3. Learn about the agency
After you have your objectives, what is the criteria of the agency you would like to hire?
In order to find the most suitable digital marketing agency for you, there are two main factors to help you to decide and achieve goals, including:
a. The list and/or portfolio of past clients
This list is for you to know who they have worked with, along with their portfolio to handle the previous clients by giving the example of their work.
The clients don’t have to always be a top, well-known brand, it can be startups and any company with significant growth.
Hiring a digital marketing agency is one of the digital marketing strategies for startups.
It means, we are not only going to learn about the agency but also their past clients and their working style.
Usually, this experience would affect the price. The more they handle brands, the more experience you pay. The more popular the brand they handle, the more trust you pay.
Also, check what they provide to their past clients. It might be something you needed, such as website building that is related to branding.
But also remember to be critical, don’t pay for some services you don’t even need.
Choose an agency that will offer you a suitable strategy, a specific plan, and a targeted result that you aim for based on the goals and objectives.
b. Credibility and social proof
Testimonials are very important for every kind of business, whereby they give reviews to a product or services that might be helpful in giving insight of their capabilities.
Find out what people have been talking about the agency. Check every media they have and see if they are consistently active.
You can also assess the agency from how they build their own media, because one of the digital marketing tasks is to create a content marketing that is trending and even better if it goes viral.
Also, find out if the agency shows you a fishy result they achieve. I’m not saying that is not possible, but see if they are telling the truth and not over promising.
They will understand that this will take a long time, not an instant result.
Below is one good example of the works of digital marketing agency or consultant. 😎
4. Determine and align core values with the agency
It is important to work with an agency that values the same thing.
Two parties might have their own understanding in reaching objectives using marketing activities. The tools being used are Facebook Ads and Google Ads for example.
There are things to know before you launch Facebook Ads. Every platform needs to be learned thoroughly. The function, the process, the outcome, etc.
Even a lot of marketers still encounter Google Ads mistakes and other marketing tools that need to be avoided.
Listening and consulting is a healthy way to work between parties to align the core values between parties.
Also read: 4 Impactful Tips to Kickstart Your Digital Marketing Career
5. Ask questions to the agency
Ask everything that you are unsure of to the agency, but it has to be relevant and critical. It could be anything in any condition.
For example, you could ask if there is a missing data, or if there is a data file that you don’t know or aren’t aware of.
Transparency is the fundamental of all. Mark some red flag of an agency that looks suspicious.
You could also ask about why they chose that color rather than the other, or why they use a certain theme for the campaign.
In other words, you need to make sure all is clear so the messages can be delivered correctly.
Here are some questions you could ask to the agency:
- Can I see some campaign examples?
This refers to the portfolio the agency has, especially the one with the same industry as yours. - Who will be completing the work?
Will it be an in-house marketer or digital marketing agency? If it’s someone from the agency, will it be a general marketer or specialized marketer? Not only asking about the expertise, you also want to build a good relationship with them. - How long do you keep clients for on average?
It is said, the longer the better. Long-lasting client loyalty is often a sign that the agency delivers a positive experience. - What results can you promise?
A digital marketing agency should not promise “bottom of the funnel” results. It is inevitable that results will take longer if you’re in a more competitive market. - How will results and ROI be measured?
Make sure the measurements are clear. Don’t miss a thing to be measured. This includes the measurements of KPI requirements and ROI showcases.
Choose Your Agency Now
So, have you made up your mind already?
Don’t worry and no need to rush. Take a look into what your company needs thoroughly before hiring a digital marketing agency.
Using an in-house marketer or digital marketing agency is fine as long as your goals and/or objectives can be reached.
The secret to choosing the most suitable digital marketing agency for you is to understand the fundamentals of digital marketing yourself.
It will help you to determine how much budget you need, what tools you are going to use, what kind of campaign should be implemented, and other things.
For consultation, feel free to contact me and ask anything about digital marketing.
I hope you find the best digital marketing agency that is suitable for you!
Also Read: 10 Free SEO Tools to Improve Digital Marketing Faster
