How to Choose a Digital Marketing Agency Like a Pro
digital marketing,
In the Philippines, digital marketing agencies are the saviors of tomorrow – as the internet nowadays is the platform of all businesses. However, most companies’ common mistake in choosing agencies that are experts in this field is not knowing what they need in their business. They all rely on the promising statements of digital marketing agencies that aren’t even reputable – so basically, they are just being ‘indirectly’ robbed.
While some digital marketing agencies may be of quality, most of them are not. So how do you choose a digital marketing agency? What are the key points to consider to be able to partner with an agency that offers quality service? Here are some of the factors that you need to know if you are opting for the service of a digital marketing agency.
Define Your Problem
It is important, in the most literal sense, to identify your business’ problem before choosing or even Googling a digital marketing agency on the internet. You need to have the upper hand before hiring a third party to control a particular aspect of your business. The world isn’t kind, you know.
So how do you start? In defining the problem of your business, or at the very least, what you need to make your business grow, the first thing you need to do is to talk to your team and discuss the current standing and lacking of the company with regards to marketing. Basically, you should list them out – from the thing that your company needs the most to the least – in order to clearly see which part you should deal with first, where one of those may be:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Content Management
- Multimedia Production
- Analytics
- Inbound Marketing
- Website Development/Optimization, etc.
Once you have defined the problem and listed what you needed for your company’s marketing strategy, then you can discuss this with your future digital marketing agency partner – once you have chosen one.
Identify Their Strengths
In defining your problem, it is also significant to identify the strengths of your chosen digital marketing agency. This is because you barely know the agency plus, as already stated above, the world isn’t kind – nor these agencies are created equal. It is important to note that the kind of agency you will hire should match your business. If your business is specializing in footwear, you obviously don’t need to hire a huge digital marketing agency that mostly caters to businesses outside of your specialization. Though it may be hard for you to find a digital marketing agency that would fit you, it is better than getting the wrong one.
It must also be remembered, that of course, not all digital marketing agencies will assure you and help you grow your business. Let’s face it: some won’t. They will just rob your money and have you impressed for the first part with the speed and all, then get you all stressed out for the latter part of those things that will only crumble down and have you look like those generic things in their portfolio.
Check Their Credibility
Given the considerations above, another thing you should also check is their credibility. Ignorance is never a bliss. In hiring a digital marketing agency, it is important to look into the agency’s work or their website. If their website looks good and has ranked in the top 10 results in Google, then you can consider them. Apart from this, you should also check on their current clients (to see if they have also worked with the same size as your company), client testimonials, and reviews – both positive and negative. You should also check if their client testimonials and reviews are not fake, as some agencies, unfortunately, do fake testimonials and reviews to look good. A bonus factor that your potential digital marketing agency can have is if they have been recognized for their service and received an award.
Additionally, avoid those digital marketing agencies that have an awful website – it’s a major red flag.
Know Their Price
Once all the needs and selection has been settled, you now proceed to the ultimate question: “How much do you charge?”
It may be uncomfortable and a bit confusing as to how much you are willing to pay for the sake of your business – but then, it all boils down to top quality service.
Which is not cheap.
Let’s face it: if you want to get good results, you will need to pay higher to earn the key players your chosen digital marketing agency has. You can’t argue with them – the training, experience, hard work, and creativity they had to have for them to be able to be called experts in the niche are not to be questioned.
With this in mind, you need to cross out those who offers an unbelievably low price for their service – it will only lead to unsatisfactory results.
Deal or Not Deal with Them
You know what you need in your business, thus, you should keep an open communication with your digital marketing agency like you have with your employees. If you notice that the direction of the processes isn’t going the way as agreed, speak and talk to the agency. You and the digital marketing agency should remember that you agreed to specific terms – which may include understanding your own ideas, giving you feedbacks and updates on the project at hand, and of course, genuinely care for your business. However, it is also important to realize that they are the expert in the niche, thus, at times you should be open to their decisions that they need to do for the betterment of your business.
Basically, it is all about being on the same page and committing to the business plan of the company while ensuring a better outcome for both parties.
Key Takeaway
These are only among the major factors that you should consider in hiring a digital marketing agency. It still falls down to what particular agency is fit for your business’ needs as there are a lot of agencies out there that you will find. However, you should always remember that they are all different. For this reason, you should always be wise when opting for a certain digital marketing agency. Make sure that you opt for the one that will aid your business to grow and reach success.
