Before you hire a digital marketing agency, there are a few things to consider to ensure you choose the right one for you. Here are our top tips for choosing the best digital agency, or just simply getting the most out of your current agency.
1. Do they know your business?
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of agencies out there who you can work with – but are they all willing to invest the time to learn your business? It is very easy to recommend ‘one-size-fits-all’ cookie-cutter approaches. However, you won’t get the best results from that. A true digital marketing agency will learn your business, your goals & objectives, and continue learning with you as your business develops and changes. After all, how can your agency reach your business’ objectives if they don’t understand what those objectives are?
2. Open and honest communication
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of agencies out there who you can work with – but are they all willing to invest the time to learn your business? It is very easy to recommend ‘one-size-fits-all’ cookie-cutter approaches. However, you won’t get the best results from that. A true digital marketing agency will learn your business, your goals & objectives, and continue learning with you as your business develops and changes. After all, how can your agency reach your business’ objectives if they don’t understand what those objectives are?
3. Flexibility
Is your agency flexible enough to meet your goals? And we know those goals can change along the way. While it is not fair to make huge changes on a daily basis and still expect your agency keep up, when you do have the unusual last-minute change in strategy – are they flexible enough to adapt quickly? Or do they require 3 weeks turnaround time to make a simple change? Work with an agency who is agile and adaptable (within reason), and not pushing back on every request you make.
4. Costs
Agency costs are an ongoing point of discussion. The traditional agency model means that some costs are so exorbitant that you wonder if you will actually have enough budget left over for anything else. Here’s a hot tip. Is your agency charging you for their full-time staff who do not work on your business full-time? You should not be paying for that. You should only be paying for the time that your agency spends working on your business’ marketing activities.
5. Do they get (and share) results?
You pay an agency for their expertise. So, make sure you are getting the results you need. And when they are not getting the results, do they have a reasonable explanation that they openly share with you? Your marketing results should not be a mystery. Ask your agency for regular reporting, and for them to take you through it. Ask questions so you understand the results too. Your agency should be identifying areas for improvement too – while they won’t always be feasible, you’ll need to work with them to implement recommendations so that your results can continue to improve over time.
Here’s one last bonus tip. Do you own all your accounts? By that we mean, your website, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, LinkedIn accounts? If you don’t own these accounts and have access to log in into them whenever you need to – you’ve got a serious problem. You should always make sure that you own your accounts, and that your agency is simply managing them for you. You need to be able to access your own results whenever you want to. Relationships don’t always last forever, so if you find an agency better suited to your needs then you’ll need access to your accounts so you have all the historical data, and so that you’re not starting again from scratch.
If you’re looking for an agency, or need help figuring out if your current agency is the best for you – then get in touch with us today. We’ll learn about your business and conduct a free digital marketing audit to identify any immediate opportunities. After all, it is times like these that you really need to make sure your budget and team are working in the best way for you.
