How To Find The Best Digital Marketing Agency

Once you have decided to implement digital marketing for your business, the next step is to choose the best digital marketing agency which can help you to reach your business goals steadfastly.

However, you might easily get lost in the large list of digital marketing agencies out there. You will find small and large digital marketing agencies which have a variety of capabilities. So how do you know which is the best digital marketing agency for your business?

Let me give you some of the things that you need to look out for in a digital marketing agency before signing a contract with them.

Factors to be considered while choosing a digital marketing agency

1. What they do

Most digital marketing agencies in this world can be divided into two types:

a. Full-service agency

The full-service agencies generally offer 360 degrees services, that is all these services that a business will generally need to market its products and services online. These agencies act as a one-stop shop for all digital marketing services. If you need an agency that can handle all your digital marketing needs from A-Z, then you can choose one of them.

b. Specialist agency

These agencies specialize in one or more areas of digital marketing. If you need advanced strategies and interventions in a particular area of digital marketing like inbound marketing, advertising, or video marketing, you can choose one of them. Specialist agencies generally cater to a select set of clients who are already into digital marketing. They boost the particular areas that they are specialists in and get superior results.

There is another category of agencies that specialize in one or more industries or niches. They have a deep understanding of the functioning and business dynamics of these industries. They only take in clients from the industries that they specialize in.

If you are a start-up then it will be better to go for a full-service agency that can help your company, make the transformation from the offline to the online world. It will be easier for you since you will not have to approach different agencies for different digital marketing tasks and coordination will also become smoother.

On the other hand, if your company is already having a strong online presence then you can select a specialist agency to give it the extra push that it needs in a particular digital marketing technique. Once you identify your next area of growth you can choose a digital marketing agency that specializes in that area and leave the rest to them.

2. Credentials

While choosing a digital marketing agency you need to assess its credentials carefully. You need to go deep into the areas that they specialize in, what their qualifications are, and also their experience.

You need to also see whether the agency has any industry accreditation and partnerships. Renowned companies like Google, Facebook, Linked In, etc. give recognition to digital marketing agencies to acknowledge their expertise. So, find out whether the agency that you are considering has any such accreditation or not, and also look at whether that accreditation is relevant to the work that they will be doing for you.

3. Experience

It is always better to go for a digital marketing agency that has a solid track record of providing good service to clients. It will be even better if they have been in business for several years. This will give you an idea of whether they will be able to handle the digital marketing work for your company independently or not. 

If you choose a digital marketing agency that has been newly set up, then please take a deep look at the credentials of their team before hiring them and always keep an eye on what they are doing.

4. Past customers

This is another important factor that you need to consider. For a digital marketing agency, being in business for several years is not the only thing that can give them experience. They need to have experience in providing services to companies of various sizes, preferably across different countries. 

You need to take a look at their past and present customers to understand the scale that this digital marketing agency operates.

5. Results generated

Every digital marketing agency with good credentials will host certain case studies showcasing the results that they have been able to deliver to their customers in the past. They may also feature a portfolio section where you will get a sample of their past work. 

Take a deep look at these sections to understand how well they have served their past customers, the problems that they have solved, and the kind of business results they have been able to generate with their digital marketing services. This will give you a clear understanding of the quality of work that they do and how effective they are.

Now that we have discussed a few factors that you should consider while choosing a digital marketing agency, let us now understand how you can go about finding the best digital marketing agency for your business.

How to select the best digital marketing agency

One of the easiest ways of finding the best digital marketing agency for your company is to ask for references from friends and other entrepreneurs who are already utilizing the services of an agency. This will make your research process a lot easier since you will be confident about the track record of these companies. If they have been able to give good service to the company which has referred them to you, then it is likely that they will be able to handle your requirements quite well.

If you do not have the benefit of such a referral then you will have to identify the best digital marketing agency through research. These are the steps that you will need to take.

Step 1: Assess your requirement

The first step you need to take before even starting to shortlist digital marketing agencies is to understand what you would want them to do. We call this the requirement analysis.

The starting point for this step will be to assess your business goals. Understand where you stand and what milestones you will want to achieve with digital marketing. While talking to any digital marketing agency you will have to clearly state what your requirements are so that they can tell you the best way in which they can help you out.

Step 2: Research and shortlist

After you have assessed your requirements, you can do a Google search or speak to companies you know to find out some digital marketing agencies that you can consider.

Once you have the broader list you need to go to their websites to find out the services that they provide to see whether they can deliver what you are looking for. You must also look at their case studies portfolios, read their customer reviews, and possibly talk to a few of their customers to know about the quality of work that they have done in the past.

Step 3: Talk to the agencies

Next, you will need to contact these digital marketing agencies and discuss your requirements with them. Almost all agencies these days give you the facility to schedule a call from their websites directly. You can also call the phone numbers that are given on their website to save some time.

When getting in touch with these companies, clearly explain your requirements to them and ask them how they can fulfill these requirements. Ask them to submit a proposal to you mentioning all the details regarding the services that they will provide, and the costs associated with the same.

Step 4: Compare proposals

Once you receive the proposals from different agencies then you will have to compare them. This in itself can get a little confusing especially if you are not very digital marketing savvy. In that case, you can ask someone you know who might be having a good understanding of digital marketing.

You will need to look at various factors in the proposals that you receive. These will include: 

• What services do they provide?
• How much time they will take to get started? 
• The marketing budget that they want you to allocate.
• How much of your time they will need from you while getting started, and also on an ongoing basis?
• The time commitment that they will need from you on an ongoing basis, and
• What will be the fees they will be charging?

Step 5: Finalize

Next, it is time for you to zero down on that one best digital marketing agency that you can trust to take your business forward. While you can assign points to the agencies based on the factors that I have mentioned above and choose the one that scores the highest, you will also have to keep in mind how comfortable you felt in interacting with them during the initial exploratory call.

Remember that digital marketing is a collaborative effort where the digital marketing agency will have to work very closely with your team members and you almost daily. So, it is always better to choose the best digital marketing agency which has been able to make you feel comfortable, rather than blindly going for the one which scored the highest.

Once you have selected the best digital marketing agency for your company you can go ahead and sign on the dotted line. 

These are the steps you will need to choose the best So go ahead and choose the right agency and take your business to the next level.

As always if you want to schedule a call with our experts to see how we can help you, then we are always available for a discussion.