What You Should Look for in a Digital Marketing Agency
Are you looking for a digital marketing agency? Here’s what to look for:
There are many marketing agencies out there, but they’re definitely not all the same. You need to work with an agency that’s going to treat you like a partner so that you can build brand awareness and reach your business goals. We understand that it’s difficult to decide which marketing professional to sign up with, so we’re going to make it a little easier for you. Let’s start with five things that you should pay attention to when hiring a digital marketing agency:
Experience in the Industry
The first thing you should obviously look for with any business is experience in their given industry. This is especially true when searching for a digital marketing company because it takes a little while for even the most tenacious marketer to learn the business. There’s no exact guideline, but anyone you work with should at least have a couple years of experience and be able to answer any questions you have quite easily.
Reasonable Business Goals
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” is the perfect adage for many businesses. Too many marketing agencies will give potential clients an unreasonable outlook on their business goals. This leads to failure for both the marketing company and the business. A good marketer will set reasonable goals on both a short-term and long-term timeline.
Free Marketing Evaluation
Before you decide to sign up with a marketing agency, you obviously need to make sure that they have some sort of digital marketing strategy in mind. The best way to do this is through a marketing evaluation of your business, in terms of where you currently are, where you want to be, and how to get there. This should be a free service that’s offered with absolutely no obligation to sign up with them.
Healthy Business Portfolio
The truth is, it doesn’t really take very long for a great marketing company to build a reputable client profile. Just keep in mind that not every marketing company will have a long list of large corporations under their belt (or even one), and that’s okay. In fact, boutique agencies that cater to local businesses with the occasional out-of-state or even international client will give you the attention you seek and need.
Powerful Content Creation
There’s nothing more powerful and persuasive than being able to deliver high-quality content. This goes for the content used for website pages, blogs, emails, and all other marketing materials. Take a look at their website and blog to get a good idea of the content that they can deliver for your business.
Red Flags to Avoid When Looking for an Agency
Now that you know what to look for in a digital marketing agency, it’s time to discuss what you should not look for. If a marketer exhibits any of these red flags, you may want to think twice about putting them in your corner:
Not Following Their Own Advice
We promise that “practice what you preach” will be the final adage in this discussion. But, it’s true. If a marketing company is telling you how to do things and then they’re not following their own advice, that’s probably not an agency you want to do business with. For example, if they’re directing you to use a social media marketing strategy, but their own online presence is nearly nonexistent, they might not be a good fit.
They Guarantee Fast Results
As we touched on above, some marketers will overstate what they’ll be able to accomplish. We all know that you want to be listed high on a Google search results page as quickly as possible, but this kind of thing takes time. If an agency tells you that you’ll see amazing results overnight or even in a month or two, run the other way. Results typically won’t be seen until you’ve hit the four-month mark and may take up to 12 months.
Not Communicating Very Well
Doing business with any company that doesn’t respond very well is bad news. From your first or second contact, you can sometimes tell if a marketing agency is unresponsive. For others, it’s a slow burn, or they get to a point where they’re not answering your emails or questions in a timely manner. You can usually avoid this by looking at any online reviews or comments that are made about their communication efforts.
Their Website Isn’t Impressive
Man, we’ve seen some terrible websites. We’re sure that you’d absolutely agree. That’s bad news if you’re any kind of business, but you definitely don’t want to work with a marketing agency whose website is a mess or even lackluster. No marketing company website will be able to use every type of design they might suggest, but you should at least get a very professional, well-designed feel from each page.
Not Keeping Up with Trends
Marketing trends come and go. A good agency needs to be able to keep up with that. This may be about the visuals of your website or how to conduct yourself when dealing with Google reviews. A great example of this right now is the use of a blog.
This trend is one of the most effective ways for a company to raise their Google search ranking. If an agency isn’t pushing for this or other popular trends, then you might want to avoid them.
Prices Are Too Good to Be True
We apologize for going back on our promise, but the adage “You get what you pay for” fits perfectly here. Marketing can sometimes be a bit pricey. What you’ll quickly discover, however, is that the results speak for themselves.
Some agencies will offer huge discounts, but that’s because they’re either brand new or don’t know what they’re doing. You must always be careful when prices seem too low when compared to others.
Contact P3 Agency for Florida’s Best Digital Marketing Agency
The P3 Agency has many years of experience in marketing and web design in Clearwater and the surrounding Florida communities. If you want to see for yourself why we’re the most reputable digital marketing agency around, simply ask us for a free marketing analysis. Give us a call at (727) 474-9064 and we’ll get started today!