Digitalization is the buzzword these days. A few years ago, what was seen as a futuristic medium became a crucial part of today’s business strategy. The ongoing global pandemic has only hastened the adoption and how! Digital marketing has given Phillip to sagging businesses on one side and spawned some innovative companies in the last couple of years on the other side!
Digitalization has also helped brands & businesses match up and sometimes leapfrog competitors irrespective of their size and scale! And to help companies to achieve their visions, it is vital to have an excellent digital marketing agency on board! But the most important question is choosing the best agency for your company. How exactly will you decide who to hire? When hiring a digital marketing agency, you must do your homework and ask the right questions to ensure you find the right partner to help your business succeed.
List of Essential Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency
1. Why will your agency be in business for the next five years?
A big one to open with! The answer will differ somewhat depending on the person you ask and their seniority, but any team member should provide some solution. And if they indeed tell you that they are optimistic about their agency’s business five years from now, below are a few follow-up questions you can ask, such as –
- Year of inception?
- How big is your agency?
- The average duration of both clients and employees with you?
- Who are your clients?
- No of clients with long-term or yearly contracts?
- Cost range for the partnerships?
Answers for the above will help project future stability and how they position their digital marketing agency. You are looking for a partner committed to the long-term and can learn & grow with your company.
2. What are their areas of expertise?
One of the factors that will help decide is an agency’s competence, adaptability, and effectiveness. Check and ensure that the agency can offer the required services such as web designing, web development, website hosting, search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, video marketing, social media strategy, branding, Adwords, to name a few. Every agency is good at some things more than others. For your marketing efforts to be thorough & effective, your agency should have a plethora of expertise at its disposal.
3. Do you have official partnerships with the leading search engines?
Having a Google Partner badge means your agency has employees certified in Google AdWords, has access to their own Google agency team, and keeps up with the latest innovations.
Going beyond Google – check if they’re possibly a Bing Accredited Agency. They are small but growing!
4. Their roaster or past & current clients?
It gives a good understanding of the agency’s capabilities by looking at their past & current clients and the areas they have worked for. Proven results can help you strongly believe in their capabilities. Also, by comparing the agencies and their client roaster, you would understand their industry experience and expertise besides clearly avoiding conflicts of interest with your competitors. If the prospective agency has recently worked with another client in your industry, it’s mutually beneficial.
5. Budgets? How much does it cost for digital marketing?
While agencies may do good work, it all boils down to what costs/budgets? It is essential to take the agreement forward only after understanding their approach to the pricing! It would help to recruit a digital marketing agency team that is considerate of its pricing. You can also start with a nominal amount on a pilot project/market and slowly increase as they deliver results and your confidence goes up! Speaking to a few agencies will help you know benchmark costs and how they fare vis-a-vis their competitors.
6. What project management tools do they use?
Different software tools serve other purposes like managing projects, tracking the reach, making reports, etc. Knowing the device being deployed also gives an idea of your agency’s knowledge and expertise on the subject! What tools are they using, and will they be good enough to help you power your business ahead?
Service and transparency are as important as the project itself, and a good agency will have the systems and processes to ensure these are built into the way they work with you.
7. How good are they with content optimization?
A key aspect of a digital marketing agency’s work is content and optimizing it to reach our planned goals. While hiring an agency, you expect them to improve your content to enhance your presence and visibility. It’s good to be curious at times. Ask for a foolproof plan, and don’t just rely on assumptions.
8. What can you do to help our company reach new goals?
The need for partnering with a digital marketing agency and investing in all things digital is to help increase your business in the digital space. Hence, you must know how the agency rolls out its strategy to grow your business to a whole new level. If the prospective agency isn’t giving you a satisfying answer, then look out and zero in on one that is forthright and gives you a straight answer.
9. How will you assess your campaigns?
While efforts can be appreciated, what matters is results! From time to time, it’s important to keep track of progress so you can tweak it if required to achieve desired results! The agency you intend to partner with should be able to regularly share with you a concise yet precise progress report to be updated about the campaign’s performance. This will help you take a call on continuing with the plan or shelving it and looking for new routes to achieve the objectives.
10. Why are you suitable for me?
A digital marketing agency could consistently do fantastic work and still not be the one for you and your company. Wonder why? Well, you don’t need just any good digital marketing agency; instead, you need one that’s good for you. Read that again!
How do they attempt to be the ‘right’ one? By investing time and resources in understanding you well, you must have the proper thought process and correct first impressions!
Long-term relationships and initiatives bear fruit! It’s the same with the Digital Marketing practice. You must establish a long, productive relationship with your digital marketing agency to get the desired result.
Bonus Question: Do you have the right person for the job in your company?
They say it takes two to tango! Irrespective of the digital marketing agency you finalize on and eventually work with, it’s critical to have the right person to lead your team and drive them to get the desired results.
With the questions in hand, it’s time to go out there and start finding your perfect partner!
Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency FAQ
Why should I hire a digital marketing agency?
Hiring a digital marketing agency has several benefits. The agency has a group of people in different digital marketing streams, and you get collective intelligence from all. They can develop effective marketing strategies for achieving your business goals as a team. They are updated with the latest industry trends and technologies that ensure your campaigns are innovative and competitive. By outsourcing your digital marketing, you can save time and focus on core business activities.
How can a digital marketing agency help businesses?
A digital marketing agency will create and execute digital marketing campaigns on multiple channels as per requirements. They can effectively take up channels like search engines, social media, email marketing, and content marketing. They help you to manage and optimize your online presence, drive targeted traffic to your business website, improve conversions, enhance brand visibility, and generate leads. They also help you measure campaign performance and make data-driven adjustments and improvements.
What services do digital marketing agencies typically offer?
Digital marketing agencies offer a range of services, including:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Pay-per-click (PPC)
- Social media marketing
- Content marketing
- Email marketing
- Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
- Analytics
Does my business need a digital marketing agency?
Do you need help to achieve your marketing goals? Do you need more expertise or need more resources to implement digital strategies? Do you want to stay ahead of your competition? If the answer to these questions is yes, it indicates that your business requires hiring a digital marketing agency.
