There are dozens of reasons to hire a marketing agency, but if you don’t know how to find the right agency to hire, you put yourself at risk of wasting your time and money. If you’re looking for a digital marketing agency, don’t take them at their word. You should go to great lengths to vet every agency you may want to hire.
This blog post is designed to help you define the difference between a good digital marketing agency and a bad one, including what to look for and what questions to ask.
Things the Best Digital Marketing Agencies Do
If you’ve worked with a good digital marketing agency before, you’ll notice that the really well-run agencies do a few things extraordinarily well. When vetting potential agencies, ask them about their policies on the following items to get a better understanding of how they do business.
- How they build their client’s strategy: Before you can market, you have to strategize. The best digital marketing agencies have a uniform way that they analyze their client’s needs, choose a direction, and build a digital marketing strategy around these items. Ask them if you can see a marketing strategy template or examples of their past work.
- How they pivot: “Agile Marketing” is in vogue right now, but many agencies, even digital ones, are stuck in the stone age. While the traditional “stand-and-deliver” methodology worked in the 1980’s, today’s marketing environment requires constant monitoring and occasional adjustments for success. Ask for examples of times when they had to deviate from their previous strategy during a client project.
- How they communicate: There’s nothing worse than a black box agency. You hand them money, you’re not sure what they’re handing you back. Not only should you have clear deliverables for every project you run through an agency, but they should have some sort of clear reporting protocol that lets you know how things are going. Ask them for examples of weekly or monthly reporting from their past clients.
Things the Worst Digital Marketing Agencies DON’T Do
Just like the best digital marketing agencies have a lot of similar traits, the worst agencies have plenty in common as well. When you’re trying to find the right marketing agency, you need to know how to spot bad agencies as well. Here are a few things to keep an eye on when vetting potential agencies to avoid hiring duds.
- They don’t set quantifiable goals: Your agency’s number one job should be quantifying their results. It is their responsibility to show you what the return on your investment, and if they aren’t able to quantify their goals from the onset, it’s unlikely that they will be able to quantify their success at the end of the project. Ask them for a list of quantifiable goals associated with their pitch.
- They don’t listen: Lazy marketers pick the two or three tactics that they like and use them on every project, regardless of what would be most successful for the client. You need an agency that will listen to you needs and respond accordingly. Try to poke holes in their strategy and see how they react. If they can’t change strategy based on your objections, it could be a red flag.
- They don’t keep up with trends: As a digital marketing agency, you must keep current with new digital trends. If your agency isn’t privy to Google’s new algorithm changes or Twitter’s new API, this is a red flag that they don’t understand the technical details that can make or break your campaign. Check TechCrunch or Mashable before your next meeting and ask them a question about an article you see there. If they look puzzled, pay close attention to their pitch and see if their tech knowledge appears sparse.
How to Vet Your Digital Marketing Agency
When vetting a digital marketing agency, you want to make sure you do a few things well. You want to weed out the losers by asking good, pointed, well-informed questions. Next, you need to pay close attention to your top three agencies and assess their strategic merits. The one that most effectively align with your business objectives may be your best option!
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