The Top 5 Things Your Digital Marketing Agency Needs to Know

Digital marketing is an ever-changing ecosystem, with new trends and techniques emerging all the time. Keeping up with the latest strategies and innovations can be challenging for marketing teams. There are so many digital marketing agencies out there, each offering its own services. It’s not easy to know what you need from your marketing partner and what they should be bringing to the table. To help you figure out what makes a good digital marketing partner - read on to find out what your ideal agency needs to know before signing that contract.

Have a clear understanding of your business goals

Before beginning any conversation with a potential digital marketing agency, you should have a clear understanding of your business goals. If you are looking to grow your brand presence, you’ll need a digital marketing agency that can help you establish your identity online. If you want to increase sales and revenue, you’ll need an agency that can help you optimize your marketing strategy for conversions. If you want to increase customer retention, you’ll need a digital agency that can create loyalty programs that incentivize customers to come back. If you want to decrease your customer acquisition costs, you’ll need a digital agency that can help you create effectively, targeted campaigns. If you want to increase your traffic and visibility, you’ll need an agency that can help you create content that resonates with your audience, generates organic traffic, and generates links that drive referral traffic.

Be transparent about the services they offer 

Before signing a contract, make sure you have a clear understanding of the services your digital marketing agency offers, and what you need from them to achieve your business goals. To help you navigate the sea of digital marketing services and determine which ones are right for you, we’ve broken them down into three categories - foundational, best-in-class, and emerging services. Basic foundational services like website design, content, and social media are essential to any marketing strategy. But, they’re not enough to create a successful campaign. So, make sure your digital marketing partner offers best-in-class services like SEO, PPC, email marketing, digital analytics, and content strategy. And, only consider adding emerging services to your campaign if they’re absolutely critical to your business goals. Digital marketing agencies should be transparent about the services they offer, so you can make informed decisions about which ones will help you achieve your desired results. 

Be able to show results with accurate analytics and ROI calculations

A good digital marketing agency will be able to show results with accurate analytics and ROI calculations. Whether you’re working with a PPC agency, a content marketing team, or any other service provider, make sure they have reporting and data analysis tools in place. If your digital marketing agency can’t show you how your campaigns are performing and provide actionable insights, you need to find a new agency. Before signing on the dotted line and making any payments, ask your digital marketing agency to show you reports and data related to your campaigns. 

Be knowledgeable about your industry

The best digital marketing agencies are specialists, with deep expertise in your industry and vertical. If you’re looking to expand your brand presence and increase your visibility, you’ll need a digital marketing agency that specializes in B2B marketing. If you’re looking to generate leads and increase sales, you’ll need a digital marketing agency that specializes in B2C marketing. If you want to drive referral traffic, you’ll need a digital marketing agency that specializes in digital PR and link building. If you want to increase customer retention and create customer loyalty, you’ll need a digital marketing agency that specializes in CRM and customer experience. If you want to decrease your customer acquisition costs and create high-quality leads, you’ll need a digital marketing agency that specializes in lead generation.

Estimate the amount of time required for tasks and have a clear workflow

Any good digital marketing agency will have a clear workflow for managing your campaign. Before signing a contract, ask your digital marketing agency about their workflow for managing campaigns. And, make sure your digital marketing partner has a clear understanding of how much time it will take them to complete each task. Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure you know exactly how much time each stage of your campaign will take. You don’t want to be surprised by unrealistic timelines or discover that there is a significant lag time between one stage and the next. Keep in mind that things take time. The process of pivoting from one campaign to the next can take weeks or even months. Your digital marketing agency should be able to clearly communicate the time it takes to complete each task along with the different stages of your campaign. Your digital marketing partner should be able to tell you exactly how much time it will take them to create and publish your content, create and optimize your PPC and SEO campaigns, run your email marketing program and manage your CRM.

Bottom line 

The bottom line is that your digital marketing agency should be able to clearly communicate what they do, what they’ll do for you, and how they’ll do it. But, at the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide which agency is right for you and your business. The key is to be selective, picky and have high expectations. Be ready to walk away from a contract if the agency can’t meet your standards. At the end of the day, you’re the one who has to live with the results achieved from your digital marketing campaign.