Let’s face it, promoting your business and growing it is a full-time job in and of itself.
Especially if you are a business owner who already wears multiple hats and is juggling multiple responsibilities daily.
So, it’s time to find the right digital marketing agency that you can invest in. And not just a place that you throw money at and hope for the best. But a digital agency that will put your needs first and work with you. A place that wants to see your business grow and succeed.
So what should you be looking for in a digital marketing agency? We have three key things that you should be looking for when making that decision.
1. Transparency
This is first and foremost.
Is the agency being upfront and honest with you about how things are going to be implemented and how things are going to be paid for?
Many agencies will just ask for the credit card and start charging away. That is a big red flag!
Stop if that is the case!
Yes, agencies will charge fees for the services they provide, but don’t give them carte blanche to use the card.
Have an agreement in place for ad spend money and attach the credit card to that. That way you can keep an eye on the ad spend amounts by checking your charges on the card to make sure that everything lines up.
And if the agency isn’t okay with that… Well, be careful about that partnership, because they probably won’t have the chops that you are looking for.
What do they bring to the table that others don’t? What have they gotten certified in to go above and beyond?
We here at Mazama Media have Facebook Blueprint Certification, which is a rigorous process that requires lots of studying and a difficult monitored test that needs to be passed. It’s not an easy task and is something we take pride in having multiple people at our agency accomplish.
And that leads us to having a great relationship with Facebook as well. We're on the Facebook Small Medium Business Council and we're a Facebook Marketing Partner. As far as we know, we're the only company to be part of both.
We’re able to reach out and go to bat for you and your ads when they get flagged. (This happens more often then you might think.) We are in regular contact with Facebook and have cultivated a great working relationship for you to get the best out of your investment in Facebook ads.
2. Take the holistic approach
Don’t fall for the one-trick pony.
You won’t get very far if the company you are partnering with can only get one thing accomplished for you.
Full disclosure: This used to be us. We used to only deal with Facebook advertising. And while that is fine and great, it ran its course over time and we had to evolve and change in order to make sure we are providing the best services possible.
So we grew, changed and evolved to make sure that we are a full-service agency that can accomplish anything. (#HumbleBrag)
Just to name some of the services we provide: Social media management, lead generation, CRM management, email marketing, personal brand creation and marketing, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, photography, website design, business to business marketing, HubSpot Management and so much more!
The questions to ask the digital marketing agency:
You want a digital marketing agency that can do it all. So ask those questions of an agency, what can they do for you?
What does the content they create look like?
If they have no examples of well-written copy, that is not a good sign. You want to be able to see content that has yielded great results, and content that they are proud of. If that is not the case that is a big red flag there is something off.
Do they do their writing in house or is that done offsite?
Not only will the quality of the content be lesser, but it will also be inconsistent and oftentimes that will just hurt the voice that your company is trying to convey to an audience. Consistency is key! Also, many times if writing is not done in house, it likely will take much longer to get things turned around to where it is usable for your campaign.
Do they work in an office or is the company full of remote workers?
Remote work only gets a digital marketing agency so far. Having the team together typically creates a sense of cohesion and cultivates creativity. That is a team that is in house and ready to tackle issues, and tasks together in a timely fashion.
What is their lead generation management?
If you are looking to grow your business you likely want to make sure you are able to manage new leads as they come in, nurture them and convert them into a sale.
That requires good customer relationship management (CRM) software. This will keep you organized and allow you to reach out to leads quickly and effectively. If an agency isn’t sure how long it might take to reach out to a lead or they take longer than a day, get out!
This is important to make sure that that funnel is set up in order to see the success of converting leads into sales! Striking while the iron is hot is what will bring conversions, and it is imperative that the lead management software in place is able to work with you to reach out quickly.
Do they invest time in your success?
This is very important and should be something that will stand out right away. Is that digital agency interested in your success, or are you just another number that is helping them pay the bills? This should be obvious from the get-go. Are they asking about you and your company, or are they just worried about getting you locked into a contract? Find that digital marketing agency that is dedicated to growing with you every step of the way.
3. How do they measure success?
This is very important to understand because there are so many empty stats that a marketing agency can throw at you that seem to look positive and impressive, but really don’t mean much.
Impressions, clicks and website traffic are often stats that are thrown around to show success. They are really only a small piece of information. So, while it is good to see positive numbers from those categories, it's not what you are really after.
The bottom line is what is the return that you are seeing? What is your return on ad spend (ROAS) or what is the return on your investment (ROI)? Because at the end of the day that is what matters. You want to be able to see that you are getting something out of the money you are investing in a marketing campaign.
Aside from the hard stats on success, anecdotal evidence is something that you should be looking for as well. If they offer up past and current client reviews that is often a good sign.
And if they have successful case studies to look at, another good sign. Especially if those case studies are done by someone other than the company itself. (You can check out our case studies published by Facebook.)
At the end of the day you, as a company, will have to find that right fit for you and your team. That requires research, discussion and understanding.
We of course would love to talk about that partnership with you! Just tell us about yourself and we will reach out to discuss further with you what kind of ROI and success we can bring to you!
