Are you looking for a digital marketing agency to help grow your business? With so many agencies out there — and all with seemingly similar services — how do you choose which one is right for you? Here are seven tips to help you find the best agency for your needs!

1. Assess in-house marketing strengths and the capabilities you want to build on.

One of the first things to do is to assess in-house marketing capabilities. Where do you need expertise? Are there specialized skills needed that you don’t want to hire full-time for? Conversely, are you finding it difficult to fill a position because the role requires a collection of skills and experiences that are difficult to find in one individual? A marketing or design role may also be difficult to fill because it requires a combination of high- and low-level skills that make it challenging to find someone who has the experience you need who is also happy to take on substantial production or administrative tasks.

Effective marketing generally requires the integration of numerous skill sets. Going outside to get that right combination of skills and expertise is a common reason for outsourcing to a digital marketing agency.

2. Does the agency you are considering have a mindset of accomplishing objectives?

Marketing is ultimately about accomplishing objectives important for business growth. Does the agency have a track record of making a tangible difference for their clients? Is accomplishing objectives a core part of the firm’s philosophy and culture? A good way to gauge is to simply note if the agency asks questions about your business and wants to know what you hope to achieve during initial conversations.

From the agency perspective, learning about client objectives is one of the most important things that we seek to learn in initial conversations with potential clients. We want to understand what you are looking for us to help solve. What are the company’s big picture goals? What pain points have caused you to reach out to us?

A competent digital marketing agency will indicate they value tangible success by having processes in place such as providing monthly reports that track KPIs (key performance indicators) to monitor success.

3. Can they prove success with examples?

If you’re considering hiring a digital marketing firm, you likely have a good idea of what success looks like for your business.

● Does your potential firm have stats and case studies that show how their work creates an impact?

● Equally important to hard numbers are qualitative factors. Does the agency’s creative reflect excellence and match the brand? For example, if a case study is for a luxury brand, does the creative reflect that quality?

● Read testimonials from the agency’s clients. These will give you a sense not only of whether clients enjoyed working with the firm, but also about the quality and impact of their work.

4. Do they have a genuine interest in your success?

Passion makes a difference when choosing a digital marketing firm, just like it does when hiring internally. You’ll want to work with people who have an interest in your products or services and naturally want to go the extra mile and cares about your success. Is the potential team you’re considering engaged and interested in your business? Working together, your agency team will be an extension of your staff to expand capacity and accelerate growth.

5. How broad is the agency’s expertise across the variety of digital marketing tactics?

When it comes to choosing a digital marketing firm, expertise in a variety of tactics is essential. There are a lot of tools in the marketing toolbox and they should all work synergistically for greatest effectiveness. For example, if your digital agency is hired for blog writing, you want a firm that can create the content strategy, write SEO title and meta, create social graphics and videos, post the content on your website, and provide analytics. Seamless integration and understanding of across media channels can be helpful if you prefer not to coordinate that internally. A good digital agency will understand the needs of other players and be able to provide related assets to stretch the creative to other media channels.

6. How long has the agency team worked together?

When you’re looking for a digital marketing agency, it’s important to find a team that has not only the individual skills and experience you need but also has experience working together. One indicator of this is how long the agency team has worked together. A team that has been working together for awhile will have developed trust and respect for one another and will be more effective in their communication and collaboration. They’ll also be more likely to have a good working knowledge of each other’s strengths and weaknesses and how to best utilize those strengths to achieve success for their clients.

A longstanding agency team can even provide continuity through internal turnover providing consistency and historical knowledge of product promotions. In today’s world, staff can turn over and it’s often just as stable to go with an outside agency team that has worked together for a long time who you can count on into the future.

7. Are you in line with budget and fee structure?

Of course, it’s important to work with an agency that fits within your budget without compromising on quality or results. Are you looking for a long-term relationship or a one-time project? A long-term relationship lends itself to a flat monthly retainer. A flat fee is excellent for testing the waters with some initial projects or non-recurring projects such as the design and development of a new website. Is your agency comfortable working with the fee structure you prefer?

Choosing the best digital marketing agency for your needs

We hope these tips are helpful as you seek out a firm that fits your needs. The right agency partner will help you get to where you want to go easier and faster by implementing creative and effective marketing strategies that solve your unique challenges. If you’re currently in a search for a new digital marketing agency, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us! We’d be happy to discuss your specific needs and see if we might be a good fit for your company. Thanks for reading and we wish you the best in your search for the perfect digital marketing partner!

About Verve Marketing Group.
Verve Marketing Group is a full-service brand, web, and digital marketing agency based in Chicago. Strategy through creative execution, we put our talents to work to accelerate clients’ growth and to help brands become more known, loved, and used. Considering outsourcing for a project or long-term relationship? Contact us to start a conversation!