How To Hire A Digital Marketing Agency?

Every organisation needs a solid marketing strategy to attract new customers and scale. Yet, as a small to medium-sized company, you may struggle to find the resources to grow your business with comprehensive and effective marketing campaigns.

A digital agency will take care of all your online marketing needs. Follow our ultimate guide to hiring an agency for your business to learn what you should look out for and what to avoid. 

What services do digital marketing agencies offer? 

Digital marketing agencies are experts. With a marketing manager at your side, your company will thrive. Each marketing agency is different. Here are some general services you can expect:

• Content creation: Many agencies will offer content writing, such as a daily newsletter and copy for Facebook ads, graphic design, and video creation. 
• Social media marketing: Including looking after your social media channels, engaging with audiences, regular posting, and campaigns.
• SEO content: Search engine optimisation includes a user-friendly web design, keywords, and fast-loading pages to ensure you rank high on search engines. 
• Search marketing: Paid advertising and paid media, such as Google ads, will help broaden your audiences and improve conversion rates. 
• Web development: Some agencies build and develop your website to optimise your marketing efforts. 
• Marketing automation: Automating your marketing strategy will improve lead generation, conversion rates and customer engagement.

Source: Email Vendor Selection

Identify your marketing needs to determine which digital marketing agency best suits your business. Some online marketing agencies offer generalised services with experts in all areas. At the same time, others might specialise in a particular area (e.g. search marketing and SEO). 

Why is digital marketing important? 

Taking your business online is intimidating. But, in today’s world, developing a digital marketing strategy is necessary to compete. With your brand in the public eye, you’ll also need to manage your online reputation. From brand awareness to generating website traffic, marketing aims to convert potential customers into paying ones. 

Source: Shamrock Companies

An effective marketing strategy devised by a team of specialists can help target audiences to generate leads, improve conversion rates, and enhance your business.

Six reasons to hire a digital marketing agency 

The marketing world is continuously changing, and it’s hard to keep up with marketing trends, understand optimisation strategies, and implement best practices. Here are the top benefits of hiring a digital marketing agency.

1. Expert knowledge

A marketing agency can supply expertise and experience to launch an advertising campaign that blows away the competition. You will cover all your bases with an SEO manager, inbound marketers, and content creators. Moreover, digital marketing agencies provide an outsider perspective that can be extremely valuable when devising your marketing strategy. 

2. Resources 

Marketing requires access to specialist tools and advanced software. Many business owners cannot afford all the latest tools or pay their in-house team enough to compete with professional content marketers. While anyone can implement basic marketing strategies, you’ll need professional resources to push your business to the next level. 

As a small to medium-sized business, it makes sense to outsource your digital marketing needs so you can access the top-of-the-range resources without overspending your budget. 

3. Free up time

As any business owner knows, running an organisation is incredibly time-consuming. As your business grows, you’ll find your time-stretched. Running your business may mean you forget to spend time on important SEO strategies or social media campaigns. With a content marketing agency managing your online presence for you, you can focus on your business.

Moreover, you’ll free up funds and resources to scale other aspects of your company. Instead of pooling everything into your marketing budget, you’ll have the time and money to expand a product line, train your team members, or meet other goals. 

4. Save money

It’s expensive to hire an in-house marketing team with full-time employees. Hiring costs, training fees, and software subscriptions quickly add up. These expenses are a huge burden for a young business. 

In contrast, outsourcing to a marketing agency will provide you with all you need without the financial load. As digital marketing companies divide their resources between multiple clients, they can offer their services and access to the software at a lower cost than you would pay if you handled your marketing directly. 

5. Innovative ideas and strategies

Marketing is ever-changing. Trends appear and disappear all the time. Businesses need creative, imaginative, and innovative ideas and strategies to stay relevant. Marketing teams have the skills to develop tailored campaigns to attract new customers and retain loyal ones. 

With a marketing team at your side, you’ll gain access to expert minds. From tried-and-tested methods to genius strategies, your online business will generate leads and optimise conversion rates.

6. Measurable results

The problem many businesses face is that they don’t know which marketing strategies work and which do not. Trial and error will eventually produce results but throwing things at a wall and hoping they stick isn’t the most efficient way to run your business. 

How do you know what works and what doesn’t? One reason to hire a digital marketing company is that you can trust they’ll produce results, increasing sales. 

How to hire a digital marketing agency?

Businesses that outsource their marketing will save time and money. Here are our tips for hiring a marketing company to help your business thrive. 

Step 1: Assess your needs and budget

Identify your business and marketing goals. Do you want to advertise a new product digitally? Do you want to grow your email list and improve your conversion rate? Write down your long and short-term objectives. 

Many marketing agencies offer various services; as long as you know what you need, you’ll find an appropriate marketer or agency. Consider your budget. Most agencies offer a range of plans. You’ll need to determine where you might get the best value for your money. 

Step 2: Do your research

Shopping around is a vital part of any partnership. How do you know what to look for when hiring a marketing consultancy agency? Research the available options, the services you prioritise, and cost estimates. 

Source: Grow

Check portfolios, reviews and testimonials, and how they advertise themselves. Remember, if their online presence and website aren’t impressive, they probably won’t offer the quality of service you require. However, they might be worth considering if you like how they present themselves. 

Step 3: Is the agency transparent? 

As with any partnership, you want to work with someone you can trust. Consider an agency’s company’s culture. Are they transparent, respectful, and dedicated? They’re unlikely to improve their efforts if they don’t communicate well when starting the conversation around working together. 

Look for an agency you can trust. Ask them questions. If they don’t offer straight answers, they likely won’t be transparent about their marketing efforts in future. 

Step 4: Consider your options

Finally, consider all your options. Gather your selection of potential agencies and begin to shortlist based on value, services, and communication. 

Don’t worry about taking the time to make your decision. While you won’t have to stick with your marketing agency forever, changing partners is stressful, costly, and time-consuming. Carefully consider your options so you don’t waste time with the wrong marketing agency.

Some things to avoid

A marketing campaign will be ineffectual without the necessary training and specialist knowledge. Here are a few red flags to watch out for when looking for a marketing expert. 

Poor communication

If communication is poor from the start, it’s a bad sign. If someone takes too long to get back to you or doesn’t fully answer your queries, they likely won’t put the required effort into future communication. You need a digital marketing expert to sell yourself to you. Marketing needs enthusiasm. You want someone who wants to work with you. 

Agencies without a strong portfolio

While everyone has to start somewhere, you don’t want to trust your business to a marketing team without experience. If an agency cannot provide a track record of client success stories, reconsider whether they are the best option. 

Marketing partners and awards

Check their website to see if the agency is partnered with a top brand that you know and trust. Usually, an agency will display the relevant badges on their website, for example:

• Google Premier Partner.
• HubSpot Certified Partner.
• Meta Business Partner.
• Microsoft Advertising Select Partner.
• Shopify Partner.

You may also want to do further research to see if the digital marketing firm has won any notable awards, for example, Semrush Search Awards (for SEO), the Australian Web Awards, or if the agency has been featured in any noteworthy lists, e.g., AFR Fast 100 List, or the AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies.

Summing up 

Choosing someone else to market your business is a big deal. It involves trust and transparency. However, with the right search marketers by your side, you’ll find the time to focus on other business needs. Speak to BlindSeer to begin your SEO journey.