Hiring a digital marketing agency is a big decision, and choosing the right one can make a big difference in your business’s revenue. A great digital marketing agency can help you reach a large number of new customers or clients by improving your website’s search engine optimization (SEO), using strategic paid ads, and creating thoughtful social media strategies, among other things. However, finding a great digital marketing agency can be a significant challenge, especially for business owners who aren’t overly familiar with SEO.
The right digital marketing agency for your business is not only one that’s great at SEO, but also one that works well with you. They should communicate well with your marketing team, understand the specifics of your industry, have a team with the skills and resources you need, and work with you to create a strong and customized strategy.
Here are a few tips to help you better evaluate a digital marketing agency and whether they’re the right fit for your business.
- Understand the basics of SEO.
There are a lot of technical elements to SEO, and it can be difficult to know whether an agency is good at what they do if you don’t understand the service they’re providing well. My recommendation is for every business owner to learn the basics of SEO so they’re able to understand what they’re getting as well as knowing certain things to watch out for.
The good news is you don’t have to become an expert in SEO or any other aspect of digital marketing. You just need to understand enough to make good decisions and communicate your needs and desires. It’s also a good idea to have some knowledge of “black-hat” SEO strategies—techniques that may produce quick results but may end up getting your site penalized or even taken down—as well as other possible red flags.
The most important thing for a business owner to understand about SEO is that it takes time, and your efforts will build as you go, creating momentum. There are no real shortcuts in SEO, and any agency that promises quick results is likely using tactics that may result in negative outcomes down the line.
- Find an agency that specializes in your area of business
There are many fantastic digital marketing agencies out there, but you don’t want to hire just any one of them, even if they have a great track record. It’s important to learn what experience the agency has working with businesses in your specific industry. While the principles of SEO digital marketing apply across the board, someone who’s familiar with your industry will be able to create a much more tailored strategy to produce the best possible results. They’ll know how to target the right audience and specific tricks that work well for your industry. By choosing an agency that’s inexperienced in your field, you’ll miss out on a lot of value. It’s worth paying for the expertise of someone skilled in your specific type of business.
- Ask strategic questions
When you’re evaluating whether an agency might be the right fit for your business, asking strategic questions can be extremely helpful. It’s important to find an agency that answers honestly and doesn’t try to skirt around your questions, as these are details that make a difference to the success of your business.
Here are a few questions to start with:
- How will they measure metrics of success?
- How will they achieve this success, and how long do they expect to see successful results?
- What are their internal processes for getting results?
You want to hire a transparent agency you know you can trust to give you accurate numbers and tell you the truth about how things are going with your digital marketing strategy. Your agency must want to collaborate with you.
It’s impossible to know whether you’re making progress without concrete measurements in place. Asking these questions will also reveal important information about what success looks like to them. Are they just trying to increase traffic to your website, or are they focusing on converting that traffic to paying customers? The goal of digital marketing is to bring in more business and increase your revenue, and your measurement of success should reflect that. The agency should also be transparent about the methods they use to achieve their results.
- Hold the agency accountable
Once you’ve decided on a digital marketing agency and begun working with them, your work isn’t over. You still need to check in with the agency regularly and hold them accountable. Ask for regular progress reports and discover what efforts they’re taking to improve and solve problems. Some digital marketing agencies will keep you more up-to-date than others, but it’s a good idea to stay engaged in the process.
Continue educating yourself about digital marketing and SEO to better hold your digital marketing agency accountable. Ask about new developments and strategies in the SEO world, which is constantly changing. And if you’re not getting the results you’re looking for, you’ll have the understanding necessary to have a conversation about making changes to your strategy.
While SEO takes a while to build momentum and becomes more effective over time, you should look for a digital marketing agency that provides a great experience from the beginning, has expertise in your area of business, and provides transparent answers to your questions. Hiring an agency isn’t cheap, and it’s a big business decision, so it’s worth putting in the time to educate yourself and research your options to ensure you’re getting the best possible results.
