An innovative and creative digital marketing agency can help to take your business to the next level. Digital agencies are focused on engaging with people at the forefront of digital innovations and platforms. They have the knowledge and expertise to know how best to reach out and engage your target audience.
There are so many ways that digital agencies can add value to your marketing efforts, advertising plans, and brand image. Many focus on SEO marketing to help get your brand name out there, while others provide content of various types to generate interest and engagement.
Each type of content has a different effect, and knowing your goal can help you choose what is best for you. Blog content attracts people who value information. Animated promotional content attracts new demographics. Interactive content attracts sharing and participation among consumers.
Some businesses prefer to build their image strategically and require a digital agency that can deliver a mash-up of traditional and new age methods. Other businesses that want to generate new target demographics can find value in a digital agency that can connect them with the latest social media attractions. Thus, it is important to know what to look for when choosing a digital agency.
Full Service
Some digital agencies claim to be full-service agencies but actually hire freelance workers and outsource the work. This can affect the cohesiveness of the end product. It can result in inconsistencies that may go unnoticed by you but stand out to the customers.
Site Visit
It is a good idea to arrange a site visit to the agencies you are considering. This will allow you to evaluate the ability of the company in a hands-on fashion. A digital agency that claims not to allow site visits has something to hide. Even a small agency that is new to the industry would be willing to let you visit their one-floor office. Thus, one that refuses to inform you of their premises is unlikely to be reliable or trustworthy.
Once you can visit the premises, ask to meet the people in charge of the various services you are interested in. If they do not have a department head for the SEO work or a go-to person for social media management, you should feel wary. They can claim that everyone there can handle SEO or social media. But this unstructured approach to management is highly likely to result in missed deadlines, incomplete work, and a lack of accountability in the event of mistakes.
Freelance Versus On-Site
Many places that use freelance workers can claim that they cannot be blamed for the issues with the final product. But the freelance workers cannot be held responsible either. Your company will suffer a significant hit to your marketing budget without anything worthwhile to show for it.
Preferably you want an agency that has different specializations within the field working under one roof. Small teams are okay as long as they have a clear structure. Look for graphic design teams, SEO teams, web developers, content creation teams, and social media managers. They must all have team leaders and account managers who keep them accountable and take responsibility for timelines and product quality.
Case Study
An agency that claims to be experienced should be able to show you examples of their work. Marketing case studies generally show a report of how the agency was able to overhaul or generate the result their client wanted.
This should include tangible sources to show the increase in engagement from when they started to when they finished the project, the growth in viewership or purchases, and the increase in new sales or repeat business.
An agency that tries to divert your focus to how many projects they finish in a given time is likely to be more focused on turnover than quality. You want an agency that values long-term clients. They should be willing to give you contact information for their long-term clients so you can verify the relationship and quality of work they produce.
There is this idea that younger people are better at utilizing digital innovations than older people. But this is a misconception as newer is not always better. The ideal people you want have a great interest in their field and continually educate themselves on new concepts and strategies.
Someone who has been in the field and enjoys learning new ways to do their job better will give you better value for money than a fresh graduate who has no real-world experience in their field. You want front-end developers who understand code, are interested in learning new languages, and have experience working with various back-end developers. They will be able to bring a level of nuance and intuition to building your website. This will result in a cohesive and user-friendly website.
Always choose an agency that brings together specialists in the field who enjoy collaborating to build strong, cohesive end products. Too much competition among the specialization will create unnecessary tension and end products that lack consistency.
