Digital marketing agencies are popping up everywhere these days. Trying to find a quality, reputable agency can be a difficult task. With less face-to-face meetings and social media, it’s really easy for any person, regardless of experience, to present themselves as a Digital Agency. So how do you determine who will get your hard earned marketing dollars? Choosing the right digital marketing agency for your company is one of the most important a business owner will make. From how your site ranks locally in Google My Business and organic search to optimizing every dollar spent on your PPC or SMO campaigns, your digital marketing partner will determine whether your online marketing produces leads and quality, measurable results.
So how do I choose the right digital marketing agency?
Years of experience and size of the agency
It sounds simple enough, but you are investing money to help your business grow. Getting the right advice and having the work you are paying for be at an expert level is critical. Check out the company’s about page on their website. Research the primary people on LinkedIn. If you are seeking an agency for SEO, then find the primary SEO consultant at that agency and then go to their LinkedIn page to make sure they are qualified. You don’t want a mechanic with a year experience repairing cars to fix the transmission on your $50,000 car. Same goes for the primary SEO consultant. Look for someone with 5-10 years of experience or more in the field. There are many complex factors that go into ranking a website online. Finding a team that’s led by an experienced expert is critical.
Customer reviews and agency reputation
Don’t just rely on testimonials on a company’s website. Go to the digital agency’s Google My Business page and read actual customer reviews. Go to the Facebook page for the digital agency and read all the reviews on their Facebook page. Does the agency respond to any bad reviews? What was the reason for the negative review if there is one? Don’t let one negative review among a sea of positive reviews skew your view of the company. See if the agency replied to the review and what the reason was for the bad review. If all other reviews are positive, it could just be a competitor playing dirty or a review under the wrong business. Do your research on the reputation of the digital marketing agency.
Real world customer results
What kind of success has this digital marketing agency actually shown for their existing clients? Go to the company’s portfolio page and find a few of the clients they work with. Then go to their client’s website and find out what industry they are in and what city they are doing business in. Once you know that, then go to Google and search for the service or product that client provides in the city they are doing business in. For example if their client is a LASIK practice, search “LASIK City Name” (without quotes). If it’s a customer with multiple locations, search in each city that the do business. Do they show up in the Google My Business 3 pack? Are they in the Google organic results on page one? How high on page one? There is no better way to determine how well a digital marketing company works for a business than real world results.
Experts in many areas or are they a vertical agency?
Depending on what you are looking for, find out what business categories the digital marketing agency has clients in. If you are set on having an industry specific marketing company, then make sure that’s all they do. Some of the best digital marketing agencies are not industry specific. So ask yourself if an industry specific company is critical for your business needs.
These are just a handful of things to keep in mind when looking for a digital marketing agency partner. I feel they are the four most important things to consider, but don’t stop there. Do your research on any company before you hand them over your hard earned money. If you would like to see if West County Net is a good fit for your digital marketing needs, please contact us here.
Leave a Reply