How to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency

Summary

An increase of 3900 percent in lead conversions!

Yes, you heard it right. If you hire a reliable digital marketing agency that understands your business and implements the right strategies, you can expect terrific results from your digital marketing campaigns.

But not all campaigns produce desired results. If the agency fails to understand your goals, failure is inevitable.

So how do you know whether a digital marketing agency is a right fit for your online marketing needs?

It’s simple.

You just need to ask the following questions, to the agency and to yourself. Once you have got the answers to all the questions, you will be able to hire the digital marketing company that can boost your online presence and maximizes the ROI.

Benefits of Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency

The average salary of a digital marketing manager varies around $70,000/year. If you deploy an in-house team, you have to bear infrastructure costs, salaries, and other expenditure. Plus, you have to invest time in supervision, decision-making, and optimization.

So when we compare deploying an in-house team and hiring a digital marketing agency, the latter is anytime a better option.

Why?

Have a look at the following benefits:

Avail expert services

Credible digital marketing agencies have the best talent in their team.

The professionals have prior experience in various verticals of digital marketing.

Moreover, they are certified by behemoths like Google and HubSpot.

Diversify digital reach

Most of the digital marketing companies offer a comprehensive solution comprising of SEO, PPC advertising, social media marketing, analytics & UX, content marketing, conversion rate optimization, and others. Therefore, you get all the services under an umbrella.

A greater ROI

The digital marketing agency knows what works and what doesn’t. Your money is safe in the hands of experts. They will use it to produce maximum ROI. Whether it’s running an ad campaign or publishing blog posts, a team of professionals is there to handle every aspect.

Focus on business development

You should do what you are good at. So if marketing is not your forte, leave it to the experts. You can focus on other crucial aspects like business development, finance, HR, and others. Managing focus paves the path for a collaborative working platform, beneficial for the organization.

Ease of optimization

If a campaign is not working in your favor, you just need to schedule a meeting with the account manager. Just convey your objectives and decisions to the manager. This will allow the agency to optimize campaigns and work with a refreshed approach.

Scale as per requirements

When you manage to accomplish your marketing objectives, you can direct the agency to scale up the operations. In case you fall short of fulfilling objectives, you adopt a new approach. In any of the cases, scale online marketing campaigns as per requirements. You just need to adjust your budget and lay down a set of objectives.

Measure and improve

The agencies work according to a predefined set of KPIs. You can identify your own metrics or consult with the agency to identify these. The agency will report to you at periodic intervals, telling you the lead conversion rates, customer engagement stats, search engine rankings, and so on.

The FIRST Step in Hiring – Assess your Requirements

Remember the days when we were school going kids? We hated doing homework. No matter how much scolding we got, we were just as careless as we could be.

But the times have changed. We can’t be kids forever. We can’t skip our homework. Or else, we will fail in the exam of life.

So hiring a digital marketing agency means – investing time, money, and efforts. Moreover, you will be fostering a new relationship. You must be prepared for what’s supposed to happen in the future.

The process of hiring begins with assessing & identifying your requirements. The following answers will simplify your task.

What is your goal?

I want an email list of 10,000 subscribers.

I have launched an herbal face wash. I want to convey the message to 100,000 Instagram users.

These are some of the examples. When you are looking to invest in online marketing, you should know what you want, where you want to be. Once you are aware of what and where the agency will tell you how.

Have you identified the objectives?

To achieve your goal, you must identify objectives or milestones. These are stepping stones that will pave the path for goal fulfillment.

For example, Jan explains how he gained 52,129 Instagram followers in just eight months. He was sure that he must post 5 to 6 posts per day and collaborate with at least 10 Instagram users for the shoutout for shoutout. Fulfilling these objectives made it possible to achieve the goal.

What exactly are you looking for?

Do you want to crack the topmost position in the SERP rankings? Or do you want to improve lead generation on social media? Or do you want to add new email subscribers? Or do you want a complete package?

There are digital marketing agencies providing a plethora of services. At the same time, there are some specializing in a couple of domains.

List the services you need before approaching an agency. The most sought-after services include:

What’s your budget?

Let us warn you – CHEAP services may prove to the COSTLIEST for you.

Don’t go after agencies that offer the lowest rates. You will have to compromise on time and service quality.

Determine your marketing budget and ask the agency what they can deliver in this price range. Do the mathematics and calculate the ROI.

If you feel the return is not as per expectations, you can increase your budget or consult other digital marketing companies.

What are the metrics in consideration?

The ROI is the number one metric to gauge the success of a marketing project. Now the ROI can be defined in various contexts, such as:

You have to decide how you will measure the ROI. After all, you know what your goals are.

Here are some of the metrics that influence the ROI from digital marketing:

Ultimate List of Questions you MUST ask when Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency

Once you are ready with your requirements, it’s time to find a reliable digital marketing firm that understands your business goals, has the expertise to handle your project, and ensures a decent return on your investment.

Let’s begin!

What makes you different from other digital marketing agencies?

There can be many attributes or there can be none. If a digital marketing agency truly stands out in the crowd, there is something that makes them a pioneer in the field of digital marketing.

For example, they may have always a 100 percent success rate when it comes to superseding their own targets or they are the ones who were the first one to use a particular “digital marketing strategy”.

If you look at the Data Driven Labs website, you will notice that the data-driven approach is an integral aspect of their services.

BUT if the representative is not able to convince you about the company’s USPs, you may have to dive in deeper to know about them.

Can you please tell us about digital marketing operations? How do you work on a project?

Digital marketing operations differ according to the strategy you plan to implement. Whether it’s SEO, social media campaign, or email campaign; the strategy is different in each case.

However, the blueprint remains the same in each case. For instance, consider this excerpt from Feldman Creative. You must establish objectives, define audience persona, offer a value proposition, promote & analyze marketing campaigns, and much more.

So when you ask this question to an agency, expect a similar – or a better – answer from them. They may answer your question by giving an example related to your requirement. If you feel satisfied, you can proceed ahead.

We would like to know about your online presence. Have your digital marketing strategies produced fruitful results for you? Can you show some proofs?

An agency may promise you extraordinary results and an impressive ROI. But if their own online presence is next to nil, how can you expect them to deliver on their promises? Therefore, it’s important to confirm their online presence while assessing their credibility.

For example, if the agency is based out of Mumbai, you can type “digital marketing agency Mumbai” on Google. Their ranking on the SERP will tell you about their proficiency in SEO and SEM.

Similarly, you can check out their profiles on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Check out whether they have a decent number of followers or not. They might not have a well-established presence on Facebook or Instagram because their potential clients are not here. So you can look out for them on LinkedIn.

Can you tell us about the businesses you have worked with?

You can definitely find mention of the clients on a digital marketing agency’s website. Look at the screenshot of the companies Single Grain have worked with. Some of them may not reveal it publicly. But when you are having a one-to-one conversation, ask them to tell about their clientele.

Check if they have already worked or working with a similar business like yours. In this case, it will be easy to analyze the agency’s approach with respect to your business. Ask them to furnish details about successful or failed campaigns, how they plan to improve/upgrade, and so on.

Which industries have you served in till now?

There are digital marketing agencies that hold experience in serving one or two particular industries. If you can find one that specializes in your industry, you can certainly discuss the proposition.

So always ask about the industries an agency has served or holds specialization in. For example, Thrive Agency offers tailored strategies to generate leads for real estate companies. If you are into real estate, then working with this agency will be beneficial for you because they already have the knack for it.

What digital marketing services does your agency provide?

You may be looking for a particular marketing strategy such as SEO or social media marketing. However, you must ask the agency about the services that they offer.

Sometimes the agency offers a comprehensive package that can significantly boost your online presence. For example, social media marketing and search engine marketing can together double the lead generation rate. So you can opt for both of these instead of opting for anyone.

Moreover, some agencies collaborate with other agencies to offer related services such as website development, user design, graphic designing, and so on.

Once you know about all the services, you can reassess your requirements, and again arrange a consultation with the agency.

What’s your specialization in?

If you are really sure what online marketing strategy you want to focus on, you can simply scout for digital marketing agencies specializing in a particular strategy.

But if you are not able to do so, you must ask agencies about their specializations. It should not happen like you are seeking SEO services but the company specializes in social media marketing. It will not serve your purpose.

It’s wiser to opt for agencies specializing in a specific domain. Let us consider the case of Voy Media. The agency specializes in Facebook and Instagram marketing. And this is what makes them different as well as one of the most sought-after agencies for social media marketing.

Do you offer a free consultation?

The majority of digital marketing companies offer a free consultation with the experts. This is a strategy to convert a lead into a customer. An agency will be more than happy to perform a free audit and consultation so that it can tell you about the loopholes in your marketing strategy.

But if you can’t find any information related to a free consultation, feel free to shoot a message to the agency. And in case there is no provision of a free consultation, you can also consider paying a nominal fee. However, ensure that the agency has a good reputation.

Can you please show case studies and client testimonials?

No digital marketing agency will deny your request unless they don’t have any case studies or testimonials. A credible agency must have enough case studies and testimonials to persuade a potential client.

When you ask for the case studies and testimonials, you should also ask for the contact information of their clients. You must confirm whether the records are genuine or not. You can do so by contacting the clients.

You can also find case studies and testimonials on the website of an agency. For example, Glorywebs Creatives has a dedicated section comprising of case studies. Similarly, they also have a dedicated section for client testimonials.

What are the KPIs that your measure to gauge the success of campaigns?

There are two types of metrics – vanity metrics and actionable metrics. The former one is just about the number game that doesn’t provide valuable insights. The latter is about engagement, expenditure, revenue, and profits.

When you ask an agency about the KPIs, it should not confine itself to just likes, shares, and registrations. These metrics don’t tell you anything about engagement.

But if the agency talks about active users, traffic sources, cost per click or action, bounce rate, time spent on site, engagement rate, and others; then you have arrived at the right place.

Do you outsource work or have an in-house team? Do you have any collaboration with other agencies?

You must have seen an array of services listed on a digital marketing agency’s website. Sometimes you wonder how a marketing agency is into website and app development.

The truth is that they outsource some of their services to third-party vendors. Most of the digital marketing agencies work with freelance writers & graphic designers. They have a tie-up with website & app developers working as freelancers or in a company.

When you consult them about services, ask them about the services offered by the in-house team and the outsourced services. In both cases, they must ensure quality and timely services.

Do we get a dedicated account manager? How can he/she help us?

An account manager is a person who supervises the online marketing campaigns and acts as a link between you and the agency. He or she is responsible for the success or failure of the campaigns.

Ask the agency if they will attach a dedicated account manager to communicate with. Besides communication, he or she will be responsible for facilitating operations and keeping everyone on the same page. Since the account manager will be the point of contact in the company, you should avail every detail about him or her.

Most of the agencies have the provision of assigning an account manager for large accounts. For example, Blue Corona agency has a support team with a dedicated account manager.

What digital marketing tools and technology do you use?

The AI-enabled tools are here to automate most of the operations in digital marketing. Therefore, the use of tools and software is simply inevitable. Digital marketing agencies also deploy various tools for automating and optimizing marketing campaigns.

For example, the use of Google Analytics and KISSmetrics for tracking data and user activities, using Buffer for managing social media accounts, and using SEMrush for keyword research and backlink building.

When the agency tells you about the software & technology they use, do your own research to verify the credibility and effectiveness of these tools.

What about the right of ownership of content?

Partnerships can start and end anytime. Obviously, you won’t like to lose content if the partnership comes to end. So it’s important to clarify the right of content ownership.

Most of the agencies will mention in the contract that in any situation, the right of ownership belongs to you. However, you have to ensure there are no confusing terms and conditions in the contract.

There have been instances where the agency has deleted the website, social media accounts, and all media files when the partnership ended on a bitter note. Save yourself from this ugly situation by asking questions about the right of ownership.

What policies do you have to avoid a breach of data?

Have you heard of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Data Protection Act (DPA), and other policies? These regulations aim at protection customer’s data against theft and misuse. You cannot share the customer’s data without his or her permission.

It is important for you to know whether a digital marketing agency abides by these regulations to protect the privacy of individuals or not. Any breach of conduct may cost you a hefty amount of money.

Ask the agency about the measures they take to ensure secure data storage and sharing. Do they comply with GDPR and other regulatory measures or not?

What’s your strategy to overcome challenges/failures?

Not every digital marketing campaign is a success. Most of the campaigns fail within three months from the launch. The following reasons are the causes of failure:

You should definitely ask the agency how they plan to overcome roadblocks and ensure the campaigns are heading in the right direction. Some may say they adopt a data-driven approach, some may focus on high-quality content, some may identify the root cause and eliminate it, and so on.

What we are trying to say that they must have a strategy in place to combat challenges and failures.

What’s your approach in reporting and analytics?

Reporting and analytics make agencies answerable and at the same time, you know whether the campaign is producing desired results or not.

An agency should analyze a specific set of metrics to measure the impact of digital marketing strategies. The client and the agency should be aware of the metrics. In fact, the metrics should be mentioned in the contract as well.

Since metrics intimidate the success or failure of the campaigns, you should ask an agency how they will communicate with you. They will share biweekly reports or monthly reports.

Is your team experienced enough to handle our marketing campaigns?

It is important to know about the professionals who will be handling your digital marketing campaigns. They must have prior experience of handling similar campaigns.

When you contact a digital marketing agency, ask them about their history, how the agency came into existence. Ask them about the total experience of their team.

In most of the cases, the more your budget, the more experienced team will work on your project. It doesn’t mean that a newbie will be handling your account.

Can we have a look at your certifications & accreditations?

One of the ways to assess the credibility of a digital marketing agency is to check out its certifications and accreditations. The experienced agencies having a team of professionals are the most reliable ones.

The most prominent certifications include – Google Partner, Bing Ads Accredited Professional, Facebook Agency Directory, Mailchimp Partner, HubSpot Partner, Shopify Partner, and others.

Don’t just ask the agency whether they have any of these certifications or not. Check out the official recommendation or certificate that validates agency’s claim.

What if our competitor wants to hire you?

Seeing your success, your competitor may want to adopt the same strategies to outperform you. And what if the competitor approaches your agency to manage its online marketing operations? Nothing can be worse than this!

You must clarify whether the agency is willing to work with your competitor. If not then it should be clearly mentioned in the contract. And if they have no problem working with your competitor, you must clearly state that the collaboration must not affect your marketing campaigns. Moreover, the agency should respect the confidentiality of data and information.

Is there a minimum lock-in period?

The days are gone when there was no option but to sign a fixed term contract with the agency. But nowadays, the rules have changed for the better. Fixed term contracts are gradually fading out, making way for the flexible, performance-based partnerships.

However, it may take some time for a digital marketing campaign to produce results. If the competition is high, it may take up to six months to produce noticeable results.

The agency must convey the terms of association with your company. They should mention the time it will take to produce results and achieve goals. Also, the partnership can be terminated if the performance is not as per expectations.

Is there a minimum budget requirement? What pricing model do you follow?

Since the budget for marketing is a crucial deciding factor when it comes to hiring a digital marketing agency, you must clarify it before you finalize the agency. The pricing models comprise of:

You should ask them about the minimum budget requirement necessary to kick start online campaigns.

Ultimately, ROI is the most important factor. Your investment must produce desirable results, whether you opt for a fixed pricing model or variable pricing model.

How do we communicate when we are working together?

Communication is the key to success. You have the right to know what’s happening with your money and your company’s brand value. Are you achieving a desirable ROI or not? If not, what needs to be done?

When there is a robust communication plan in place, everyone happens as per the plan. The agency must specify the communication plan to you. An account manager should be assigned who will act as a point of contact between you and the agency.

Will you discuss progress weekly or biweekly and over the phone or video conferencing? Will you get the reports or not? Will you have access to the dashboard or not? There are so many questions to ask.

Do you guarantee results or not?

Well, nobody can guarantee the output because the future is unpredictable. However, you can always put in your best efforts. You can ask the agency what they can do to produce the best output.

The agency may or may not guarantee results, but they can guarantee the best inputs. They can offer 24/7 support, expert services, personalized suggestions, confidentiality assurance, and so on.

How do we get started?

Once you have clarified all your doubts and queries, you can ask the agency to initiate the proceedings. They will ask you to submit your list of requirements, deposit the service charges, and sign the document of association.

Once the formalities are complete, the planning process begins. Ask the agency about the complete workflow so that you are aware of the proceedings.

Let’s say, you opt for content marketing. The agency may tell you that first, they will study your business, and then will create a list of topics. The content will be created around these topics. It can be a blog post, infographic, video, tutorial, or anything informational. After this, the promotion phase will begin. This will lead to lead generation or sales conversions.

AVOID these Mistakes when Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency

You know the questions that you must ask while hiring a digital marketing agency. But there are certain mistakes that you must avoid during your search. The majority of service seekers ignore these aspects. But you don’t need to be one of them. The mistakes to avoid are:

Choose the Best from the Rest!

This post serves as an exhaustive guide to hiring a digital marketing agency. If you get satisfactory answers to all your queries, you can hire the best agency that fulfills your requirements.

You may have questions in your mind other than those mentioned here. If you have any, feel free to ask your queries in the comment section.

And if you don’t have any question, tell us about your views about hiring the best digital marketing agency. We would love to hear from you!