Summary: Today, every person knows someone working in or running a digital marketing agency. It makes sense too. The demand has increased, and so is the supply. But when it’s your turn to decide on a digital marketing agency, how do you it? The basics are fine – check their portfolio, talk to their previous clients, and so on. But are they enough? What worked for someone else might not work for your brand. So how do you make the final call? Look at the way they approach their work and their client. And here we tell you why and how to analyse this intangible yet significant factor.
If you’ve ever hired a digital marketing agency before or tried to, you know the problem – a lot of jargon thrown around to lure you in without having done anything for real. Even if they have a good-looking portfolio and an impressive client roaster, it’s difficult to gauge whether all the work was done by them and more importantly, whether they’re a good fit for your brand. Since this is a creative field and is subjective in nature, identifying the latter becomes even more difficult.
So, when there are so many variable deciding factors out of which there are hardly anything tangible, how do you decide on a digital marketing agency?
Sure, you can take the trial-and-error route or rely on word-of-mouth marketing. But against the backdrop of budget and time constraints, how do you ensure you’ve made the right decision?
This is where we suggest having a closer look at the thought process and approach of the agency towards their work. Because, at the end of the day, how they think about work and ideas is going to matter first even before the actual work begins. Once you’re assured that you’re on onboard with the way they think, almost every other problem can be tackled, feedback can be smoother, and the probability of guaranteed results can be increased.
Now, the real question is – how do you analyse this intangible factor? Look out for these 3 traits in them and you’ll be good to go.
- They know how to collaborate
Yes, you’re hiring a team of experts who will guide you on how to maximise your digital reach and enhance your presence. But the right team will know it’s not possible only with their knowledge. You know about your brand and your sector the best, and to gain original insights, the agency must spend time knowing you and your ideologies.
An important trait of being an expert is knowing when to ask for help and to whom. If they have an autonomous approach towards work where the only time they come to you is for approvals just because they think they know everything there is to know, it’s a red flag.
A good team knows they’re not competing against you, they’re competing with you, against your competitors. So, you and them both need to be on the same team from day one. Expertise of both the parties needs to blend for a successful marketing strategy. They won’t let their ego come in between. They want you to win. Period.
How to identify it: Ask them about their processes right from onboarding a client to execution and you’ll get your answers.
- They are transparent about everything
There are agencies who will promise you the moon and stars, and there are agencies who will upfront tell you it’s not possible even in their dreams. The right agencies are aware of the limitations of the digital realm and do not make false claims just to win a client. So, if a team promises to help you gain 10k followers in a month when you are at 500 today, leave that meeting as soon as possible. Also, if they nod their heads and agree to generate sales from day 1 of launching your brand on social media. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that is not how social media works.
Anyone can throw numbers in the air without really meaning any of it. We’ve also come across many agencies who do not share the performance dashboards with their clients. If you can’t access your performance, what’s the point? You need to be aware of the performance at each stage and if the agency says they don’t give access, there’s no good reason to trust them.
A good agency will always be open about all their results and give solid reasoning for all the wins and lows. It’s a team who can take the hit if there’s a mistake but will never keep you out of the loop.
How to identify it: Ask about what they can do for you and analyse how realistic their answers are. Their thought process and the willingness to be transparent about it matters.
- They are curious about you
Now to our favourite part. If an agency asks you a lot of questions, you’ve hit a gold mine! Think about it – why do they have so many questions? Because they have spent enough time reading about your brand, your sector, your competitors…you get the drift, right? And they have all these questions because they have doubts, because they’re researching about you in depth!
And that’s the whole point of hiring an agency, right? You need a team who is dedicated to think and execute for you. How we do this at Digital Juse is, we send out a brief document with basic questions. Once the doc is filled, we set up a call with the client to discuss our interpretations of the answers and understand whether we’re on the right track. Only then we proceed to create the actual deliverable.
Different agencies might have different ways to do this. But do look out for those who ask questions. The more, the merrier (of course, not the ones which can be answered with a simple Google search). Because content created based on assumptions derived from past client experiences in the same sector is no good. A good agency will always consider you as someone new and will be genuinely excited to know more about you. The expertise will be added only later.
How to identify it: This one is simple. Right from the time you give a brief till the pitch, look at the frequency and nature of questions asked. All that you need to know about them will be in those questions!
So, in this age where digital marketing agencies are being born by the minute, and an impressive portfolio isn’t enough to decide, we hope these easy-to-execute tips help you find the one. As the digital landscape changes every day, working with a team that’s collaborative, curious, and transparent, is your only bet to make your brand stand out from the clutter in the digital space.
Growing on digital platforms is a long-term game, so why not play with a team who has their basics strong enough to sustain the whole journey?
We’re a digital marketing agency who follows everything written here to the T (or else this wouldn’t have been approved). If you like to have a sensible approach to your digital marketing efforts, send an email, call us, drop us a message – take your pick. We’ll wait. : )
