How to Choose The Best Digital Marketing Agency?
Outsourcing your digital marketing can be a game changer for your business, offering cost savings and access to expert knowledge. However, without careful research, you risk choosing the wrong agency, which could waste your time, money, and effort. To avoid these mistakes, it’s crucial to do your homework before making a decision.
This article offers comprehensive guidance to help you find the best digital marketing agency that aligns with your sales goals.
Three Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Digital Marketing Agency
Before you even begin evaluating potential marketing agencies to work with, you should ask yourself these three main questions:
- 1)
Do I need digital marketing?
- 2)
How much digital marketing services cost?
- 3)
Marketing agency vs. in-house team: which is the better choice?
Do I need digital marketing?
When you launch an online business, your website or app is just one among billions. Without a solid marketing strategy, potential customers may never even know it exists.
Digital marketing isn’t just about paid ads or SEO—it can be as simple as posting in a local Facebook group to promote your dog-walking services.
See how that works?
Your Facebook post reached local people, many of whom likely have pets and may need a dog walker in the future. Now, your online business is more than just a website lost in a sea of billions.
Simply put, digital marketing uses online channels like search engines, social media, email, and websites to promote your business and connect with potential customers.
How much digital marketing services cost?
You’ve likely seen digital marketing agencies charging anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per month, making it hard to know what’s fair or what results to expect. And why do so many agencies keep their pricing hidden until you reach out?
As a business owner, you know that pricing often depends on what customers are willing to pay. For example, a bottle of Pepsi costs around $5 in Switzerland but only $3 in Germany, despite Switzerland having lower taxes. The higher price is simply because Swiss consumers have higher incomes and can afford it.
While some agencies may charge more based on a client's income, digital marketing isn’t a one-size-fits-all product like a Pepsi bottle. It’s a customized service tailored to your business goals, meaning higher prices can be justified for more complex needs.
A general estimate is that businesses under five years old typically allocate 12% to 20% of their revenue to marketing, while more established companies usually spend up to 10%.
It's important to remember that digital marketing takes time. Even when executed well, you may not see positive results for a few months.
This leads us to the next question.
Long term or short term contracts?
Some agencies offer long-term contracts of 9 to 12 months, while others prefer shorter contracts of six months or less. As mentioned earlier, digital marketing takes time to deliver results, and it’s unlikely you’ll see satisfactory outcomes in less than 3 to 6 months, depending on the strategy.
Long-term contracts allow the agency time to fully understand your business and for the marketing strategy to take effect. However, if the marketing isn’t executed well, you’ll be locked into the contract, which could cost you both money and time.
Short-term contracts provide more flexibility, with minimal costs, allowing you to hire an agency for 3 to 6 months, especially for specific events like a product launch. The advantage here is the ability to work with multiple agencies and see which one performs best. However, you might miss out on potential sales from shorter campaigns. This can be managed by extending the partnership if needed.
Some agencies, like ours, offer rolling month-to-month contracts. These give you access to services without a long-term commitment, but they share the same downside as short-term contracts.
Marketing agency vs. in-house team: which is the better choice?
Both approaches have their pros and cons as listed below:
In-house marketing pros:
You have complete control over every aspect of the process.
In-house team gives 100% focus on your business.
Your team is more familiar with your brand.
Faster response times for making changes or launching new campaigns.
In-house marketing cons:
It will involve talent recruitment, which takes time.
There’s a learning curve that also requires time investment.
Salaries, benefits, training, and tools can add significant expenses.
One team may not have expertise in all areas of marketing.
Expanding the team can take time and require additional resources.
Hiring an agency pros:
Agencies have specialists in various fields like SEO, PPC, content marketing, and social media.
You can avoid the costs and effort of hiring, training, and paying a full team
Agencies use premium marketing tools that might be too expensive for an in-house team.
External teams can bring new strategies and creative ideas.
Easily scale your marketing efforts up or down as needed.
Hiring an agency cons:
Decision making may take longer due to a long chain of communication.
You will lose some control in the marketing process.
Monthly retainers or project-based fees can add up over time.
Which one should you choose?
For small businesses, an in-house team can be costly due to salaries, recruitment, and training. Hiring an agency is generally more affordable and saves time since there's no need for talent headhunting. However, an in-house team has a deeper understanding of the brand and can implement changes more quickly. A hybrid approach offers both expertise and brand alignment but can be expensive to maintain.
Top Qualities to Look For
Expertise and Experience:
Proven Track Record: Look for agencies that showcase their experience through case studies, a well-designed website, blog posts, or active social media content. This evidence shows that they have the knowledge and skills to handle your digital marketing needs.
New Agencies: If an agency is new and lacks extensive content or case studies, it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad. They might offer great customer service and competitive pricing as they build their portfolio, though there's a higher risk since their expertise isn't as proven.
Transparent Communication:
Clarity on Offerings: The agency should clearly explain what services they provide and how they operate.
Regular Updates: Understand how often you'll receive updates and the level of client involvement they allow for feedback. Open, honest communication is key to a successful partnership.
Legal Considerations:
Pay close attention to the contract. Is it overly complex? Can you cancel the agreement if the results aren't satisfactory? You want the flexibility to avoid being locked into a long-term contract that doesn't deliver a positive return on investment.
Tools & Technology:
Focusing too much on the technology and tools a marketing agency uses can distract you from what truly matters, achieving your business goals. Ultimately, it's the results that count, not the specific process.
The Best Strategy for Selecting a Marketing Agency
When starting the process of hiring a marketing agency, it's best to begin by researching and curating a list of your top 10 candidates based on factors like pricing, contract length, experience, expertise, and transparency.
Even with a well-curated list, you can't be sure you've made the right choice until you work with each agency—this can be expensive and time-consuming, especially since results from services like Meta or Google ads and SEO take time to show.
Speaking with agency representatives may give you a good first impression, but keep in mind they’re often salespeople and may not reflect the quality of the actual work their team does.
A more effective strategy is to hire each agency for a one-time project at a fixed price. This could be something like obtaining backlinks, writing an article, performing a technical SEO analysis, or creating social media posts. This one-off job allows you to test their capabilities with minimal commitment and expense. If an agency is unwilling to take on a one-time project, it’s typically a red flag indicating potential inflexibility or a hidden emphasis on long-term contracts.
This approach provides a low-risk, cost-effective method to assess whether an agency is the right fit for your needs before committing to a more extensive partnership.
Step-by-Step Guide to Choosing the Right Digital Marketing Agency
Here’s a simple breakdown of the evaluation process:
- 1)
Set Your Goals – Define what you want to achieve with digital marketing.
- 2)
Determine Your Budget – Outline your monthly and annual marketing spend.
- 3)
Research Agencies – Find agencies that align with your goals and budget.
- 4)
Shortlist the Best Options – Narrow down your list to a maximum of 10.
- 5)
Test Their Work – Hire each agency for a one-time project to assess their capabilities.
- 6)
Compare Promises vs. Results – Evaluate whether they delivered as advertised and choose the best fit.
