Let me guess: You want a digital marketing agency that will put in the necessary time and energy to understand your product or service, create a world-class marketing strategy for your business, and execute it to increase sales.
Here’s another guess: A quick search on Google yields a TON of agencies, and every one of them claims that they’re the best solution.
I’m on a roll, so here’s one more guess: Navigating through these huge lists of agencies with no prior knowledge of how to decide which one is right for you is HARD.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
We’re an advertising agency and we know what makes a good marketing partner. In this blog, I’ll share everything you need to know to hire the best agency for you.
What is a Digital Marketing Agency?
Before you even consider hiring a digital marketing agency, let’s first cover what digital marketing really means.
The best summary I’ve ever heard is this one from Adam Erhart: “Digital marketing is one of those terms that’s shrouded in confusion and seems to mean something different to everyone.
It’s also been made to seem way more complicated than it actually is, which is a shame really, as it’s really pretty straightforward.”
Here’s a simple definition: You use social media, Google, forums and ads to get in front of your audience (these are the channels). And you communicate with your target audience through your content (blog, podcast, or videos). Make sense?
“So what’s the difference between traditional marketing and digital marketing?” you ask.
Traditional marketing relies on tools and channels like:
- Newspapers
- Radio
- TV
- Billboards
- Magazines
- Direct mail
And digital marketing relies on tools and channels such as:
- Social media
- Email marketing
- Pay per click ads
So, what we’re really talking about here is a similar but different form of communication you use to drive more sales to your business.
Mixing both digital marketing and traditional marketing is a good strategy. However, Covid-19 has proved to all of us that digital is the way to go. And that’s why you’re probably considering hiring the best digital marketing agency for your business.
Let’s talk about how to pick the right one.
What to Look for in an Agency
First things first, you should understand that there are different types of agency. Each one focuses on one or two specific areas of marketing that they do best.
For example:
- Search engine agencies
- Content marketing agencies
- PPC advertising agencies
And there are some agencies that focus on specific markets, for instance:
- eCommerce marketing agencies
- Digital marketing agencies for lawyers
- B2B marketing agencies
And so on.
Now that you understand the different types of agencies, segmented vertically and horizontally, here is what you must look for:
- Results: Do they have real-world case studies showing how they’ve helped similar businesses to yours achieve great results?
- Reference: Do they work with legit companies you’ve heard of?
- Processes: Do they make it clear to you what their process looks like from start to finish?
- Walk the walk: I mean how good is their website and marketing? Do they have a solid marketing setup for their own website, blog content, and so on?
- Pricing: How does that pricing work? Do their pieces fit within the skill set and results you’re looking for? More on that later..
At this stage, what you should be making sure that the agency you want to hire is really good at what they sell. If you want SEO, make sure that they’re really good at it by checking their performance on Google. If you want content marketing, check their content. And so on.
Now, what should you expect to pay?
What’s the Cost of Hiring a Marketing Agency?
According to a recent, relatively small piece of research by Sisu Media, prices vary between $2,000 to $5,200. However, there’s no such thing as a fixed price that all agencies offer.
Every agency is different, as you’ll see by looking at their process page or their blog. Just by spending some time checking their online presence, you can get a feel for how they think about digital marketing, and an idea of how they’re likely to set their price points.
To help you figure that out, here are the most important factors to consider for an idea of how much it’ll cost you to hire a digital marketing agency:
Experience and Expertise
“You get what you pay for” makes a lot of sense in this industry. Working with an agency is no different to hiring a full-time experienced digital marketer to lead your company’s advertising efforts.
The more specialized and experienced the agency is, the more you should expect to pay. If you want a real expert to help you reach your marketing goals so that you can spend more time focusing on what you know best, invest more money.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to pay less for a less-experienced agency, be prepared to invest more time in collaborating with them.
Again, this really depends on your situation and your key marketing goals.
The Deliverables
You’re paying for a scope of work that’ll be reported on every month. But one thing to keep in mind is the strategy. Are you going to provide the strategy or have them build it and execute it for you?
In my opinion, the real work will be spent on the strategy. Because being crystal clear on your goal and how you want to achieve it is the backbone of your marketing.
So make sure that your agency spends enough time on setting up the strategy.
The rest of the work will be different tasks to help execute that strategy, most of which will be billed at a monthly or an hourly rate.
Note: We’ve helped our clients increase their sales dramatically in 2020 just through our digital marketing service. Check it out here.
Your Industry
The industry you’re in is one of the most underrated factors. It plays a huge role in the price proposals you’ll get from agencies.
For example, real estate and health are the hardest niches to work in because the competition is ferocious and you’ll have to spend a ton of time on figuring out precisely how you’ll stand out.
So take a good look at your competition and take them into consideration to get an idea of how much it’ll cost you to beat them.
Now it’s up to you
There’s no “one size fits all” answer to hire the best digital marketing agency, as you can see. It depends on multiple factors:
- Your internal resources
- Your marketing goal
- Your desired marketing channel
- Your budget
Based on these factors, you can look through that list of digital marketers Google spat out and find the right agency to work with.
We would love to set up a call with you and discuss your business in more detail and see if there’s a fit. Schedule a free consulting call here.
