A digital marketing agency can be a crucial decision for both business leaders and marketers. A reputable marketing agency can help you turn digital channels such as paid search, social media, and email into channels that fuel your company’s expansion.
This guide is a reliable resource for:
- What digital marketing companies do
- How to choose a digital agency
- Find the best digital marketing companies
- Answers to the most frequently asked questions about marketing outsourcing
Find out how to select a digital agency that will increase your revenue!
Ask Yourself These 3 Questions Prior to Choosing a Digital Agency
These questions will help you determine if it is time to begin looking for a digital agency.
- What can a digital marketing firm do for us? A digital marketing agency with experience will develop, implement, and manage a multichannel marketing strategy to grow the key metrics of your business.
- Why hire an agency instead of an in-house marketing team? The main benefits are improved performance and cost optimization. The agency provides access to experienced experts at rates that are between 40 and 85% less compared to a team of three.
- What will the cost of outsourcing our marketing be? The cost of digital marketing agencies varies from $2,500 per month to $10,000 or more, depending on their experience, location, and strategy.
Start your search if the answers above align with the budgets and expectations you have set.
How to Select a Digital Agency
Here are some steps you can take to find the best digital marketing agency for your needs:
- Create an online project hub
- Defining goals and objectives
- Outline the requirements
- Finalize marketing budget
- Compile potential agencies
- Make a list of your top choices
- Interview with the Top Digital Marketing Agencies
- Choose a digital marketing agency
Use our free marketing agency template to keep track of all the details!
1. Create a project hub
It is not easy to find a digital agency. A project hub can make the process simpler. This hub provides you (and other stakeholders) a trusted place to add updates, store resources, or review progress.
The hub should include key project information such as:
- Stakeholders
- Deadlines
- Project Status
- Budget
- Project Goals
- Agent requirements
- Agencies
- Quotes and/or proposals from agencies
Do not fill out all the fields right away. Focus on the stakeholders, timeline, and hiring a digital agency. Below, you’ll find out more about setting up project goals and budgets.
Need help with your project hub creation? Get started with our marketing project hub template!
2. Define your goals and objectives
The next step is to outline your goals and objectives when hiring a digital agency.
Most businesses have specific goals for the digital channel, such as paid search and organic search. They may also have specific objectives that are specific to their organization (such as lead quality or revenue increase). Create goals for digital marketing to support your company’s objectives.
It’s okay not to have specific goals. While some companies will create goals like “Generate 10 percent more leads in six months,” to present to agencies. It’s not uncommon for brands to approach their agencies with a specific problem they want to solve, rather than a set of metrics to achieve.
The best digital marketing firms will create strategies and set goals to measure their success. This allows businesses to leverage the expertise and experience of digital marketing companies while providing input as to what will make the partnership successful.
3. Outline of requirements
Outlining your needs is a crucial step when selecting a digital agency. Our experience shows that businesses are most successful when they divide their requirements into these buckets.
You can also ask stakeholders to provide their feedback.
The stakeholders in digital marketing projects can range from IT to marketing, so you should get their input first before meeting with agencies and doing research. You should ask stakeholders to explain the “why” of the request so that you can better understand the needs.
4. Finalize marketing budget
Many businesses begin their search for a digital agency without having a budget for marketing.
This is a question that experienced digital marketing companies will ask to see if you’re a fit. It’s therefore important to know your estimated budget. A realistic Budget is also essential. Most digital marketing services cost $2,500+ per month.
5. Compile potential agencies
Find digital marketing agencies that you can consider by using:
- Stakeholders
- Professional network
- Review and rating sites that are reputable
- Search engines such as Google or Bing
Focus on creating a listing of possible agencies.
It’s more common for companies to contact a single agency after receiving a recommendation, rather than contacting multiple agencies and comparing quotes.
Add agencies that you are interested in to your project hub, and compare their capabilities with the requirements you have previously set. Most often, certain requirements require you to contact the digital marketing provider.
6. Make a list of your top choices
Refine your initial list into a top-six agency shortlist. Concentrate on agencies that satisfy all or the majority of your requirements. These agencies are the most likely to meet both your needs and those of your stakeholders.
Document your findings on your project hub for your and your stakeholders’ reference.
7. Interview with the Top Digital Marketing Agencies
Start the interviewing process with your top digital agencies. Limit the number of agencies to three or five, as some stakeholders may need to be involved.
The interview process is usually started with a video or phone call. You will be asked questions and have the opportunity to ask them to determine if the company is the right fit for your project.
You may be asked about:
- Budget
- Goals, objectives, or problems
- Duration of a partnership, such as a long-term or short-term relationship
- When you want to start, consider a timeline.
This is also a good time to ask any initial questions about the requirements.
- What is the minimum amount required to spend?
- Have you used our Content Management System (CMS) before?
- Is it possible to work without access to the site?
The next steps will depend on the project and agency.
You’ll be told by reputable agencies if they don’t think your project is right. They may even recommend other firms. When that happens, add the agency to your project hub and do some research on them!
If you decide that the agency is right for you, they will create a customized proposal which includes:
- Deliverables
- Pricing
- Contract
It’s common to meet again with the digital marketing agency to discuss the proposal. This is an excellent opportunity to ask questions and get feedback from key stakeholders about the agency, its processes, and pricing.
The following are some questions we recommend you ask:
- Are you my direct competitor?
- How much time do you require from me on a regular basis?
- What is required of me in order to be effective?
- When can I expect to see the results?
- Do you have any references in my industry?
This project hub is a great way to keep these questions and the answers from your agency.
8. Select a digital marketing company
Compare agencies now.
The following are the first steps in this process:
- Eliminating agencies that do not meet the minimum requirements
- Reviewing deliverables and pricing
- Get a lawyer to review the contract (if necessary)
Meeting with stakeholders is a good way to get feedback and review options. Some teams may be universal within their preferred digital agency, but in other cases, they might not. This will require compromise.
Compromise with your teammates using the criteria from earlier.
These categorizations are put to good use. These categories will help you choose between agencies by focusing your attention on the most important things to you and your stakeholders.
Contact them as soon as you have decided which digital marketing company to hire!
How to Begin Working With a Digital Agency
Congratulations! You now know how to choose a digital agency. Let’s finish up with a few tips for how to work with a digital service provider and make the partnership successful for your company:
- Notify internal stakeholders. Alert them about the choice and start date. You can ask your stakeholders to complete any additional steps, such as arranging payment or providing access to tools (such as Google Analytics 4).
- Share brand guides: Make it easy for your digital marketer to get started by sharing brand guidelines. Some agencies provide a questionnaire for you to fill out.
- Block Time: Reserve time for onboarding. This can include gathering resources, completing questions, setting up access, or meeting with an agency to discuss suggestions.
Choose a Digital Marketing Agency That Has a Client Satisfaction Rate of 93%
GenTech Marketing has years of experience and award-winning talent. Find out how our services can help you grow your business (and achieve a 93% customer satisfaction rate) when you contact us online today to receive a customized proposal.
