A digital marketing agency can augment or replace an in-house online marketing team. As businesses develop a wider market presence, everything from goals and target audiences to procedures and budgets can realign. Evaluating your digital marketing agency ensures a continued joint definition of success. Evaluating new digital partnerships is equally pivotal to campaign efficiency.
From startups through to exit strategies and all mergers and acquisition stages in between, learning how to evaluate a digital marketing agency means spending the right money on getting the right results from the right agency when you need it most. This guide will explore how you should choose a digital marketing agency, and how to evaluate the agency before and during your partnership.
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Why Choose a Digital Marketing Agency?
Depending on the nature of your business, the benefits of channelling your digital marketing efforts through an established digital marketing agency may vary. For example, an effective PPC campaign can move the needle for companies looking to increase market share in an existing market. However, an awareness campaign centred on gaining visibility and clicks through well-chosen channels at the top of the funnel may be more beneficial to a startup at launch.
Three key reasons to utilise a digital marketing agency:
- Access to a varied skillset (without hiring an in-house team)
Marketing skills are in demand. Agencies attract talent. Have you got the expertise to attract, interview, and hire a team that can deliver? Outsourcing to a third-party vendor means instant access to the skills you need (reducing your time to market).
- Reduced expenditure (cost-effective marketing solutions)
Outsourcing your digital marketing solution reduces your in-house wage bill, allowing you to focus your marketing expenditure on your digital campaigns. A digital agency will also typically help as much as possible with budget allocation.
- Tailored packages increase marketing effectiveness
Do you have the time to research and implement emerging digital marketing best-practices? A digital marketing agency gives you instant access to best-practice procedures without stretching your in-house resources.
I offer all of these benefits, with bespoke solutions that reduce your expenditure comparative to hiring an in-house team. Without a digital marketing agency on your side, your business risks spreading resources too thinly, which can, in turn, run the risk of losing your company’s competitive edge.
Can you afford to get this wrong?
A key benefit of my service is that I get paid whether the answer is yes or no. I have nothing to win by over inflating or under reporting. I report the facts based on what my eyes see.
What a digital marketing agency does
Digital marketing agencies offer a range of services, broadly aimed at boosting visibility and increasing lead generation.
How to choose a digital marketing agency will depend on locating an agency that can provide the services to best suit your needs.
Digital marketing services include:
- On-page SEO (Link building)
- Off-page SEO (Technical SEO)
- PPC & Social Media advertising
- Website Design and App development
- PR, Outreach & Email Marketing Strategies
- Videos & Podcast Creation and Support
- Strategic Planning
- Tactical Implementation
Choosing a digital marketing agency means understanding your individual requirements for business growth and matching those needs to the best-fit agency.
What are the benefits of working with me?
I lead a team of digital experts that can help evaluate your business needs and match you to an agency that offers creative and effective online marketing solutions. I am here to help take the stress out of choosing a digital marketing agency. I ask the right questions in your best interests.
What’s more, I work with your existing marketing team where necessary to support their efforts.
How well has my current agency performed?
If you already outsource your digital marketing solution to a third-party digital agency, I can audit the agency’s services. An audit will help to highlight how well your current agency has performed.
I look at factors such as:
- How your marketing budget has been spent over time
- Whether the choice of marketing channels was effective or not
- The time it took the agency to move the needle on your campaigns (if indeed the needle has moved at all)
I will provide you with my unbiased assessment of the data and metrics I gather. Next, I will look at how to tell if another agency would perform better.
How can I tell if another agency would perform better?
If you have been with your agency for a while, it’s only natural to begin to wonder about your options. But how can you tell if another agency would perform better? That’s where I can help.
I will pose the right questions to potential new digital marketing partners, including:
- How did recent campaigns perform? Can we see examples of the work?
- Is the work completed in-agency? Who completes the work?
- What is the agency’s average customer retention rate?
- What results are possible (given a cursory brief)?
- How will results be measured and reported?
I will also make the relevant enquiries surrounding metrics. For example, if a company promises to increase your share of hollow vanity metrics such as ‘likes’ on your posts, this may be a sign that the agency does not focus on KPIs that will boost leads.
The agency’s KPIs should include:
- Unique visitors Cost per click (CPC)
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- On-site dwell time and bounce rates
- Traffic sources (do chosen marketing channels drive traffic effectively?)
These should all be secondary targets to the one true target to any digital marketer:
- Revenue attributed to the activity
When I am satisfied that several digital marketing agencies are capable of meeting your business needs, I will work with you to establish a Request for Proposal (RFP).
The information contained within the response will further help to establish which agency is right for you – for example, can the work be delivered at a reasonable fee? Please note that I may need to set a task and hold meetings if several companies appear to be joint front runners.
When and how often should I evaluate my agency’s performance?
Regular evaluation of your overall marketing plan should take place at least once per year. This includes evaluating the performance of your digital marketing agency.
However, if your business undergoes significant operational changes, more frequent checks carried out at critical turning points may be required to ensure your business stays on track. Click the link to read more about what is digital marketing due diligence?.
Get in touch for unbiased advice on evaluating a digital marketing agency
Working with you at every stage, we will ask all of the right questions to ensure we uncover the best-fit agency to suit your personal outlook and your company’s long-term goals. The first conversation is free so we have nothing to lose.