Digital marketing agencies exist to help businesses utilize a variety of strategies and technologies to increase sales.

While many agencies are full-service, many will specialize in a specific area of digital marketing. Search engine optimization (SEO), Google AdWords, Facebook Marketing, and more are examples of what agencies can offer.

When you find a great digital marketing agency, it should feel like they are an extension of your business. So finding the right match is critical to the success of your projects.

What do you need to find the right digital media agency?

• Knowledge of what a digital marketing agency can do for your business
• Understand the goals you have for a digital marketing agency.
• Knowing what to look for in a great digital marketing agency.

What can a digital marketing agency do for my company?

Digital Marketing agencies like First Page Limited are around to help clients gain sales through different strategies. Strategies and offerings vary from agency to agency. Here are some systems that you can expect most agencies to use.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Great SEO is about capturing a potential client’s attention at the right time in their buying journey. It is about much more than just getting viewers to your website. Search Engine Optimization is about providing a solution just as they realize they have a problem!

Google AdWords

Potential customers turn to Google search engines when they have a problem and are looking to find a solution. Digital marketing agencies can set up an AdWords campaign to position your company as the solution to their problems.

Facebook Advertising

A digital marketing agency will help you target potential clients based on their interests, location, income, education, gender, life events, and status updates. Facebook can return a substantial return on investment (ROI) with 2.45 billion active monthly users.

Mobile Marketing

Mobile phones have the highest conversion rate out of any device. 50% of searches done on mobile devices result in a purchase. Text messages have a 97% open rate, which can be much higher than most email campaigns.

Video Marketing

Video is one of the most engaging ways to connect with an audience. In fact, popular online video channels have a wider audience than traditional ads presented on TV plans. The top 10 primetime TV shows in the United States have a lower reach than YouTube on 18-49-year-olds. Digital marketing agencies help target ads based on YouTube channel, location, demographic, online behavior, interests, and more.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is about more than creating weekly blogs and posting them on your website. Some agencies will offer content marketing services that involve SEO writing, content analysis, social media promotion, blog post generation, and infographic creation. For many businesses, content creation helped grow them into multi-million dollar organizations.

Email Marketing

Even with all of the social platforms popping up, email marketing still creates the most ROI for marketers today. For every dollar spent on email marketing, it generates a return of $38. Many agencies offer services of email list engagement, list building, segmentation, and optimizing auto-response sequences.

Although every agency will vary depending on their niche, most will offer many of the services listed above.

Know Your Desired Outcomes and Goals

You must know the goals and desires of your organization before you pick the right agency.

Just as your business is different from many other companies, the same applies to digital marketing agencies.

Many digital marketing agencies will be a full-service operation. However, they are all experts in particular niches. Typically agencies will prefer to work on projects within their expertise.

So it would help if you decided what your goals are and what you want accomplished by hiring a digital marketing agency.

Think of what your deliverables are. Clear deliverables will help you communicate what you need from the digital marketing agency. What are your goals for these deliverables? What outcome do you desire from these deliverables?

Agencies will know what you are looking for when you can clearly explain these attributes. If they are a good fit, they can show you how. If not, at least it did not waste anyone’s time.

What to Look for in a Great Digital Marketing Agency

Now we understand what digital marketing agencies do and your goals, let us focus on what makes an agency great.

Specialized team members with experience

No matter the services you are looking for, you must ensure the agency your hire has team members who are suitable for your project.

Look through their team members page to see who is working for them. See if these team members seem like people who can accomplish the goals you have.

Social proof

Social proof is the testimonials and reviews from previous customers. Reviews can give you an in-depth understanding of what it is like to work with that agency.

Great digital marketing agencies know that displaying social proof on their website is essential. If you cannot find any on their website, they are brand new, or they may not understand the industry as well as you need them to.

Look into neutral and negative reviews as well. Seeing what an agency struggles with from these reviews can help you make a better decision—broadening your understanding of their work.

A sizeable amount of past clients

Great digital marketing agencies are proud of the clients they work with and their work. A smart agency will display those partnerships for their world to see on the front of their website.

If you cannot find a list of previous clients or examples of their work, it might mean they have not worked with any clients.

Digital marketing agencies with little to no clients or work examples are okay if you are on a budget. However, if you are looking for the best of the best, you will want examples of their work and the clients they have made happy!

Do their core values align with yours?

It is an excellent exercise to revisit your organization’s core values. What does your company value? What is your culture about?

Now take a moment to find the core values and culture of the digital marketing agency you are looking to hire. It is vital to work with others who value things that you believe.

An agency should be an extension of your business. Ensuring that your values align with the digital marketing agency’s values will help your team better work with their team.

If the agency’s phrases to describe themselves do not align with your core values, look for an agency that is a better fit for your company.

Never forget about fit

When choosing a digital marketing agency, the fit is everything. If the fit is not right, the work will not be suitable.

First, you need to understand what digital marketing agencies can provide to your company—the unique ability to align strategies on multiple platforms to leverage sales. Although most agencies can offer full-service marketing, you must find their specialties.

Does the agency have values that align with your values? Do they have a team that can achieve your desired outcome? Do they have the experience you need for your project?

Understanding these areas will help you find the best digital marketing agency to represent your company. Since they are an extension of your business, you cannot afford anything less than a great fit.