Every year in the United States, more than 600,000 new businesses open up.
This creates more competition for existing businesses and more pressure to stay ahead of the herd.
And failing to do so could cost you dearly. In fact, eight out of ten businesses fail within their first 18 months of trading.
So how can you make sure your business is part of the successful 20% that thrive? Well, this is where local digital marketing can help.
But to get your strategy right, you want a marketing team who knows what they’re doing. They will be able to put your business on the map and keep it there.
Not sure how to find the right agency for you? Well, you’re in the right place!
Read on to find out everything you should consider when choosing a local digital marketing agency for your business.
Why Is Digital Marketing Important for Your Business?
Digital marketing is another name for internet marketing. It focuses on giving your business an online presence.
This is vital for expanding the number of people who come into contact with your business every day. There are over 300 million internet users in North America alone. This means that the internet is one of the most important platforms on which to promote your business.
Online marketing lets you target broad and specific markets on a large scale.
If you want to target high-profile executives, for example, then you want to get your adverts on websites that they use a lot. In that case, something like LinkedIn is the perfect place to promote your business. This is a way of putting you on the map with people you may struggle to make contact with face-to-face.
Or you can play the numbers game with adverts on websites like Facebook.
With 2.27 billion users active every month, an advert on Facebook is sure to reach people from all walks of life.
Digital marketing is also an extremely cost-effective way to promote your business. It doesn’t require you to spend a lot of marketing resources or tie your money up in promotional material. This means you can focus your advertising budget on hiring a high-quality, local online marketing agency.
What Is a Local Digital Marketing Agency?
Digital marketing agencies focus on all areas of online advertising.
They can assess your current marketing strategies and draw up plans on how to improve these. To find the best online marketing strategies for your business, they will look at current trends and carry out market research.
Some strategies they will use to improve your company’s online presence include:
- Boosting your SEO ranking
- Mobile marketing
- Content marketing
- Email marketing
- Taking out social media advertisements (e.g. on Facebook and Instagram)
- Video advertising
- Improving your website design
- Creating social media profiles for your business
Working on all these elements of your business will increase company sales and profits.
This means that it’s a real game-changer for any business.
So let’s take a look at some of the other benefits of hiring a local digital marketing agency rather than trying to run a campaign all on your own.
Benefits of Hiring a Local Digital Marketing Agency
Most businesses will already run at least some aspect of their digital marketing using an in-house team.
But outsourcing could have a huge impact on your business’ success.
These agencies are experts in the area so they’ll be able to provide entirely new insights into the best digital marketing schemes around. Unless you have a lot of manpower to devote to this job, an in-house team simply won’t be able to match a marketing agency’s expertise.
This expertise also means they know exactly where to spend money so they will use your marketing budget more efficiently. They won’t waste money on pointless marketing schemes. And they’ll get results quickly because of this!
This also ticks one huge job off your company’s list.
Rather than someone half-heartedly updating Twitter, you’ll be able to devote time to expanding your business. This benefits the quality of work across the board and gives your business the best chance of success.
But finding the right digital marketing agency for your business is extremely important. So let’s take a look at some of the things you should consider when hiring an agency to manage your company’s online marketing.
Look for Flexibility
Some agencies will try to tie you into working with them for a long period of time using fixed-term contracts — but you should be wary of anyone who tries to do this.
If they fail to deliver results for your business then this could leave you stuck paying the agency fees for up to a year. And signing a long-term contract guarantees them money, so they may put less effort into your company’s marketing campaigns.
Most decent agencies will offer you a flexible rolling contract. This lets you assess how effective their digital marketing is. And it lets you switch agencies if you aren’t satisfied with their service.
You might also want them to do more work on your marketing at a specific time. For example, if your business is seasonal, then you may want them to put more effort into your marketing at peak times.
In this case, go for an agency that is happy to manage your budget accordingly. You don’t want them to use all your marketing budget on off-season marketing!
Make Sure You’ll Have an Account Manager
Before you sign up to an agency, make sure you know who you’ll be working with.
They will have a big impact on your experience with the agency.
Make sure the agency offers an account manager for your business’ digital marketing campaign. This means that the same person will be in charge of all your company’s marketing strategies.
Having the same account manager is vital for creating a consistent and strong marketing campaign for your company. And this is what gets results! It will also mean you can speak to one person directly about all your marketing aims for your business.
Some agencies don’t use specific account managers for each company’s marketing. You want to avoid these agencies.
Getting in touch with them will be like speaking to a call center. Not only will communication be difficult, but your campaign may pass through several pairs of hands. The result will be weak digital marketing that doesn’t reflect your business’ brand coherently.
Ask for Access to Your Resources
If you’re paying an agency to manage your company’s digital marketing, then you are entitled to any materials they create for this.
Agencies might try to avoid sharing materials with their clients because they don’t want to become redundant. They worry that if a business has their hands on their online marketing resources, they won’t need the agency anymore. But an agency of any worth won’t worry about this.
They know that what they offer goes beyond templates and video content. And they won’t try to stop you from accessing these recourses. In fact, they’ll happily share them with you to help you make the most of your digital marketing.
Asking an agency about whether you’ll have access to their resources will tell you a lot about what kind of agency they are. If they get defensive about sharing files with you, then you might want to look elsewhere.
What Analytics Do They Use?
Agencies use analytics to assess how effective a digital marketing campaign is — but the types of analytics they use will yield different results.
For example, boosting the number of likes on a post is relatively straightforward and it makes an agency look good. But it doesn’t necessarily boost sales.
In short, the analytics on this aspect of their marketing will look good but it won’t have a huge impact on your business’ success.
Some important areas of analytics to look at include:
- The number of unique visitors that your business gets
- How long visitors spend on your website or on your social media pages
- The traffic source numbers for your website
- Your website’s bounce rate
- The cost-per-click for any adverts you have out
- The click-through rate of any adverts that you have out
Looking at these areas of a digital marketing campaign gives people a much more accurate idea of how effective it is — so they’re the things an agency should be paying attention to.
Check Out Their Portfolio
An agency’s portfolio will tell you a lot about the caliber of their work.
High-profile clients or big brand names indicate that they’re in the big leagues. They have plenty of experience under their belt so they’ll be able to run your digital marketing properly. And they’ll deliver results.
You can also take a look at the types of digital marketing they use by looking at their clients’ websites and social media pages. If you like what you see, then this is an indication that they could be the company for you.
You should check out any testimonials that you can find for an agency. This will fill you in on what happens behind the scenes.
Keep an eye out for red flags, such as poor communication and over-promising, and run a mile if you see them!
Work With Your Budget
Different agencies will offer you different packages to make sure to find one that suits your business. This is all about striking a balance.
You want to go with the best company for your business. Hiring the wrong company could mean you end up pouring money down the drain. But you also need to hire a company that you can afford to work with for a while.
Hiring a top-notch, pricey company might seem appealing. But if you can’t afford their fees, then your digital marketing will lack consistency.
Ideally, you want an agency that you can work with for an extended period of time. This ensures the best results for your investment.
And hiring a digital marketing company is an investment in your company.
The right company will stretch your budget as far as it can for the maximum return. To find out more about this, make sure to ask just how a company plans to use your spending.
Find Someone Who Specializes in Your Business Market
Some digital marketing agencies specialize in certain areas of business, so make sure you ask about this.
For example, let’s say your business involves selling sporting equipment. There is no point in working with an agency that specializes in digital marketing for law firms.
If you’re struggling to find someone who has experience in your market, then make sure to go for someone with a diverse portfolio. This demonstrates that they can turn their hand to anything.
You should also discuss any specific plans for your company’s expansion.
For example, if you’re planning to open multiple premises, ask about how they would market this digitally. This will tell you a lot about how an agency will adapt their strategy as your business grows.
You want an agency that will adapt and support your business, whatever direction you choose to take it in!
Time to Hire
Hiring a local digital marketing agency could have a huge impact on your business’ chances of success.
It could expand your company’s reach and boost your sales. It’s time to bid goodbye to your failing marketing strategies and bring in the professionals.
For more help, get in touch with us today to book your free consultation!
The post A Complete Guide on How to Choose a Local Digital Marketing Agency appeared first on ROI Amplified.