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What Should You Look For In A Digital Marketing Partner?

The world of digital marketing is constantly changing and evolving. As a Marketing Director, you are expected to wear a LOT of hats. One of those hats is obviously overseeing the marketing strategy and utilizing the right advertising partners. It’s not just your traditional media to choose from (TV, radio, billboard, newspaper, etc.), you must also be educated on the digital marketing aspect of your plan.  Deciding whom to partner with for digital can be one of the most important decisions you make. Let’s be honest, they all say they are the best at what they do when ultimately, don’t they all sell the same thing?

Ultimately, choosing the right digital marketing agency is as important as picking the right partner if you were deciding to go into business. They need to be a good fit for you and your company goals and they need to understand your vision and be able to execute it to bring you the best return on investment. By specifically hiring a digital agency, you will work with people that are the experts in their field so that it is not up to you to possibly know all elements of how digital works. You can work or partner with someone that knows your vision and knows how to see it from a digital aspect.

Simple Steps To Start This Process

  1. LOOK FOR A TRUE PARTNER. First and foremost, look for a partner that understands your business and your goals. It’s not just about you agreeing to work with this agency. You want to see that they are invested with you as well. Having that initial meeting, without talking price or strategy right away, will be an indicator that they are looking at this as a partnership.
  2. LOOK FOR GOOD IDEAS & STRATEGIES. Once you have had the initial interview with a digital marketing agency, ask them to present their ideas and strategies. The presentation itself can say a lot about the team you are looking to partner with. The whole point of working with an agency is so that you can give them the basics and as the experts, they will bring back the ideas and strategies that they believe ties in as close as they can to your goals. How was the presentation? Did the presentation flow? Did it all make sense to you? Was it organized? Did they listen to what you told them and brought back concrete ideas and strategies on how to make that work?
  3. LOOK FOR SOMEONE THAT HAS A TEAM WORKING FOR YOU. In the world of digital there is your salesperson that is the face of the agency, but what about the people behind the scenes? This is the fulfillment side and a crucial part of any digital marketing strategy. Do you trust you have a team of people working for YOU and your business? Some agencies outsource, which is ok, but the element of fulfillment and campaign management should come directly from the agency itself.
  4. LOOK FOR AN AGENCY THAT DIGITAL IS THEIR CORE PRODUCT. Is digital truly their core product? There are a lot of companies out there that “added on” digital solutions, to bring a new line of revenue to their own business. There is nothing wrong with this, but does this really mean they are the expert? Is there expertise in web design or creative or possibly another form of media? If that is the case, they may not exactly know as much about digital marketing and strategies for your business, as they are not the experts in this field.
  5. QUALITY OVER PRICE. It isn’t always about price. Ultimately as a business owner, you still need to partner with someone that is affordable to what you are looking for but make sure you understand what you are paying for. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And remember that price isn’t always what should lead a decision like this.
  6. LOOK FOR SOMEONE YOU CAN TRUST. Lastly…trust & transparency. This can be so crucial to understanding upfront where this agency stands, what they believe in, and are they being honest with you? Let’s face it, any partnership we move forward with, whether that be on the business end or personal, we need to be able to trust our partners. And how do we do this?  By making sure they are not over-promising and under-delivering.  The marketing agencies that are promising you “guaranteed” results probably are not being transparent with you and more likely are just trying to close the deal.

So, there are some very basic tips on what to look for in a digital marketing agency. If you would love to learn more about Federated Digital Solutions, and why we want to be your TRUE marketing partner, we would love to hear from you.

Contact Us | Federated Digital Solutions

Shannon Allen

Written by Shannon Allen

Shannon Allen is the Chief Revenue Officer for Federated Digital Solutions. She has over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing and over 15 years more specifically working in the digital world. Her passion for digital marketing is what drives her to find the best digital solutions for clients as well as for FDS. Shannon believes that true marketing starts after the sale with strategic campaigns and detailed reporting to help all FDS clients with an ROI, so they see the value in digital marketing.

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