Should I Hire a Digital Marketing Agency? Yes, If It’s Reliable

While browsing the Andava blog, you were probably expecting to read a blog post “X reasons to hire a digital marketing agency”. Andava is a digital marketing agency itself and it isn’t logical that we consider hiring an agency a bad idea.

Well, everything isn’t obvious from first sight. In this post, we will discuss why hiring a digital marketing agency isn’t the right answer and also offer reasonable solutions for handling our own objections.

Let’s get started!

#1 Do marketing agencies guarantee the results?

You will hardly find a digital marketing agency that will guarantee you X results in X months. All you can expect is approximate numbers based on previous results or reasonable estimates.

So why you should hire a digital marketing agency if you aren’t guaranteed that you will have a positive ROI. The minimum length of a contract is 3-6 months. And if you feel like you don’t want to continue, there’s no way back.

Note: Let’s be honest here. A minimum period of 3-6 months is right as it’s hard to achieve realistic goals in a few days or weeks.

Besides, some marketing agencies tend to over promise, aka exaggerate the picture of what your business will look like after working with them. So why hire a digital marketing agency and take a risk of losing money?

Solution to the problem: You don’t have to commit to promises. Instead, your marketing agency should commit itself to meeting your goals that are measured through certain metrics.

Don’t start working with an agency without defining what you mean by “success” and what metrics you want to see improved. Talk about your expectations before signing a contract so there’s no misunderstanding.

Of course, it’s a perfect idea to test the waters before implementing the main strategy. But both sides should know what the efforts are being invested in in the long run. If you have set clear (SMART) goals and the agency doesn’t meet them, you have the final word.

#2 Can a marketing agency know your business well?

Your marketing agency might be located thousands of miles away from your office. But that’s not the problem.

Consumer behavior nuances may greatly differ from country to country. Meeting the standards of the local (or targeted) market may be too hard. And even downloading reports/studies might not be enough for the agency to fully understand how to promote stuff in your market.

Things get harder when it comes to knowing your product/service from the inside out. It’s you who founded your company, it’s your friends or partners who developed the product/service with you. And it’s too hard to share the same experience, the same knowledge, the same story with another team.

Solution to the problem: Marketing your product/service is beyond knowing the company inside out. The secret is not in knowing everything but knowing what matters. And that’s when genuine, effective communication between you and the agency takes the stage.

Do you have specific details about your target audience? Do you know what questions they love to ask? Does your target audience have certain shopping habits?

When you openly share similar information, it benefits first of all your business. Because it helps the agency understand the market better and create, implement their strategy easier.

Schedule a MeetingDo you want to hire a committed, reliable and professional digital marketing agency? Talk to us to learn why Andava is the one.

#3 Does the marketing agency have expertise in your niche?

Most agencies clearly mention what services they are specialized in. But do they really have experience in providing that service or do they just think they can?

The list of available services isn’t the only thing you should pay attention to. The agency’s experience in your niche is as important as the experience in providing the service you need.

The list of industries may also be mentioned on the agency’s website – eCommerce SEO, SEO for software development companies, etc. But the same question pops up in your mind – has the agency worked with a similar client before?

Solution to the problem: Don’t limit yourself to checking out the agency’s website. There are some more ways to check the agency’s credibility (and expertise in a certain niche):

• take the time to check customer reviews on third-party websites (Clutch is maybe the top rating platform for marketing services),
• try to collect unbiased feedback from your network (maybe they know the staff or have interacted with the agency),
• try to find the social media profiles of the staff members and research their expertise.

Thus, you will get a better understanding of what kind of team you will be working with and whether it’s worth cooperating.

#4 Do you still control your marketing processes?

Hiring a digital marketing agency means authorizing their team to post and publish on your behalf. One they have access to your social media profiles, website, they can put content in front of your audience. And when you notice that the published content isn’t what you want to be there, it may be too late.

Solution to the problem: The marketing agency team can’t post on your social media or website without you giving them access. Moreover, when you give access, you don’t give it to the whole team. Instead, you are authorizing this or that team member by giving access to his/her email address.

For example, we may be authorized to schedule social media posts for our clients. But when we want to see what contacts have been generated, we might receive a similar notification from the CRM software:

Though we are allowed to upload files, make drafts, schedule posts, the admin doesn’t authorize us to view or edit contacts. So it’s you who decides what the marketing agency has access to and can control over.

“Should I hire a digital marketing agency?”: Yes, if it’s Andava

Andava offers design and development, SEO, PPC, and SMM services in the following industries:

• Software development
• Medical practices
• eCommerce
• Accounting
• Insurance
• Law firms

You can order a free audit of your marketing profile and get a list of unique, practical recommendations from our team. Contact us today and hiring a digital marketing agency will seem a better idea.