In the world of online marketing, choosing the right marketing agency or professional can be key to the success of your business.
We are currently going through a period of crisis, which can affect the budget you spend on online marketing. At a time like this, businesses are being more cautious. Everyone weighs up their decisions more carefully, especially in the first quarter. That’s why it’s important to think carefully about who you contract with. And especially, who you put in charge of your marketing activities.
In the following, we’re going to share with you some important considerations and advice to help you find the perfect online marketing agency to execute your project.
Be careful when comparing offers!
When choosing an agency, you need to consider several factors. Price is of course an important factor, but it should not be the only deciding factor.
Look carefully at the online marketing agency. What references and professional accolades do they have? How is the team made up? What is their focus area? You may need a specialist SEO, social media or PPC agency.
It’s important that you choose a team whose professionals are sincere about your objectives and don’t promise you the stars just to get the job.
Keep ethical online marketing in mind!
Fortunately, more and more professionals are committing themselves to ethical marketing. As well as that, there are now initiatives to help clients choose the right agency. However, there is still an undeserved lack of attention paid to this issue.
An ethical online marketing agency can be recognised in a number of ways, some of which we would like to highlight.
Transparency
It’s essential to have visibility into your campaigns so that you know every penny of how much money the agency has spent on your account. You should have access to all accounts, whether it’s Google Analytics data, Facebook or Google Ads accounts. But it’s also essential that you get answers to all your questions, without any obfuscation.
Honesty
An ethical marketer will tell you if your objectives are unrealistic. Online marketing is an investment that may well pay off, but you may not see an immediate positive return on every penny you invest. The success of a campaign can depend on a number of factors. So it is irresponsible to make accurate predictions without detailed knowledge of the data. So don’t fall for empty promises!
Scalability
It is clear that as an agency, we measure Google Analytics data on a daily, weekly basis. We constantly analyse Facebook and Google Ads stats, track newsletter open and click-through rates. However, we also look at much deeper insights! Such as users’ decision processes and paths on a website, which can help us optimise your campaigns even better.
It’s a warning sign if a marketer wants to start online marketing without using these metrics. It’s also questionable if you don’t receive detailed monthly reports in the light of this data from which you can draw conclusions.
Transparent pricing
In all cases, pricing must be clear and transparent. Before work even starts, you need to know exactly when, how much you will be paid, what is included in the agreed price. There are different pricing models: monthly, one-off, success fee, or depending on how much you spend. So the clearest way is to set everything out in the contract so that you can see clearly exactly what you are paying for and how much.
Clarity
Like almost every field, marketing has its own jargon. However, if an expert can’t translate and summarise the terms they use in a way you can understand, they don’t understand it well enough themselves.
You don’t need to be a marketing expert, because you’re paying someone to do the job for you professionally.
+1 Approach
This is the hardest criterion to define, but we suggest you listen to your instincts!
It does not necessarily indicate ethical behaviour, if an agency takes on a poor quality product or service that may be a scam, you may suspect it is unethical. Our policy is to only take on clients whose products or business objectives we believe in. Our team does not support a business that plays games to deceive or defraud customers or sells a poor quality product.
We have the perfect online marketing agency for you, but what next?
- The basis for achieving common goals is a well-defined brief that clearly communicates your business objectives, budget and expectations. In addition, include the budget, the timeline and any other factors that are important to you.
- If you’ve given good instructions, don’t worry, you’ll be happy with the result.
- Believe in the expertise of your agency, and if you can’t trust them, reconsider your choice.
We will be grateful if you share this article as it can serve as a crutch for any entrepreneur or business owner. After all, finding a reliable online marketing agency is no easy task.
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