It can be difficult to find a skilled digital marketing agency in Nottinghamshire who are reputable, without sifting through countless websites on Google. We understand the frustration of businesses who part with their money, only to be left with no results. This is why we’ve compiled a short guide to vetting marketing agencies before you choose to hire them, based on our combined 40 years of experience in the digital marketing space. The industry is highly competitive, and most agencies will promise the moon – yet it’s important to be savvy, and proceed with caution when you are making big promises. Every business deserves to have access to genuine marketing experts, so the Seek team is making it easy to choose the right agency below.
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How can you identify a top marketing agency?
In our experience, there are a list of factors you should always look for before enlisting any marketing company.
Do they have a proven track record?
In short, if the answer to this question is no, don’t hire the company – or, at the very least, ask to see client testimonials if their website doesn’t offer any. An agency which merely promises results is an entirely different entity to one which has consistently delivered results for a host of clients. A further consideration in terms of track record is recognition with industry awards; has the agency won any official awards? The judges of these awards are people with deep industry knowledge, who are very knowledgeable in rating advertising agencies based on their performance.
Experience
Experience in the particular area of marketing in which you need assistance is important. Many companies offer a range of services, yet without particular expertise in any of them. It can be better if you find an agency which does specialise in SEO, paid ads or Tik Tok video campaigns, as the case may be. This doesn’t mean that multi-service agencies are bad – they can be great if they have specialist professionals in each of their core areas. Again, this is something to check on the company’s website, or to ask about during any onboarding call. Be wary of promises: ask to see evidence for any claimed competency.
Services
Look at the range of services offered by the agency and match these against your business‘ needs. A marketing campaign has many aspects, and each of these need to work well in tandem – this is where a full-service agency can be incredibly useful, as you don’t need to outsource specialists from different companies.
Realistic promises
Certain promises are simply not realistic, however amazing they may sound. Do your due diligence; find out whether the anticipated results are realistically possible. For example, ranking well for hundreds of useful keywords within the space of a month as a start-up is not a realistic promise. Incredible results are possible, but this is within reason, and you must ask how the agency plans to deliver the results they promise. Ask what strategies and tools they will use to achieve those results.
Reliable data and reporting
Related to our above point, you need to make sure the digital marketing agency is transparent with their progress. This means providing access to their data, so you have measurable results. If the results fall short, you can then ask why, and ask for an amendment in the strategy. If they do deliver, you can see what worked well and incorporate this into your business‘ marketing campaign going forwards.
What do I need for a successful marketing campaign?
Aside from the obvious – social media management, traffic to your website, etc – what should you look for when planning your marketing efforts? A reputable company will always offer the following:
Strategic thinking
Part of being a good marketer is thinking strategically, and that means having a good understanding of both (i) your business as a whole and (ii) your industry and your competitors. From deciding how to write Linkedin posts to choosing keywords for SEO, strategy always has to be borne in mind. Implementing a successful overall strategy helps your business to achieve results and stay ahead of your competitors. For instance, an effective SEO strategy will support your long term growth, by consistently gaining web traffic from your lead sources. By the same token, creating Instagram posts in a style which is proven to achieve engagement from your target audience is also a long term strategy. Tastes and trends on social media evolve quickly, and your online content needs to change in line with this. Good marketing agencies will continually monitor industry trends and online habits, and adapt your content accordingly. Just to hammer home our point about strategy, pay-per-click (PPC) is another area where strategy is key. From deciding on an initial bidding strategy and target audience, location and search terms, to tracking the ads’ performance, reputable companies will always have a plan.
A client focus
The impression made on your target audience is crucial for any marketing initiative. Without it, you’re destined for failure. Even in the case of SEO, if you have a great strategy and gain masses of web traffic from your customer base, this is all useless if your website itself doesn’t have a user design which serves their needs. All you will see is a high bounce rate! Likewise when having an app built and looking to gain downloads – downloads will all be rendered useless if a poorly designed, difficult-to-navigate app is instantly deleted by any new users. The moral of the story: keep your client in mind, and make sure the agency you hire does too. Your client’s needs should be integrated into any marketing decision if you want to see increased sales figures, or improvement in any other conversion.
Specialist know-how
Achieving success online depends on a multitude of factors: your website and/or app design, online presence, SEO and social media strategy among others. Some businesses believe they can do these things alone; if they have an in-house marketing specialist in one or more areas, then this may be possible. However, it is rare to find a small or medium sized business with adequate in-house marketing knowledge, and there is definite value in hiring an expert. Growing your social media following or achieving more app downloads can all take time, and require strategies which perform. Trustworthy marketing agencies will use data-driven, tried-and-tested techniques, and will offer opportunities for you to see the results of those techniques on a regular basis. In a word, don’t trust a company which doesn’t explain how they know what they know, i.e. how do they know that posting at 7am every morning on Instagram will help your online growth? How do they know that said keyword is a useful one to go after, in terms of gaining lead-source web traffic?
Feeling overwhelmed by the plethora of digital marketing companies out there? Speak to Seek Social.
Seek Social is results-driven – we use tried-and-tested approaches which we know have delivered results for our clients in the past. We aren’t here to be pushy about our services – we just like to find out how we can achieve your business‘ goals. Get in touch to see whether our team would be a good fit for your marketing needs,
