Hiring a digital marketing agency has become more commonplace due to the continual growth of online marketing. However, it can be difficult to determine who you should hire. Let’s be honest, everyone is going to claim they are the best, but statistically, that is simply impossible. So how can you make a good decision about who to hire? One of the easiest ways is to focus on their qualities. As an agency with two decades in the business, we wanted to share the Top Qualities of the Best Digital Marketing Companies.
What does a Digital Marketing Company do?
A top digital marketing company will provide an array of services that will allow them to develop, implement, and manage an online marketing strategy for a company. They should be able to quickly analyze and assess a customer’s business and derive an approach that will help increase growth and conversions while aligning with branding and long-term goals.
While some offer specialized or specific services, others offer a full spectrum of options making them a one-stop-shop for marketing and advertising needs.
Top Qualities of the Best Digital Marketing Companies
- Industry Leaders – The top companies are all industry leaders in numerous ways, recognized by their peers for their ability and expertise. Along with publishing blogs or white papers, the top digital marketing companies will have won awards in their fields, have decorated employees known for their experience, and are members of notable groups or communities because of their knowledge.
- Great Testimonials – Testimonials from satisfied customers are a common quality of the best digital marketing companies. The important consideration for testimonials over reviews is that typically they are very detailed and specific endorsements for how a problem was solved or goals were met. The top companies will have numerous testimonials over the years from a variety of businesses that showcases not only the ability of the company but also consistency in their ability to deliver results. If they can make so many customers happy, then they should be able to do the same for you.
- Experience – You can’t overlook experience, even in a fast-changing industry such as digital marketing. The best talent can flounder without the experience that helps in executing a plan and consistently producing results. Problems always occur in every industry, and the experienced hands at the helm know how to navigate rough waters when that happens for a smoother experience.
- Strong Leadership – The excellence of a company often starts at the top. When people think of elite companies, the well-known people at their helms come to mind, such as Steve Jobs and Apple or Bill Gates and Microsoft. People with good vision, leadership, intelligence, and a strong work ethic can inspire those around them and provide structure and motivation conducive to success. Make sure to review the history of a marketing company along with who started the business. Have they always been customer-focused and geared towards providing great service? The leader often sets the tone for everyone else and ideally, you want to hire a firm with a leader that has positive characteristics that resonate with you.
- Good Reviews – Reviews can be a strong indication of the overall sense of a business’s ability and professionalism. We have become a society that relies on other people’s opinions and reactions to experiences with products and services. While a decent amount of trust should be placed with reviews from quality sites such as Google and Yelp, it should always be taken with a grain of salt. Fake reviews can and do happen on the internet, both positive and negative. Some unscrupulous companies even hire people to post negative reviews to drive down the ratings of top competitors. Take the time to read comments from all types of reactions to gain a better overall sense of the business.
- Ability to Deliver – Some people believe “you get it when you get it,” or that delays are simply part of the process. Other people believe that “5 minutes early is on time,” and that it’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver than the other way around. Which company do you want to work with? The best digital marketing companies can consistently deliver the results the clients expect, which is as it should be. People are paying for results, not empty promises. Carefully consider both reviews and testimonials to understand if a company is meeting and exceeding expectations regularly or not.
- Culture – Company culture can be very important when you have a regular level of interaction with that company. Would you rather work with people that are professional, courteous, organized and happy or a more negative group that doesn’t focus on employee happiness and retention but instead works people hard while focusing on their own bottom line? It takes planning, time, and resources to generate a good working culture that is supportive, but those are often the best companies to work with because interactions are more positive on average.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that not every digital marketing company is created equally. Some are simply better than others. One of the easiest ways to differentiate the wheat from the chaff is by considering the Top Qualities of the Best Digital Marketing Companies and see how boxes a potential hire checks off. If it’s not most or all of the list, it might be a good idea to keep looking.
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