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Choosing an Online Marketing Agency

Online marketing means using digital technologies to help sell your goods or services. These technologies are a valuable complement to traditional marketing methods whatever the size of your company or your business model. The basics of marketing remain the same – creating a strategy to deliver the right messages to the right people. What has changed is the number of options you have. Though businesses will continue to make use of traditional marketing methods, such as advertising, direct mail and PR, online marketing adds a whole new element to the marketing mix. Online marketing agencies can provide useful services, from developing an online marketing strategy tailored for your business, to producing media such as websites, advertisements, copywriting, to marketing and promoting your business online. Online marketing will be an $11.6 billion business worldwide by 2010 (source: Forrester) – that means there’s a lot of competition. Any agency you engage will need to work with you as a partner, helping you manage your online marketing effectively. Effective online marketing requires a deep understanding of the internet, including technical knowledge of web technologies, search engines as well as strategic knowledge of how to market to your target audience. This guide describes how to choose an online marketing agency and provides guidance on the many pitfalls that can be easily avoided.

Online Marketing Expertise

Successful online marketing is an involved process that requires a deep understanding of the internet, including technical knowledge of web technologies, search engines as well as strategic knowledge of how to market to your target audience. The strategy should include There are many agencies out there that propose to provide a full service which actually fall short. A full service agency should posses the following expertise:

Online Marketing Strategy – The foundation of any successful online marketing campaign is a sound strategic plan. This plan should be created with a clear understanding of your company’s goals and operations, your products and services and your target audience. The plan should include the agency’s proposal on how they intend to market your products to your target audience including a timeline of production of all media and digital assets. The strategy should also include quality tests to ensure all standards of production are met on time as well as performance tests to measure the efficacy of the campaign. Check that the agency is not just a digital agency, that your working with an online marketing agency with the competence to deliver results. Check that they have experience in market research and ask to see case studies of successful campaigns they’ve worked on in the past.
Online Copywriting – Online copywriting is an art in itself and requires a whole different skill set to print copywriting. The agency should have online copywriter in house. Ask to see results of their work on Google and evaluate the efficacy of the writing. How well does it read? Does it make you want to buy their product?
Website Design and Development – Depending on your project requirements your online marketing plan might include the build of a website. There are many ways to measure successful web design at the least the agency should have its own in house production team of designers and developers. Review their portfolio and assess the quality of their web design. Assess the quality of communication, usability and design. Is the website successful selling its products and services? Did you enjoy visiting the site? You can also request to see how well the agencies previous websites have done by looking at their web statistics and talking to their clients. Ask to see if they’ve won any awards or have been recognised in their industry in magazines or trade shows.
E-Commerce - Choosing an online marketing agency that can increase your bottom line and deliver value on your investment is an important decision. Unlike other media, the performance of an e-commerce application can be precisely measured. When shopping around for an agency ask for detailed information on previous e-commerce applications they’ve developed. Look at their case-studies, request balance sheets, ROI, conversion rates etc. Also look at the strategies used by the agency to gain market share and increase profits. You’ll also want to make sure the agency has an excellent CRM and user analytics program.
Content Management – A CMS (Content Management System) manages all the content of a website. All good agencies should have a CMS but check that it’s search engine friendly and easy-to-use. Test drive it to make sure it has all the editing capabilities you’ll want to use.
CRM – There are many CRMs out on the market, some agencies build their own, some use “off the shelf” products. It’s important that the agency can provide support for the CRM and if necessary add and manipulate modules for optimal performance. Test drive the agencies CRM and compare features with others.
User Analytics – It’s essential to be able to monitor and track the performance of your website and adjust your online marketing campaign if necessary. There are various user analytics software programs available, some more advanced than others. You’ll need to monitor the success of your keywords and track traffic generated from search engines and websites.
Search Engine Marketing – One of the core sets of skills for successful online marketing is search engine optimisation and marketing. Your online marketing agency should be able to position your website high in search engine results. Check to see how well their site is optimised. You should be able to see the site’s keywords, then search on them to see how well ranked the agency is. One that doesn’t make the rankings is unlikely to be a suitable partner.
Email Marketing – Email is an essential component of any good online marketing campaign and your agency needs to excel in creating, sending and reporting on email campaigns. Ask the agency to see samples of previous email campaigns, evaluate their email marketing software and check it has tracking and performance reporting.
Banner Advertising – Banner advertising is a great way to draw traffic to your website. A successful banner advertisement needs to be clear in its communication, connect with your customer, create some kind of value proposition for them and deliver on its promise. Review the agency’s previous banner advertisements and evaluate their effectiveness in drawing your attention. Does it make you want to click on it to see more?
Social Networking – The social networking phenomenon has created a whole new generation of content publishers. Creating engaging content that is “blog worthy” is key to gaining market share and increasing profits. Check the agency’s work to see what experience they have in integrating social networking into previous online marketing campaigns. Have they created any significant viral media such as a YouTube video, online games or applications? Have they experience mobilising large amounts of traffic to a website?
Web Hosting – If the agency is providing web hosting you’ll want to make sure it’s fast and reliable. Check that they have an excellent “up-time” record and that their server can cope with large amounts of traffic.

Sizing up an Online Marketing Agency

Once you have decided to work with a online marketing agency, you need to choose one that is appropriate for your business. This is an important decision, as choosing the right or wrong partner can have a significant effect on your business. The following checklist should help you make this decision:

Are they a personal recommendation? Services recommended by friends and colleagues are worth considering, as word-of-mouth recommendations are a valuable source of information about a company. It’s also worth looking at recommendations in online forums, along with positive and negative comments about an agency.
What do others say about the company? Online sentiment can help you evaluate prospective partners. Popular services generate a lot of online comment – as do those that have a negative reputation.
Do they have references? It’s important to hear about an agency from its customers. Customer references are important, especially if an agency is happy for you to contact customers directly. It’s also a good idea to see if the agency is part of any professional bodies.
Requirements and specialties - An independent online agency tends to have more specialisation and do more things in house. An advertising agencies offshoot tends to have ok people although you won’t get the raw experience that a specialist will give. The offshoot generally is strong in banner advertising and flash production although weak in web development, CMS and search engine marketing.
Companies fit together – Look at the culture of the agency, look at its staff and where it is trying to go. Does that work with what you are trying to achieve. If you need to conquer new territory in your company perhaps a more adventurous agency would be good. If you want to do very vanilla web development and nothing more, perhaps choose a more vanilla agency.
Pricing – Do not to make your decision based solely on price, rather, try making an informed decision on which agency can deliver the results you’re looking for with a budget that is comfortable for you. A successful online marketing campaign will deliver value on its investment and more. As with any purchase if it’s too cheap odds are it’s probably no good, too expensive and you may not be getting value for your dollar. Once you decide on an online marketing agency make sure that you are getting value for what you are paying. Ask your agency to report on Cost Per Lead, ROI, Number of Sales, Average Sales Value, or any other metrics that you can measure against your investment. You might actually learn that you want to invest even more into a campaign that is exceeding your goals.
Flexibility – A reputable online marketing company will never sell you a set “package”. Make sure when you choose an agency that are going to build their strategy around your business and goals. Flexibility to change your strategy and adjust your campaign is important. A good agency will study user analytics and make recommendations based on their findings.
Creativity – Creativity is one of the cornerstones of a successful online marketing agency – creativity in design, development and strategy. Creative design and user experiences are what will distinguish your brand from your competition. The ability to think of new and creative ways to reach and market your products will open up new possibilities and take your brand to the next level. A creative agency will bring new ideas to the table, check the agency is recognised for creativity whether through awards, publications or speaking engagements.
Transparency – The best agencies are 100% transparent. You should be able to ask questions and get straight answers – information on traffic generation, search results, client works and casestudies.
Experience – Check how long the agency has been in business; how many clients they have, the size of their cleints’ companies and what industries they’ve worked in. You may want to talk with their clients and find out how happy they are with their services.
Service – If you go with a package deal you won’t get the same level of service as a professional online marketing agency. Try to find an agency that’s small enough to provide an intimate level of service and large enough that they’re not overrun and understaffed.

Working with an Online Marketing Agency

Ask around before engaging an agency, and draw up a shortlist. Get references from previous customers, to help understand how a prospective partner works. A good consultancy should want to know as much about you as you do about them. Engaging an online marketing agency is like working with any other business service provider, whether it is IT consultants or accountants. You need to ensure that they are right for your business. Make sure that any contract you sign with an agency includes enforceable service level agreements. Engaging an online marketing agency can be expensive, so make sure that your chosen partner will deliver. You should expect any relationship to be long term, as search engine rankings can change dramatically – either due to the actions of your competitors, or with changes in how search engines index pages. Make sure that you communicate regularly, and that your online marketing partner will provide you with regular and auditable reports.

If you would like to review Toshiedo when considering the appointment of your online marketing agency please call 02 9660 5553 or complete our contact form to arrange an appointment.

3 Responses to “ Choosing an Online Marketing Agency ”

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