The surge of digital media has convinced most business owners of the importance of digital marketing. The power of digital marketing is such that there are numerous agencies cropping up every day claiming to be experts. Such a digital marketing agency in India may have the knowledge but might not have the expertise or the experience that you need. Before you finalise an agency, you need to do a few other checks on the agencies and you have to be sure that you are ready to venture into digital marketing.
Here are a few factors that you need to consider before finalising a digital marketing agency.
Know Your Needs and Expectations
You must be clear about the issues you want to address and the goals you want to achieve through your marketing plan. If you yourself are not certain about these, you will not be able to communicate the same to the agencies. In such a scenario, even the best of agencies will fail to achieve the expected end results. If you are certain about your aims, you can start your hunt for a digital marketing company that can get you there with the right plans.
Be Prepared with Your ROI Expectations
You must have a clear idea of what you are willing to spend and what returns you expect on that investment. To put it in another way, what percentage of your revenue are you prepared to reinvest in your marketing efforts? If the agency providing the digital marketing services in India is also aware of this figure, they would be able to come with a realistically feasible plan for you.
Established Company or an Independent Specialist?
Who would you rather go with? While the agency has a lot of points in its favour, the freelancer specialist option also comes with its benefits. Agencies have greater resources to be able to deliver while managing the budgets and timelines for the client. A freelancer, on the other hand, can devote his time to you as a client and get you the benefit of all his skills. He would rely on a lot of your human resources to deliver the result, but this result could be spectacular owing to your company’s continuous involvement in the same. You could consider having multiple freelancers in your team.
Shortlist the Possibilities
Whatever you decide to go with, you will need to list down the possible candidates for the job and trim the list depending on the availability of the desired features. You can prepare the list through referrals from your business circles and of course, Google. Use the following steps to trim your list till you are down to seven or so.
- For all the agencies on your list, study their digital profiles and remove the ones that are not able to manage their own marketing well.
- The next step for shortlisting is to analyse their work through their case studies and evaluate them on the basis of how much of their work fits in with your requirements.
- Evaluate their expertise in your field. It may be a good idea if they understand the market scenario, but even if they don’t, they could bring in a fresh stream of ideas.
Contact the Possible Candidates
Once you have the shortlist, it is time to put them through some more tests. Get in touch with them by calling them for a meeting. If they respond in a reasonable time span, they continue to be on your list. You would not want to work with an unresponsive agency anyway.
Before you meet the responsive ones, talk to them over the phone and gauge their capabilities and suitability for your needs. You can give them a case study of your own to evaluate the same. You need someone who talks about your business and not goes on about theirs – this is another useful parameter.
Meet Them at Their Office
As there is no guarantee that you will get the real picture if you meet them in your office or on neutral ground, it is best to see them where they actually work. It gives you an idea about their potential and their dedication. You would get to meet the real faces behind the scenes and the vibe of the place tells a lot about their work culture. You can also ask to meet the team that would be dedicated for your project and understand their profile.
And last but not least it is important to understand what is it that they can offer you that your team can’t handle. What is their USP and how can it be of use to you? Is there any way you can save on cost without compromising on quality? A digital marketing agency in India can suggest the way forward with these and still be able to generate the best results through the campaign. Profit, after all, is the key driving factor behind hiring their services.
