How to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency

Just last week a client asked if his manufacturing company engaged the right digital marketing agency. It’s a question I’m often asked.

Your business has different goals, strengths, customers, and resources than every other company, even ones in your industry. Hiring the same agency your board member or friend did could be a mistake as your business’ needs are likely different.

Digital marketing agencies offer a menu of services including digital advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, social media, email marketing, website development, media buying, and analytics.

Here are tips to hiring the right digital marketing agency for your business:

Tip 1: Pick your metrics.
Why are you hiring a digital marketing agency? Whether you’re launching a new product, targeting a new audience, growing your core business, or trying to retain existing customers, identify which results you’re looking to drive, then pick the metrics that you need to manage.

The digital world is full of metrics:

Website metrics: Bounce rates, users, sessions, conversions, and engagement
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Organic traffic, keyword, and backlinks
Domain authority ranking, which is the authority and trustworthiness of your website
Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), and cost per lead (CPL)
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), which ties it all together by calculating the average cost a business incurs to acquire a new customer

Agencies have specialties. Find an agency that’s laser focused on achieving the outcomes you need.

Tip 2: Create a list of criteria.
Geography – do you want to be able to meet with your agency partner in person or does a virtual relationship work for you?

Experience – is it important that your agency has experience working with a company in your specific industry or niche?

Size – does the size of the agency matter? Do you prefer being the smallest fish in the sea or would you prefer to be at the top of the agency’s client list in terms of revenue?

Project vs. retainer – are you looking for an agency to work with on a project basis or are you agnostic when it comes to project versus retainer billing?

Team – what personalities and work styles work best with your team?

Keep going. More “must haves” is good!

Tip 3: Develop a Scope of Work.
What exactly do you want the agency to do? It’s important to be clear upfront to avoid any unnecessary back-and-forth. If you need a website designed and built, include the approximate number of pages and functionality. If you need sales sheets, include the number you need and the pages per sheet.

Divide projects in phases. Phase I are your immediate needs. Phase II are future needs such as adding eCommerce functionality or developing an app.

Tip 4: Develop a list of potential agency partners.
Start by talking with the people in your network. Board members, colleagues, college buddies, and your leadership team are great resources to offer suggestions for agencies to include in your search. Don’t assume that if your friend likes an agency, they are the right fit for your needs. You can also do an online search to generate more potential agency partners.

Then, using your list of criteria, vet those agencies. If at least four meet your initial criteria, then call them. Call them multiple times to determine if they want the business and therefore earn the opportunity to develop a proposal for you.

Once you have your short list of candidates, share them with internal stakeholders. Explain why each agency made the cut.

Tip 5: Conduct an RFP (request for proposal).
Develop a short but thoughtful RFP with:

A situation analysis
The scope of work
The project timetable and budget
A question asking about the agency’s process and team
A request for three case studies of projects that mirror your situation and scope of work
A request for relevant references

Encourage candidates to be succinct. Bullet points beat paragraphs!

Send the RFP to at least three agencies you’ve vetted. Compare the agencies proposals. Schedule calls with the agencies to answer any ambiguous or incomplete information. Look for opportunities to connect with them to understand their work styles, responsiveness, and to see if their approach aligns with your team’s.

Ask the finalists to present their RFPs and an additional assignment you create related to your situation. Invite all internal stakeholders that are involved with your digital marketing to attend. Request to meet with the people who will work on your business, not just the business development team.

Call the references provided by the agencies. It’s also valuable to contact a few companies that appear on the agencies’ websites that were not included in their reference list. Key questions to ask the agencies include “would you hire the agency again?”, “have there been surprises regarding money or time?”, and “have the results met your expectations?”.

After the presentations, ask the agencies questions about staffing your account, deliverables, contract terms, and more.

Gain consensus among your internal team as to the agency that best meets your needs. Consider giving the “winner” a three or six month test project before hiring them via a longer term contract. I’m a huge believer in dating before getting married!

Hiring a digital marketing agency that becomes a long-term business partner is hard to do. Use these tips to increase the odds your search is successful.

Need help hiring a digital marketing agency? Let’s talk! laura @vivalabrand.com