By Alex Peters •

Choosing The Right Digital Agency For Your Business

It’s the start of 2014 and a lot of businesses are looking to kickstart their new year with a bang. Whether it’s bringing offline products or services online for the first time, increasing sales, or another objective, digital marketing and the world of the digital agency can be confusing.

As a Leeds-based digital agency, Parallax is in the heart of the creative quarter of the city. We’ve recently looked at the digital sector in Leeds and how it has evolved, taking over the part of the city once used by the textiles industry.

We’ve put together a quick guide on choosing the right digital agency for your business.

Why use a digital marketing agency?

Working with a digital agency can boost online rankings, increasing exposure to customers. Looking good online is becoming increasingly important in a world where everything is becoming digital. From shopping for everything from presents to groceries, to banking, and social media, the high street is slowly but surely moving away from the physical to the digital space. Whether you are a small company looking to make it big in the world of digital or a larger firm looking to create a buzz around your brand, a digital marketing agency has the specialist skills that can take your company to the next level.

Choosing a digital agency can be a daunting prospect. With so many to choose from, all offering a range of services which to the untrained ear can sound hugely complex and expensive, it’s important to make sure that you do some research before selecting the one that will work best with your company.

If you are considering choosing a digital marketing agency to work with you on your upcoming campaigns, here are some steps to take to make sure that you and your new digital team are getting the most out of what digital marketing has to offer.

Steps to Selecting your Digital Agency

What do you need?

First of all, you need to define what it is that you want from your digital marketing strategy. You may want to design and run your website in-house, with an external company looking after your SEO and content marketing strategy, or outsource all of your digital marketing work to an external agency. You may want to outsource your blog and social media campaigns to the agency. Having clearly defined objectives and a route map to achieving your goals will help you decide which agencies you should be contacting.

Recommendations and research

Personal recommendations are a great way to be sure that the digital agency that you choose are up to the task at hand. Look at other companies in your sector and find out who is behind the ones who have an impressive online presence. Ask ex-colleagues who have moved to other firms who does their digital marketing to get a clear idea of who to use and who to avoid.

Other research tools include asking peers on Linkedin, specifying what you want from an agency. You can Google ‘digital marketing agencies’ and your local area which will show you who the movers and shakers are close to you.

Having a look at a digital marketing agency’s previous clients and portfolio to get a feel for the way they work and the style that they have. You shouldn’t just rely on the information on the website, however. Ask them about the outcomes and deliverables that they provide to their clients to see if they make a difference to their client’s business. Digital marketing firms often specialise in sectors, so look through their client list to see if they have already worked with clients in your industry. If they have and they have done a good job for them, you can be confident that they will do the same for you.

Making your final decision

Sending out an invitation to tender to a number of agencies and gaging the response can also help you to create a shortlist of possible agencies to work with. Once you have your shortlist, arrange sit down meetings with the digital marketing agency to get a feel for whether you can work with them or not.

Communication is key to your ongoing relationship with a digital marketing firm. They should allocate you a particular member of the team who will oversee your digital marketing strategy on a day-to-day basis. This account handler should keep you up to date on any developments that happen, analytics of the campaigns progress and measurable insights on how to move forward.

Being able to meet for a face-to-face chat once in a while is a good idea when working with any digital agency. Any discussions can be a lot more productive if you talk about your objectives or resolve any issues in person. Project management tools such as Basecamp are an excellent way to deal with communication on a regular basis. Here a client and agency can ask questions, leave feedback and discuss the project in depth avoiding email chains.

It’s always going to be a difficult decision when choosing a digital agency in Leeds or anywhere else in the country. Choosing one that fits with your company goals and requirements takes time and research. You should endeavour to choose a friendly agency that are experts in their field, working within your industry who deliver good results for their current clients.

If you’re considering using a digital marketing agency and want to discuss your digital marketing options, get in touch with us here.

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