Background – Why Use a Digital Marketing Agency?
Well, the short answer is: You don’t have too but it certainly helps. As in all aspects of business, there are going to be some things you are good at and others not so much. You might be a great sales person but you don’t have time for the books. Likewise, you may be excellent at rooting out the customer technical issues but you can’t land a sale from a hesitate buyer. The mistake that many business owners make is simply that they use facebook (or any social media platform), therefore they feel they can advertise with it. You likely can’t. Lets explore the role and stress free like a digital marketing agency could bring you.
Business & Pleasure
It has become a rare thing to be someone without at least one social media account and the average person checks facebook over 7 times per day. It has almost replaced email for some users and with facebook’s new tool for offices, its only a matter of time before it is throughly ingrained in day to day life. That said, using facebook and advertising on facebook are two different things. Sure, you can use the basic settings and promote your page, but are you really targeting the right customers? Have you reached your audience? An Ad is throughly ineffective if it reaches 45,000 people but you never seen a tangible output e.g. A sale. Hence, I do implore to every business: Just because you use facebook, doesn’t mean you know how to advertise with facebook. And here is where your digital marketing agency steps in!
Digital Marketing Agency – How & Why
A digital marketing agency will step in to fill the gap you may experience in your digital needs. For example, you may need your website updated each month with a new menu, or perhaps someone to take the reins on your online marketing. An agency should be a go to for all of these things and more as they are all tightly connected. Lets consider some of the top requirements you should look for in a digital marketing agency:
A History – You don’t need to dig too deep but check your marketing agency has been around for a while. Digital marketing has been a hot topic for many years and many people, often on a whim, decide to launch their own agency. Thats not to say they will be a bad agency, but you are trusting your brand, business and future to someone so make sure they have a track record that matches your expectations.
One Stop Shop – An agency should not direct you to other business for every second request you make of them. Thats not to say they will outsource themselves, but if you need a website touch up or edit made, it should be possible for them to do it or facilitate it for you. A word of caution on this point however its that of creative design or logos, these are generally completed by stand alone agencies and whilst most digital marketing agencies can do this for you, it is an aspect I would suggest you keep separate.
Example
Dave’s Doughnuts has recently opened on Mulberry St and James St in downtown Hamilton, Ontario. They decided to enlist the help of a digital marketing agency as they found although they had a great design for the storefront, print and logo medias they didn’t really understand their digital role and domain. The agency took their media and created a perfect website for them, updating the website each month for their various donut specials and running a locally based online campaign for advertising. Finally, they assisted getting their instagram and snapchat set up, so customers could see in real time what the bakery was doing and how they could stop by to enjoy a slice of the action.