There comes a time when most business owners realize that digital marketing is key to growing a successful company or brand online. With their time already spread thin, many need a reliable and competent digital expert to fulfill their internet marketing needs.

Internet marketing is a continually evolving field. In recent years, there’s been an increase in the number of internet marketing agencies in the digital space – which has made it more difficult to choose the right one.

Choosing the right internet marketer is a crucial step to achieving business success online (or offline). The wrong one can quickly drain your budget and tarnish your brand’s image.

So, with this in mind, here’s our guideline to hiring a trusted internet marketing agency that can help skyrocket your business in 2019.

1.   Understand your needs and determine your budget

The first – and probably the most important – step to finding the right internet marketing agency for your business is understanding your needs. It’s vital to be able to effectively describe your business needs in terms of website design and functionality, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, and advertising. The better you can communicate this to your prospective agencies, the better the conversations and results might be.

Determining what you are willing to spend is also a crucial step. Note that when it comes on to internet marketing, there’s no set price. Your total expenses will depend on your needs, and for some marketers, the amount of time required to carry out the specified tasks. A good marketer should be able to negotiate and work within any reasonable budget and set your expectations accordingly.

2.   Determine the agency’s credibility and experience

There’s quite a number of internet marketing agencies today that can appear credible and experienced to the untrained eye. For that reason, it is important to demand full transparency from potential partners to avoid wasting your time and having a bad experience.

You can ask yourself several questions when checking if the agency is credible:

• Does the agency have a decent website?
• Does the website appear high in search results? (This indicates its SEO acumen.)
• Is there an address, bio, client list, certifications, badges, or any other qualifications you deem important on the website? If not, this agency is likely not a suitable fit.
• After reading through the testimonials on the website, if any, do they seem authentic? And are there reviews on Clutch, Expertise, Yelp or any other popular review site?
• Are its social media pages managed properly and have quality content?

In addition to these questions, ask for client references, including at least one that didn’t go well. Call these references instead of sending emails, and you’ll be surprised by how much information you can obtain.

In terms of experience, ask if the agency has experience in your industry. If yes, take it a step further by asking about those engagements, specifically what went well and what was challenging. If it does not, don’t shut the door just yet. Simply ask how they plan to approach this new industry.

3.   Find out what metrics they use to measure success

Now that you’ve determined the marketing agency’s credibility and experience, you need to know how they will communicate with you and what success metrics, key performance (KPIs), and analytics they will use to justify their fees. Request a sample progress report from them and decide whether or not those KPIs will directly apply to your business.

Basically, you should already know the end goal of your website. Is it to gain more traffic to the site? To encourage more business-to-business interactions? To target a certain audience? By clearly defining your goals, you can better understand the type of internet marketer to work with.

All in all, ensure that you are familiar with the metrics they’ll be using in reporting on your campaign.

4.   Now, it’s on you

Now that know how to evaluate internet marketing agencies and shortened your list to only legitimate contenders, ask yourself what you want from this work relationship. Working with any marketer can become a bit boring, especially if you have no knowledge of the process. So, go with an agency that fits your personality and availability, and is also fun to work with.

Verdict

Finding the right internet marketer for your business is not as easy as it might seem. But all things considered, the decision is exclusively yours. So, make the best possible one by using this guide to compare the value each company brings, and the results they can obtain for your business.

Xplode Marketing is a reputable internet marketing agency with years of experience in the field, and a large portfolio of successful projects. We’ve also been highlighted as a top-rated web design firm in Florida, racking up a 5/5-star rating on Clutch.

Xplode Marketing has been recognized among the Top 5 Florida Social Media Marketing Companies in 2021 by DesignRush.

Get a free quote today, and we’ll help you take your business to the next level.