Digital marketing can be intimidating, even for the most seasoned marketing professionals. Juggling social media, PPC advertising, emails, mobile, SEO rankings, and analytics can feel like a daunting (and time-consuming) task.

Using a digital marketing agency can alleviate the stress of online marketing and allow you to get back to your business’ to-do list. The right agency will attract customers, expand your online presence, and give you peace of mind while staying within your marketing budget.

Knowing how to choose a digital marketing agency can ensure you grow your business and create solid connections with your customers, and keep you from losing out online to your more digitally-savvy competitors.

This guide will ensure the process of finding the right digital agency is stress-free and straightforward.

What makes a good digital marketing agency?

A trustworthy digital marketing agency will be professional, transparent, and openly answers all your questions.

A good digital marketing agency is easy to work with. They respond to your emails promptly, act professionally on phone calls and Zoom meetings, and are transparent about their spending and results.

Before you agree to work with an agency, you’ll want to get a good feel of how an agency is run to be sure it aligns with your company culture. Do their ideas feel generic and quickly thrown together, or are the ideas innovative and specifically tailored to your company?

Ask to speak directly with the person who will be working on your account. At larger agencies, your account may be passed down to a less experienced junior employee. Be sure they are knowledgeable about your objectives and feel fully invested in the success of your business.

Before working with an agency, you should always look them up on Better Business Bureau. The BBB is a non-profit that supports good business practices by ranking businesses on their reliability and performance. An accreditation from the BBB gives an added degree of confidence when choosing to work with a business.

A good digital marketing agency will understand your customers, improve upon your current strategy, and help set goals for success.

The right agency will understand you, your customer, and exactly what you want to achieve with your digital marketing strategy. To ensure the agency aligns well with your business, you want to ensure you’re on the same page, and that they have a clear understanding of the following:

• Your Target Customer: A smart agency will spend your marketing budget targeting your core demographic, leading to higher conversion rates and profitable MROI. They should be able to create accurate personas for your target customers.
• Your Current Digital Marketing Strategy: Your current strategy acts as a baseline to compare an agency’s results. Make a note of the areas where you’d like to see the most improvement. The agency should be able to give you specific ways they’ll be improving upon your current marketing plan.
• Your Marketing Goals: After the agency analyzes the performance of your current digital strategy, they should give you precise goals for improving it. Be sure these goals are specific, achievable, and make financial sense for your business.
• Your KPIs: You should have a clear idea of what KPIs (such as unique visitors, click-through rate, and traffic source numbers) matter to you. Be sure to communicate this to the agency, so they know exactly what measurements to focus on.

How do I choose a digital marketing agency for my company in Toronto?

The right digital marketing agency in Toronto will be knowledgeable and experienced in the areas you need help most.

You’ll first need to determine where your business needs help. Are you looking to grow your social media presence? Perhaps you want to boost SEO rankings and organic traffic or use PPC advertising to beat your competitors.

If you’ve never worked with an agency before, need help in multiple areas, or are looking to overhaul your digital marketing strategy entirely, it’s best to work with a full-service agency. They’ll offer a more holistic approach and be knowledgeable in every area of your online strategy.

Using multiple specialized agencies can be costly and time-consuming. Instead, a full-service agency can streamline the process. They’ll find the right balance between different online channels and can quickly pivot your marketing strategy as your business grows.

A digital marketing agency should fit within your marketing budget and spend your money wisely.

A digital marketing agency can save your business money by offering greater efficiency and expanding your strategy beyond your area of expertise. With many agencies on the market, sticking to a clear budget will help narrow down your search.

Before you begin contacting agencies, examine your marketing budget to determine how much you are willing to spend and what kind of MROI you are looking for.

A truly successful campaign is one that’s financially savvy for your business. You should always receive a transparent explanation of the deliverables the agency will provide, the price you’ll be paying for them, and the results you can expect.

Start by filtering out agencies offering prices that seem too good to be true. While you may save a bit of money, you likely won’t get the high-quality results and the MROI you were looking for. Spending a bit more is worth it if the agency has a proven track record of success.

They have a proven track record and can give examples of high-quality service.

Plain and simple, you should always be satisfied with the content your agency produces. It can feel like an overpriced letdown to continually be at odds with your account manager’s decisions or unhappy with the work they produce.

An easy way to avoid choosing the wrong agency is to ask for past work examples for similar clients. The agency should be knowledgeable and experienced in your specific industry. Their past work should be up to your standards and show a proven track record of success.

If you’re ready to work with an experienced, trustworthy digital marketing agency in Toronto that can deliver the results you’re looking for, give us a call!