A wise person who knows their business once said: "Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department." Those are words to live by if you want to keep up with your competitors online.
Since the world of digital marketing is constantly changing, upgrading, and evolving, it's important to collaborate and conspire with industry professionals who have their finger on the pulse and know how to guide you through the labyrinth of online marketing. Everyone wants to put together a well-oiled digital marketing machine, but sometimes that's not possible to do in-house due to lack or training, smaller budgets or personnel constraints.
That's when outsourcing to an external marketing partner can become a key factor in converting. These days, more than a third of modern companies will hire digital marketing professionals or agencies to boost their marketing plan, so why not at least keep it as a weapon in your arsenal?
In almost every large market, there are many excellent and highly-touted digital marketers and agencies to fill in the holes, but the daunting part can be choosing the right one for your business. It's often not easy to identify which marketing partner best fits your needs, so we've come up with a few pointers that can help you hire the right collaborators to get you and your business to the next level, quickly and effectively in the way only a digital marketing professional can.
1. Ask your business contact for referrals
It's guaranteed that one of your business connections or social connections has professionally used or connected with a digital marketing professional. It's probably the best place to get trusted advice about an agency or company's performance. As a bonus, you might even get to check out an example of the work they've done for the person referring them. Using your current network is a smart and free way to safely get your feet wet and see what's out there. Don't forget to reward referrals either so they keep coming in future.
2. Do a background check to make sure they are legit
Every established company has previous clients and samples of work completed for those clients available for perusal. See what functionalities and attributes those sites and businesses have that can match yours. Checking out their posts, presence on social media and their offices is a pretty good way to see just what kind of player they are in the digital marketing realm. Don't get lost all the lingo, and make sure their staff has the right qualifications to complete the job. Does their company motto fit the culture of yours? Are they positive and available? If you're taking on someone or an agency for a longer term, make sure they always get back to you on time, with the right answers.
3. Test the professionals with a "scenario-based problem" to see if they get it
While interviewing the professionals, it's a good idea to ask them a complex, scenario-based question during the vetting phase. If they can solve a problem or complete a puzzle, it will give you the chance to analyze their work ethic and expertise. Come up with a relevant question that involves your business, and then take notice about things like how they approach a complex issue, if they get confused or frustrated easily, how their work processes flow and if they get back to you with an answer in a reasonable time.
4. Ask yourself: Are they passionate about marketing?
When you talk to them about your potential project, are they excited or do they keep bringing up the challenges and problems they'll encounter on the way? Regardless of the size of the agency or the background and education of their team members, if they are not passionate and excited it’s unlikely that they’ll be capable of getting you the top results you need for your company. Passion drives talent and performance. Find out which project the agency is most proud of and why, and how they got through tougher situations when problems arose.
5. Get your employees input before you decide
Your team will have to cooperate and work with the staff from the agency or with the digital marketing professional themselves, so their input is key, since your company culture is the key to your success. Your new hires need to get along well with others on the team; otherwise it will affect the entire team’s work and the whole project negatively. Adding in digital marketing pros to the team can sometimes mean a lot of capital spent and is considered a 'big hire', so get your employees in on the selection process so everyone will be on the same page and know what to expect of one another. Chemistry here is paramount.
Now that you have these tips and insight in your pocket, you can start to confidently incorporate digital marketing professionals and tactics into your projects. Download our "Ultimate Guide to Hiring an Inbound Agency" ebook for the latest info about hiring marketing partners or contact us today to find out how to get better results from your marketing.
