As we emerge from the upheaval of the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns, now might be a good time to review your online presence and digital marketing strategy to strengthen your position in the market. You could be ready for a website redesign, a fresh social media marketing campaign, or even a complete rebrand.
We’d always recommend drawing upon the experience and expertise of a digital marketing agency to plan and implement your digital transformation for the best possible results. But how do you know which is the right agency for you? To help you decide, we’ve put together a guide on what to expect from a good digital marketing agency.
They take time to understand your target audience
No matter how good a website looks, if it’s not designed and built with your target audience in mind, it won’t perform well. In fact, the profile of your target audience drives your entire approach to digital marketing, including SEO keyword strategy, branding style, and social media platform selection. You can expect an agency to take the time to get to know your business and your target audience inside out before planning a strategy or making changes.
Everything they do is customer-focused
The aim of a digital marketing strategy is to best serve your customers by being in the right place at the right time. Your website should be built and optimised with your customer in mind; responsive across all devices, so customers can scroll from their phones while they’re on the go. As a company, you need to be active on whichever social media platforms your customer base uses most. The right agency will keep your target audience at the forefront of every decision.
They balance your needs with the needs of your target audience
A good digital marketing agency will gently challenge your ideas if they think there might be a better way of doing things. Often, a client has an idea of what they want, but it might not be quite right for the target audience in practice. An agency should be comfortable suggesting alternatives to find a solution that you’re happy with that will also get the results you want.
They understand and adhere to data protection laws
Since the UK left the EU, marketing to UK residents is subject to UK data protection laws instead of GDPR. In reality, the two are very similar, and it’s a good idea to be compliant with both. The Independent Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has a great roundup of UK data protection regulations after Brexit here.
If you have an audience in Europe, you’ll be subject to GDPR laws. GDPR is a pretty meaty subject – it’s known as the world’s most strict data protection law. Your agency should know how to make all aspects of your strategy compliant, but it’s worth familiarising yourself with the basics, too. If you want to read more, you can find the official regulations here and a more palatable summary here.
An agency must fully understand the laws and regulations of your country and any countries in which your customers reside. It must also apply these rules to every part of your marketing strategy. You can incur a hefty fine for breach of regulations, so it’s ok to check how an agency plans to ensure compliance across channels.
They’re ambitious and creative
The right digital marketing agency will take what you already have and provide options in where they can help you improve. A website redesign for example isn’t simply about making the same website look different. It’s about assessing what works, what can be improved, and how to create a user-friendly site that achieves your end goal. An agency should take time to fully understand the current functionality of your site and ensure they maintain that functionality through to the redesign. If they show signs of regression during a redesign (a loss of functionality that you are used to), they don’t fully understand you, your industry or your target audience’s requirements.
They have user tracking at the forefront of development
A good digital marketing agency will carry out user tracking to determine how people are finding your site, how long they stay, and which pages they visit while they’re there. It’s also important to know the value of each visitor. Are they making a purchase? Booking a service? Making an enquiry? Once your agency understands user behaviour, they can design accordingly to drive visitors to take the desired action. Thorough tracking also allows an agency to monitor performance against KPIs and report back to you regularly to demonstrate a return on investment.
Final thoughts
Over the course of the pandemic, we’ve seen changes to consumer habits, an accelerated shift to online shopping, and increased reliance on digital communications due to remote working. Businesses have had to adapt quickly to remain viable. As we continue through 2021, many companies will be looking to strengthen their position in the market by investing in a digital marketing agency to support their growth.
If you’d like to find out how we can help you build and implement a complete digital marketing strategy, including website redesign, organic and paid social media marketing, SEO, and branding, get in touch.
