Building a business can be challenging. But it can be less challenging if you have the right support systems in place – right team members, right tools, helpful vendors, good investors, efficient processes.
Marketing is one of the most important support functions through which you let the world know what your organisation is all about. So, having the right team to help you in marketing can enable you to reach the right audience, amplify your message, build your brand and expand your customer base. Hiring and partnering with a digital marketing agency is the easiest and quickest way to succeed in marketing.
Earlier, I wrote a blog post on how businesses can prepare themselves for digital marketing partnership with an agency. Here I like to share some thoughts on the important contributions that your digital agency must make to your overall business growth.
If you are already working with an agency you can use this contribution-checklist to see if the partnership with your digital agency is working for you. If you are looking out for a new agency, you can use this in your preliminary discussions with your prospective agency to see if they are the right fit for you.
5 Key Contributions and Roles of a Digital Marketing Agency in your Business Growth
#1: Your agency must free up your calendar and to-do list
Your digital marketing agency should free up your calendar from digital marketing related tasks, thereby allowing you to focus more on your business operations, HR, finance, partnerships and other non digital marketing related functions, while they take care of the digital marketing function. There is no point in working with a marketing agency, if multiple digital marketing tasks continue to appear in your to-do-list, demanding your time and mind space. Try and look for an agency that will take full ownership of the digital marketing function, while you only supervise and guide them from a business perspective. Initially the relationship might demand more of your time, but eventually the agency should be able to take complete ownership and drive digital marketing activities.
#2: Your agency must help you stay on top of trends
Social media and digital marketing techniques evolve fast and change often. Your digital marketing agency should help you track trends and developments so that you can apply these changes to your marketing tactics on a regular basis. Check if the agency has methods and processes to keep track of emerging trends. See if they are aware of and are applying latest techniques with their current projects. Review their website and blog posts to see how they approach marketing challenges and scrutinise their knowledge levels.
#3: Your agency must be your trusted advisor
Whether you are launching a new product line or changing your logo or redesigning your website, as a business, you will always have marketing questions. Your digital agency must be your first go-to resource for marketing advice. You should always be able to reach out to them with question and clarifications knowing that they will watch your back and give you the best of advice. Many times I speak to our clients and give them advice which does not translate into monetary compensation or proposal. But that does not matter, I consider myself a part of our client’s marketing department the moment we start working with them. So anytime, any of our clients have question on marketing I am happy to answer. That is the culture we have built across all accounts in our agency. When you look for this culture when you work with an agency, it gives you great peace of mind knowing that you have someone who can watch your back anytime, when it comes to marketing.
#4: Your agency must help you focus
Marketing can be distracting. From strategy, process, design, video, production, media buying, posting, tracking, monitoring to measurement there are a million items that demand your attention on a regular basis. Having the right focus is key for marketing success. You cannot do everything. Your agency must be able to guide you and help you focus on the most important thing that your brand needs at different points in time.
#5: Your agency must help you envision the future
As a business, having the right vision and goal for the future is crucial. Based on data, trends and metrics, your agency may be able to help you envision future strategies for your business: products and services. For example: About 8 years ago, we helped our client implement a Live Video streaming program. They were the first organisation to in that industry to implement it in the entire nation. Initially, they did not have a large audience, but today they have one of the largest audience on the live video platform and they are now thankful that we helped them take that bold step. Similarly your agency must help you see the future and handhold you through the necessary steps.
Hope this helps you identify the right digital marketing agency for your business (or strengthen the existing relationship). Let me know your thoughts and experiences on this topic.
