Digital Marketing Agency Success: Getting the Most Out of Your Partnership
Diving into collaboration with a digital marketing agency can in some cases feel like you’re hopping on a rollercoaster. Whether you're a business owner or a marketing manager, collaborating with an external team, whose attention is divided among multiple clients, adds a layer of complexity. While the team you're working with might have fantastic skills, the individuals you engage with may possess quirks that don't always align with your perception of professionalism. On top of all that, you're expected to trust these unfamiliar individuals with your business’s money and growth.
This situation might leave you feeling a bit uneasy and unsure about what you're signing up for. So, naturally, you want to make sure you're getting the most bang for your buck. But with all the industry jargon, mysteries of the trade, past encounters with sketchy sales tactics, and other challenges, figuring out how to do that can be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Now, here's where we step in as a digital marketing agency that’s been around the block once or twice. We get it, and we've learned a thing or two from our clients about how to score massive success for their businesses. So, we're spilling the beans with our four tips on how to squeeze the best results out of your team of outsourced professionals.
1. Set clear marketing goals and stick to them (for a while at least)
Clearly defined goals are crucial for both parties to align on the direction they're heading. Take, for instance:
- A 30% boost in organic traffic within the next 6 months.
- A 30% increase in the number of quality leads generated over the next 12 months.
- A 10% uptick in brand-related searches within the next quarter.
Once these goals are set, your digital marketing team collaborates to strategise and implement actions to achieve them.
You’ll notice that each goal comes with a specific timeframe, and that they aren't short. Why? Because marketing, in all its forms, is a process of trial-and-error involving planning, implementation, testing, review, and adjustments to reach objectives. While there's a solid understanding of what might work, any marketing professional will admit that not every strategy pans out as expected.
If you do encounter a “marketing professional” that says otherwise and promises unbelievable results in a short time frame, then you should be questioning their knowledge and intentions. If something is too good to be true, then it usually is.
However, when you provide a dedicated and experienced marketing team with clear, time-bound goals that won’t shift for a while, the team will feel excited to start their work towards success, knowing that achievements are within reach.
2. Make resources available to achieve the goals, or adjust the goals to match your resources
In the vast landscape of marketing, there are incredibly imaginative and groundbreaking ideas. Consider the Barbie movie, a stellar example of content marketing where Mattel (the toymaker company responsible for Barbie) not only captivated audiences with a two-hour-long Barbie advertisement but even had them willingly pay for the experience. The outcome? A remarkable 16% surge in Mattel’s profits. While this might seem modest, a 16% increase on a multi-billion-dollar scale is certainly substantial.
For local businesses, however, crafting a full-length feature film may stretch the budget beyond its limits.
If the proposed ideas from your digital marketing agency seem financially out of reach, engage in an open dialogue about budget constraints. By doing so, you’ll provide them with a chance to recalibrate goals or adjust the timeline for achieving these goals to align with your available resources.
Should you be willing to adapt your goals and reconsider budgets as your business expands, your team of digital aficionados will go the extra mile to ensure you get optimal value for your investment.
3. Give credit where credit is due
Digital marketers are known for their vanity and competitiveness. Witnessing rankings soar, conversions flood in, and core KPIs improve is what keeps them motivated; however, what truly makes their day is when their client rewards them with a simple "good job" or "thank you."
On the flip side, nothing dampens their spirits more than suspicion and mistrust. Yes, the industry has its fair share of self-proclaimed "gurus" who've tainted its reputation and your team has most likely encountered these individuals, and we can guarantee that your team aren’t fans either.
However, if you're partnering with a team that consistently delivers stellar results, it's crucial to extend the credit and trust they deserve for contributing to your business growth.
So, what does this trust look like? When your digital team suggests improvements that may entail additional costs, view it not as an attempt to upsell but as a demonstration of their commitment to identifying opportunities for your business to thrive.
4. Make an effort to understand what your agency does
You might think that a marketing team’s favourite client is one that lets them do as they please without much interest or interference. However, that’s wrong.
While working on a demanding project with clients who know what they want can be frustrating. But these clients can also make some of the best clients, as long as they make an effort to understand what their marketing team actually does.
This show of interest mixed with a healthy dose of communication with your team will definitely help drive results in the right direction. Remember, at the end of the day you’re in a partnership with your marketing agency and when you work together, you achieve the best results.
So, how do you get the most out of your digital marketing agency?
The most concise way to put it is to treat your digital marketing agency like you would members of your team. Engage in open discussions about feasible and unfeasible tasks, trust their expertise in their field, recognise the successes they've achieved for you, and seek to comprehend how their recommendations will impact your business.
About ClickOn Marketing
ClickOn Marketing is led by Marcelle Ehlers who has had over 10 years of experience in digital marketing. She has also curated a diverse bunch of creatives who’ve spent years honing their individual skills. However, something that each team member possess is the will to try new things, solve problems, go the extra mile, and strive to be better at what they do every single day.
