How to (tips) choose the Best Marketing Agency in the UK
Business owners looking to deploy an effective Digital Marketing Strategy for the first time can be overwhelmed by the spectrum of choices in its various aspects. This can be quite distracting from running their business routines. The very idea of starting an in-house Digital Marketing division can be forbidding in terms of planning and budget allocation.
This makes the search for a suitable external Digital Marketing Agency In London a priority consideration. But with no former exposure to the experience what are the salient hallmarks of an agency that will serve their specific purpose.
Selecting the appropriate agency is the linchpin of a successful digital marketing plan. The wrong decision will have serious consequences like financial loss and negative publicity for your brand. The fact that so called ‘expert digital marketing strategists’ are sprouting like mushrooms, is further complicating the issue of selecting a good one.
If you are a start-up firm, definitely yes. Regardless of the nature of your business, you need to establish a customer base. This requires establishing your presence in the market. Conventional methods of advertising cost just as much as digital advertising, (if not more) and cannot yield exposure like the world wide web.
If the nature of your business requires high volume customer generation on an immediate basis, you certainly need the strategies of digital marketing. For instance, if you depend on providing specialist services you need B2C initiatives that only a digital marketing plan will facilitate on a wide scale.
Even products need to be recognized as a brand. Gone are the days when just the name Mercedes Benz implied exclusive quality and esteem above all other competition. Chinese copy-cat companies reproduce your product sometimes even before you the inventor brings it to market. Stikbox for example.
So if you need to quickly establish your brand, you have to be conversant with every aspect of Digital Marketing. It is definitely better to appoint an external agency rather than try to master such a complex matter in a hurry.
How Is A Digital Marketing Agency Important?
This is because a Digital Marketing Strategy has several component avenues through which a customer is shepherded onto a website.
Six different avenues or ‘media channels’
- Search marketing
- Social media marketing In UK
- Digital Advertising
- Digital PR
- Digital Partnerships
- PPC In UK
- Digital messaging
have to transmit three different forms of media management for a comprehensive digital marketing strategy:
- Paid media
- Owned media
- Earned media
If a business owner chooses to manage his own strategy he needs to achieve a high level of proficiency in each of these fields. The allocation of time and resources to such an endeavour will leave him in no condition to run his business.
If a digitally competent agency draws up an effective marketing plan for your specific business, you will quickly reap in the benefits that would have taken much longer to achieve, if at all.
This indicates the importance an external Digital Marketing Agency handling the online marketing for you!
Defining a Purpose for YOUR Digital Marketing Campaign
Once you are certain that you do need a Digital Marketing Campaign, you probably already have an idea what you would like to accomplish with it. You may even have calculated a budget layout in approximate terms. This incipient idea needs to be fleshed out and calibrated to incorporate the goals of your business in the parlance of digital marketing.
This means that for the success of your campaign strategy you need successful e-commerce sales, maximum conversion sales and audience engagement with the brand.
This in turn establishes the following key objectives:
- Conversion / Sales
- Product Consideration
- Online Awareness
- Customer Retention
The process of defining a purpose for your Digital Strategy begins with understanding your business needs in the realm of competitor-exploitation of this asset, boosting your own revenue, branding your product or service and building an impressive clientele for your credibility.
This will define your needs in terms of a striking website, efficient search engine optimization (SEO), advertising, social media and graphic design. You will be well-informed and articulate in technical terms while engaging with prospective Digital marketing Agencies.
Having understood and established your company’s digital needs, the next stage is to identify the most appropriate Digital Marketing Agency in the UK, and how it will conform itself to your benefit.
What are the Hallmarks of a High Quality Digital Marketing Agency in the UK?
The initial step is to study its packages. Do their packages conform with your prescribed and stated business objectives. No matter how highly they come recommended, if they do not conform to this first criterion, tick them off your list of options.
You have to also consider if their fees suit to your allocations in the budget, and if those fees will be justified by the results of their campaign. You should have a practical approach to your budget lay-out. The marketing agent should be reasonable in billing you.
Attributes of a Successful Digital Marketing Agency
- An impressive clientele list of London’s best performing firms
- Reputed digital marketing engineers
- Social proof – high popularity ranking among peers and past clients in London
- Crowd favourite
- Word of mouth recommendations
Tips to Select an Appropriate Agency
A Repertoire of Successful Work and/or A Stellar Clientele
The ground work to be laid in the process of selection calls for a thorough investigative evaluation of their claims and background information. One yardstick to go use, is to measure them by their own standards.
Are they promising your product or service top rank in the category with their SEO? Then check their rank as an SEO Specialist in a simple Google search!
Are they promising exceptional quality in content marketing? Then check their content in blogs. Are they proficient in social media marketing, check their performance on popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter etc., Check the quality of their website for content and function.
If they cannot measure up to your expectations, drop them like a hot brick! If they cannot help themselves, how can they help you?
Look for word-of-mouth advice and recommendations regarding any agency you consider. Finding people already in contact with them or who’ve had contact with them is probably the best way to get an insight into their capability.
Use professional social media networks to get information about them. Viz. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc.
Even when you do eventually meet them, scrutinize their portfolio for the claimed achievements and verify these facts. Request their current client profiles and verify that too.
If you are on a shoestring budget, you may find offshore agents the cheapest. But very often the quality of their service is deplorable and your money and time is just wasted.
Staff of Client-Goal Specialized Team Members
This is a very significant aspect of choosing the right agency. Certain firms may have people extremely talented and skilled. But remember, Digital Market has many facets in the channel of communications and media management types. It is extremely rare to find an agency with staff proficient in all these aspects.
This is why it is important to define your own needs and establish your goals first – so that you find the right people to work with, to achieve YOUR purpose. This is expressed as KPI in the trade – Key Performance Indicators. Does the Agency understand YOUR KPIs?
For example, if your goals include creating an awesome website and a brand logo, the agency team has to have reputed content writers, website designers and graphic artists.
An agency with confidence in their own skills will publish their teams’ merits in the ‘About’ page of their website on the page displaying the expertise of their team.
Is the Candidate Agency Adept at Providing Social Proof?
Social proof is a very misunderstood concept. It has only a marginal connection to testimonials.
The Social Proof Theory was coined by psychologist Robert Cialdini in his book, “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” The theory posits that if an individual does not know what the proper behavior is for a situation, they will look to other people to guide their actions.
In other words, people will follow what the masses do. If a large group of people exhibits a specific behavior, people will believe it must be correct.
In Digital Marketing Strategy, this concept is exploited to direct consumers toward purchasing a specific product or service by emphasizing its popularity with online proof that large numbers of people have used and enjoyed it.
There are six main types of social proof:
- Customer – Existing customers affirm the product or service. This is the idea of publishing reviews or testimonials.
- Experts – Industry experts validate the claims.
- Certifications – Recognized bodies ratify your company as a reliable, knowledgeable source. (Ex: FDA approved, Twitter verified, etc.)
- Crowds – Masses of people using your product or service.
- Celebrities – Social proof from celebrity/influencer endorsements or mentions.
- Friends – Proof of a product or service provided by business associates/friends.
Core Value Alignment and Sharing Company Culture
Having short-listed your choices to only the appropriate, consider what you expect from the potential relationship. Every client has specific expectations. Engrossed in the routine operational functions of the company, the client expects his marketing partner to provide relief and distraction from the heavy load. An agency that aligns with your personality, corporate ethos and availability will rewarding to work with.
The client-agency relationship will demand that significant factors in choosing a digital marketing partner are
- can they do the job, and
- do you like working with them?
In the end, that’s all that matters.
Interview your Prospects with a Questionnaire
- Who will complete the work?
Identify the specialist team that your work is assigned to and their suitability - Typically, how long do you retain clients?
Examine how capable they are of a long term relationship -
What results can you deliver for me?
Watch for exaggerated and outlandish claims. Without an in-depth understanding of and a familiarity with your business and its product or services, no agency can guarantee top-notch BOTU (Bottom of the Funnel)results like huge customer traffic etc. -
How will results and return on investment (ROI) be measured?
Examine their metrics for this and if they understand TOFU (Top of the Funnel) metrics and if they can commit to traffic and slowly leads too. -
How will you provide value for me?
Make them explain how they can increase revenue or cut down costs. For this, do they understand LTV – (lifetime value) and client’s COCA – (Current Marketing Cost of Acquisition)
Examine RFP Responses of Short-listed Agencies
Once you have a short-list of appropriate agencies to do your Digital Marketing, issue Request-for-Proposal forms.
An RFP enables you to receive offers from various marketing service providers and select the provider that best meets your criteria, both in regards to skill and budget.
Contracted work from out-sourced agencies always risk issues such as miscommunication around the scope of the work and the compensation.
A well-crafted RFP will establish the parameters of the contract clearly so both parties mutually understand and agree to the objectives of the partnership – the scope, the time-frame and the budget.
Assign a Task and Assess the Results
Even diligent investigation of testimonials and reviews may not always, actually yield an accurate picture of their capabilities. For a hands-on, real time assessment, assign them a task and review their performance.
For instance, you could ask them to compose a content marketing post for your business. Ask them to pitch proposals with multiple ideas and effectuate the best one. Wait for the results and assess how they fare.
The final decision will hinge on a personal encounter with shortlisted agencies. Will they pass the ‘beer test’? This refers to whether you are impressed with their professional capabilities and are comfortable enough with them to take them down to the bar and have a beer with them!
