It goes without saying that in the world of digital marketing, there are so-so digital marketing agencies, there are good digital marketing agencies, and there are great digital marketing agencies. It should also go without saying that when it comes to partnering with a digital marketing agency to help develop your business brand and grow your customer base, you are going to want to choose the very best digital marketing agency you can find.
So what exactly determines which digital marketing agencies are considered great and which are considered merely average or even lacking? There are several important factors that help Dexterous Media Group and other top digital marketing agencies rise above the competition, and stand out in the digital marketing industry.
In this article, we will take the time to explore the top factors that take a digital marketing agency from merely so-so, or good, all the way up to great.
No digital marketing agency can be truly great without a great team. A great digital marketing agency will have put effort into locating, acquiring, and maintaining the very best team that the digital marketing industry has to offer.
We will dig a bit deeper into the specific factors that go into making a great digital marketing team, but for this section, let's take a look at the stand-out signs that provide the best indicators that a digital marketing agency has taken the time to develop a great team.
A digital marketing agency with a solid team of digital marketing experts will see their high-quality team members as business assets, and they will be likely to showcase the accomplishments and talents of their team on either an individual or collective basis. Look for a digital marketing agency whose website introduces you to the team as a whole, or each individual team member, and showcases their talents, credentials, and accomplishments.
Larger digital marketing agencies may have too many team members to list. However, even the largest firms should feature some individual team members so that clients are able to see the human faces behind the agency. Oftentimes, a large digital marketing agency may feature the heads of each department or the agency owners and top executives.
Digital marketing is a multifaceted task incorporating a broad range of marketing tasks into every digital marketing campaign. A great digital marketing agency will have a multi-disciplined team of professionals that have the diverse set of skills and experience needed to excel at all of the different tasks necessary to execute a successful digital marketing campaign.
While it is unrealistic to expect that every member of the digital marketing team will be an expert in every single aspect of digital marketing, as we will discuss further in the next section, however, a great digital marketing agency will have a diverse team that has the collective knowledge and experience needed to perform all of the different digital marketing tasks from Search engine optimization (SEO) to website design and everything in between.
By cultivating and retaining a high-quality team of digital marketing professionals with a broad range of industry experience, a great digital marketing agency will have a team with a solid depth of understanding that allows them to work collaboratively to accomplish each digital marketing task with the knowledge of how each of the individual parts works within the overall digital marketing effort.
As we discussed briefly in the preceding sections, a great digital marketing agency should have an experienced, multi-disciplined team of digital marketing professionals with the diverse range of skill sets needed to execute a solid digital marketing campaign. That being said, it is only natural that each individual team member will have areas where they excel more than others.
It is unreasonable to expect every individual team member to have an expert level knowledge of every unique tool and task involved in digital marketing efforts. However, it is important that a great digital marketing agency have at least one team member for each digital marketing task who does possess an expert level knowledge and skill set for that particular task.
For example, the SEO portion of a digital marketing campaign should be organized and overseen by at least one team member who is an expert in the performance of SEO techniques and the use of the top SEO tools. That team member, or team members, can then delegate tasks to other team members from other disciplines. The same theory should apply to website design, social media marketing, and content creation digital marketing tasks.
The business or brand website, as well as any digital marketing materials for advertising or social media marketing campaigns, are the face of the company and often play an oversized role in the formation of a potential customer's first impression of the business as a whole.
A great digital marketing agency must have an experienced team of designers who are able to create the aesthetically pleasing and easy to use websites and digital marketing materials needed to stand out in a crowded field of competitors where every banner ad and web link is crying out for the attention of the same group of internet users.
We will dive deeper into the importance of solid website design in the next section, but for this segment, it is important to look at the digital marketing agency's design capabilities as a whole. A digital marketing agency design team will need to craft attention grabbing and engaging graphics for not only the business or brand website but also for a variety of digital marketing materials, including banner ads, social media posts, account profiles, blog posts, and multimedia content.
Each individual aspect of these digital marketing materials must blend cohesively with the other elements in the digital marketing campaign, and with the design of the company website, in order to create a unified visual representation of the business or brand that is instantly recognizable to the consumer.
As we touched on in the previous section, the company website is the face and often the storefront of the business or brand. In fact, for many modern businesses and brands, the company website may be the primary point of contact where both potential and existing customers come to interact and conduct business with the company.
For this reason, a great digital marketing agency absolutely must have an expert website development team. Website development extends far beyond the creation of an aesthetically pleasing, engaging, and cohesive website design. The website development team is also responsible for creating, monitoring, and maintaining all of the functional aspects of the company website to ensure a high-quality user experience for every website visitor.
The website development team will ensure that the company website is easy to navigate and that visitors to the website are able to easily find the information, products, or services that they are seeking. The team will also be responsible for ensuring that images, videos, graphics, and interactive content are loading correctly on every page of the website and that the website as a whole load quickly and performs well regardless of whether the potential or existing customer is visiting the website from their home computer, laptop, tablet, or a mobile phone. Additionally, the website development team must ensure that all important functions like customer contact request forms, order placement, appointment scheduling, and payment processing features are all functioning properly.
The overall functionality and appearance of the business or brand website play a significant role in helping to create a positive impression of the company in the eyes of visitors to the website, as well as determining how the website is viewed and ranked by the search engine ranking algorithms. In order to feature prominently on the front page of the search results presented to internet archers, a business or brand must have a high-quality website that functions well across all devices. A great digital marketing agency must have an expert website development team to produce a high-performing website for your business or brand.
Of equal importance to the skill and experience of the website development team is the skill and experience of the SEO team. SEO is the backbone and the foundation upon which most digital marketing campaigns are built. After all, what use are eye-popping graphics, a stunning website, or high-quality content pieces if they are never seen by the consumer?
SEO, or search engine optimization, refers to the discovery, analysis, and incorporation of the keywords most likely to be used by internet users searching for information on topics related to the company's industry.
Through careful keyword research and analysis, the SEO specialist is able to organically incorporate the most commonly searched keywords and phrases throughout the website and digital marketing materials so that the search engine ranking algorithms used by the top search engines will recognize the business, brand, or website as a high-quality source of information on the given subject, and feature the business, or brand, on the first page of search results shown to the web user when they search for more information on the topic.
A great digital marketing agency will cultivate and retain a team of SEO experts who understand the importance of proper use of keywords and phrases, as well as the many other SEO techniques and tools needed to stand out as a high-quality source of information in the view of the top search engine ranking algorithms.
You may have already heard the oft repeated phrase, "content is king." This is more than just a pithy slogan; the truth is that today's consumer expects the businesses and brands that they patronize to provide a wide array of high-quality, information-packed, and entertaining content.
A great digital marketing agency will have a solid content creation strategy that involves the curation, or creation of a variety of informative, entertaining, and high-value content that engages the viewer, provides useful and actionable information, and encourages the viewer to follow up with the business, or brand to learn more about the subject, and ideally to also share the content with others.
A great digital marketing agency will have strong content curation or creation strategy that includes the creation of written content, from informative blog posts to data-packed articles, to social media posts and comments. The content strategy will also need to produce entertaining, engaging, and shareable multimedia content that may include videos, podcasts, tutorials, infographics, and other types of visual, audible, or interactive content.
A great digital marketing agency knows that one of the best ways to send a digital marketing campaign soaring is to create a highly engaging piece of content that delights viewers, encouraging them to share the content with their network of friends, relatives, and internet acquaintances, introducing the business, or brand to a massive audience of potential customers.
In addition to a solid content creation strategy, a great digital marketing agency will have a strong social media marketing strategy as well. Social media marketing and content curation or creation often work synergistically to help spread the business or brand name to a wide and diverse audience of internet users and potential customers.
A strong social media marketing campaign will need to have an in-depth understanding of consumer and market research techniques in order to accurately identify a business's or brand's target audience. The social media marketing team will need to have a strong knowledge of all of the various social media platforms as well in order to know which social media platforms cater to which specific audience demographics and what types of content perform well on each social media platform. The social media marketing team will be responsible for developing brand-focused social media accounts on each platform that match the style, and formatting requirements of each particular social media site, while presenting the business or brand in the best light possible to the social media audience.
A great digital marketing agency will have a solid social media strategy that presents a unified, cohesive brand image across a variety of different social media platforms.
A great digital marketing agency will excel at brand development in order to present a unified and instantly recognizable image of your company across the entire spectrum of digital marketing campaign materials.
There is quite a bit of expertise and effort that goes into the successful development and marketing of a business brand. Think of iconic brands such as Twitter, Facebook, Nike, or Coca-Cola. Each of these brands is instantly recognizable, from their well-known logos to the unique colors and designs used in their advertising materials and websites. The ability to instantly connect a business to an image, logo, color, or design and have that connection be recognizable to millions of consumers across the globe is the direct result of solid brand development.
A great digital marketing agency will have a team of brand development specialists who excel at all aspects of brand development. In order to create a strong brand, the digital marketing agency will first conduct extensive consumer, competitor, and market research to gain an in-depth understanding of the business products or services, where the business fits into the broader industry as a whole, and which consumers are most likely to benefit from the products or services provided by the business.
After gaining a solid understanding of the industry, the business, and its most likely consumer base, the digital marketing agency will use this information to craft what we at Dexterous Media Group refer to as business personas. Each business persona will incorporate common, recognizable aspects of the brand image but will be adapted to fit the style and communication preferences of each unique segment of the target audience.
The key to successful brand development is the construction and maintenance of a strong, identifiable brand image that is able to represent the brand in a positive way across a variety of different platforms while also creating a unique brand or business persona that speaks directly to each unique segment of the target audience in a language and format that resonates with them.
The factors that we have discussed in this article are just a few of the many elements that go into choosing the right digital marketing agency for your business or brand marketing needs. Ultimately, the best digital marketing agency will be the one that fits your small business budget and provides all of the needed digital marketing services required to help you grow your company or brand audience and propel your business forward. Reach out to our team of digital marketing professionals today to learn more about the many ways that Dexterous Media Group can help your company reach its digital marketing goals. We can't wait to meet you and show you how we can help you grow your business!
