When you get a marketing agency on board, you are hiring a plethora of professionals in the digital marketing field. 

Whether you have hired them mostly for content generation, social media management, or mailer creation and management, or even a mixture of everything, you are leaving it in their hands.

Previously, we took a look at the costs of hiring a full, in-house team vs. outsourcing it to an agency, and we thought we would expand on that a bit. We worked out that hiring an agency, especially for a new, and start-up company was much more viable than hiring a full marketing staff complement. 

And, just remember, you do absolutely need a full complement for the variety of skills to run the department. 

So, we took the next step to unpack what the agency would need from you, as the client. We chatted to an agency who have had extensive experience in dealing with clients. 

We wanted to get an idea of what they wanted clients to know, and what they wished their clients would know about digital marketing. 

Let’s have a look at what we found out. 

 

Digital Marketing is Not a Quick Fix

 

The first, and overwhelming response was that agencies wished that clients knew that marketing actually does take a while. 

Just because you have created and gotten some social posts and a mailer out, and you haven’t received any sales, doesn’t mean the agency has failed. 

We took a look in our last blog post at how long it takes to start getting some traction, and the result was around 6 months. 

Now, this may sound like a long time, and disheartening if you are wanting results now. 

But, the fact of the matter is, as with all good things in life, marketing takes time!

Think about it, if this is your first time on a digital platform, you won’t really have too many eyes on you. 

Your followers on social media need to be brought on and built up to automatically identify you as the go-to brand in your industry. 

You need to win those people over. 

Now, in many cases, brands rely on the number of followers and engagement they have. But, you will actually need real, organic followers and people who are wanting to follow you because they are genuinely interested in the products or services. 

Finding them, and coaxing enough to start converting does take time!

 

Your Content Needs to Be Continuous

 

In order to really start reaching those audiences, you need to be getting content out constantly. 

Yes,  some well-placed social posts will absolutely get the ball rolling. But, the more content you get out, the more reach you have. 

The more content, the more chance you have of someone finding you and wanting to buy from you. 

You might not also reach a customer and convince them with the first few posts. You may need a few posts for them to start recognizing you and associating you with your products and services. 

The fact of the matter is that you actually need to build up a sense of trust and authority with your customer. So, keep that content coming. 

The more content that goes out, the more eyes will be on you. 

And remember, your agency cannot be there at all times. So, send your agency those candid images. Send videos of events or your team at work. 

If you can’t post it, let them. 

They say less is more, but in a content sense, it certainly is not. 

 

You Will Actually Need a Budget to Pay for Advertising

 

Yes, your agency is aware that you are budgeting for marketing by hiring them. 

But, the reality is that you will need to add another subsection onto that budget for the actual marketing of your posts and campaigns. 

While you are paying the agency to produce and manage content, there is more budget needed to get that content up and in front of an audience beyond your followers. 

Paid ads and sponsored content on social platforms allows the agency to target a specific audience. 

So, if you want to expand your current community (you do) and increase your organic conversion rate (again, you do) you will need to have a budget to do this. 

Essentially, your agency will have a look at what is doing really well and getting good engagement. They will then put some money behind the post on social media, or create a paid ad for Google and target specific audiences. 

Usually, you are able to have control over the budget and manage the campaign, depending on its success. 

But, when you are doing your financial planning for marketing, factor this in to make everyone’s job that much easier.

 

Digital Marketing is Constantly Evolving

 

This is something that is overlooked time and time again.

What used to work two years ago, simply might not work today. 

Take SEO, for example. The rules that Google lays out for SEO can change up to 500 times a year. 

That’s ALMOST once a day. 

Platforms and tools that worked before, might be redundant now. 

Social platforms are always changing and bringing in new elements and ways to market. 

And, the agency needs to keep up with that at all times. There is always new data to look at, new metrics to analyze and new things to consider.

For example, five years ago, the number of followers and likes on social posts was one of the top data points being considered. 

Now, because of the significant increase in bots, it is more important to keep an eye on conversions and click throughs and what happens to traffic on your site. 

So, forget about some of the more outdated aspects of digital marketing, and if your agency has found a new element to focus on, it might be more profitable and effective in the long run.

 

The Bottom Line 

 

In wrapping up, your agency is there to assist you to expand your digital footprint. If you fail, so do they. Make sure that you get the right professionals on your side and give them some leeway and time to start getting your campaigns off the ground. 

If you are looking for an agency to assist your marketing efforts, contact us at AOM.Digital today and let us help you with your digital presence.