If you’ve been with your agency awhile and it hasn’t helped achieve your marketing objectives, it might be time to take a step back. Listen to your gut if less than positive feelings bubble to the surface when you measure the outcomes.
Whether your agency partnership is decades-long, brand new, or you’re currently in the market, making sure an agency is the right fit is crucial. And more importantly, you want to make sure it’s delivering the results you’re looking for.
Global digital ad spending is expected to surpass $526 billion in 2024 (Statista, 2021). You want a partner that can navigate the overcrowded digital space to ensure your company stands out.
These five questions will help determine if your current—or future—partner is a good fit and delivering the best service.
1. Does the agency understand your organization’s business objectives?
One of the first questions an agency should ask is, “What are your business objectives?” If the agency isn’t tying its digital advertising efforts to those broader business objectives, then you’re missing out.
ddm takes a holistic look at how all of your marketing and advertising channels work together to achieve your business goals. Sure, we pay attention to things like clicks, ROI, engagement rate, and form fills, but all of that ladders up to something greater.
Because the buyer’s journey is complex and non-linear, there’s often not a direct line from advertisements to purchase. Being able to tie individual efforts and campaigns to the bigger company picture is essential.
2. Does the agency understand your target audience?
Identifying your target audience and understanding their buyer’s journey requires more than an hour Zoom call. Your audience is more than a set of demographics. They’re more than a persona spelled out on a page.
Make sure an agency is putting in the work to dive deep into your buyers’ habits and behaviors, preferred touchpoints, and journey to purchase. These elements work together to inform an effective digital advertising strategy.
3. What tools are used to reach your target audience?
The more you understand who your audience is, the better you can reach them. And that leads to the next step of determining where and how to reach them.
We use several tools and data sources to identify the size of a given audience, what channels they use, and when they use them. Information and analytics can be gleaned from sources like Google and social media platforms, but we take it a step further.
We gather insights and trends from Nielsen, eMarketer, SEMRush, and Strata. There’s a cost associated with these tools, but it allows us to make better, more informed decisions. And in the end, the value of that information far outweighs the cost of the tool.
Having tools for the sake of tools isn’t what you want from an agency. Having smart tools that lead to smarter decisions is what you should look for.
4. Is the agency nimble and open to change?
If 2020 taught us anything, it was that marketers and advertisers need to be nimble. Your agency should be able to pause, adjust, and shift campaigns when the market demands it.
An agency should pay attention to data daily and make recommendations based on that data. If an ad is performing poorly, don’t just leave it. Improve it to maximize your budget.
A set-it-and-forget-it attitude isn’t effective in the long run. You want a partner that is open to changing the approach, even if it means setting its creative or content direction aside.
5. What kind of reporting does the agency provide?
Don’t settle for a monthly spreadsheet of numbers and charts. Any digital advertising agency can produce metrics; you want a partner that goes beyond the numbers.
You should receive insights and an analysis of the metrics that matter most to you. That information should then be used to make campaign or ad improvements. Look for an agency that provides thorough explanations and recommendations for maximizing performance.
Are you in the market for a digital advertising partner?
We’d be happy to chat. Email our media team at media@teamddm.com