3 Must-Haves for Small Businesses Before Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to speak on a panel with someone who runs a digital marketing agency. The objective was to explain how things work in the world of marketing to millennials. (As a millennial blogger, I was the millennial expert.)

Things You Need to Know Before Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency

After striking up some conversation, I found out that people who run digital marketing companies have to spend a lot of time teaching their clients how to get the necessary information they need to run social media campaigns. The truth is if you plan on outsourcing to a digital marketing agency, there are a few things you need to know beforehand in order to hit the ground running.

You Have to Know Your Target Market

Perhaps the biggest frustration I heard the owners of these agencies express was how prospective clients don’t really know their markets Instead, they think they just have to throw money at ads and pray that it works.

As a result, the digital marketing agency has to spend a lot of time figuring out their clients’ market. You can both save yourselves a lot of time if you have the information before you hire an agency.

This way, it’s simply a matter of giving them the information they need and taking it from there. In this case, that probably looks like split testing ads or testing copy. Either way, you can get straight to work and get your results sooner.

You Need to Have Something to Sell

If you don’t have anything to sell yet, the first thing a digital marketing agency is going to is tell you to go figure that out. That is if the marketing agency is worth their salt.

You see, marketing is a process of reverse engineering. First, you have the product which you’ve hopefully created based on market research. Then, based on the product, you work backwards to create a marketing plan.

You Have to Create Valuable Content

One of the owners of a digital marketing agency noted how business owners often make the mistake of running Facebook ads directly to a product. Lo and behold, they don’t make any sales.

That’s because we’re living in a time when you have to really nurture leads. Unless you’re Amazon, no one is going to buy something from a Facebook side bar ad unless they already know you.

That’s why, often times, a digital marketing agency will work on a content plan. Much to a business owners surprise, this is what digital marketing is for. You create content to build trust and then make the sale down the road.

Granted, you probably won’t have to create the content yourself. Just know that content is an important part of the overall game plan.

Final Thoughts

If you don’t have these things in place before you hire a digital marketing agency, you run the risk of wasting time. Even worse, you may run the risk of losing money. Sadly, many agencies out there will take your money even if you don’t have these things figured out.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Image: Due.com

This article, "3 Must-Haves for Small Businesses Before Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency" was first published on Small Business Trends