What to Look for When Choosing a Digital Agency
Digital agencies are often chosen by looking at the nice visuals on their social media accounts. Yet what determines satisfaction a few months later is how well the agency understands your business, how it measures results and how quickly it changes the plan when something is not working. We recommend asking the following questions during your first meeting.
It is also important to review the agency’s past work: look not only at how good the visuals are, but at how the sites load on mobile, how clear the copy is and whether the brand looks consistent across channels. You can review our work on our portfolio page.
- In the first meeting, do they ask about your customers, your season and your competitors, or do they go straight to pitching a package?
- Do they define in writing from the start how success will be measured (forms, calls, bookings, sales)?
- Who keeps admin access to the ad accounts, social media pages and Google Business Profile?
- Are Google Analytics, Search Console and Meta Pixel set up correctly, and are conversions really being measured?
- Do the reports show only likes and impressions, or also numbers tied to business results?
- Are photography, video, design and web handled by the same team, or do you need a separate company for each?
- Do they say openly that no agency can guarantee the top spot on Google, a follower count or a return on ad spend?
Beware of Guarantees
No agency controls the algorithm that decides Google rankings or the ad auction. An offer that guarantees “first place in a month” or “this many followers” usually rests on a goal that is hard to measure or on a method that does not last. A trustworthy agency explains its method, its measurement plan and which task serves which result, instead of making guarantees.
One Point of Contact, One Plan
When one company runs social media, another runs the ads and a third team runs the website, everyone passes the buck when something goes wrong. If the visitors an ad brings get lost on the site, nobody is clearly responsible for fixing it. Working with a single team makes it faster to find where the problem is and fix it.