When it comes to digital marketing, consistency is key. No matter what program you’re running or which platform you’re on, it is imperative that you have a marketing strategy that offers you consistent results and is aligned with your business model. The ugly truth about digital marketing agencies is that they sell customers the idea of a massive campaign with promises of bringing hundreds of leads in a short period of time. While such strategies could be implemented, they only create unrealistic expectations and set you up for failure.

Contrary to popular belief, digital marketing is not a linear graph where all you need is one successful campaign to start the path of a profitable business; successful digital marketing is achieved through consistency. By constantly using data analysis to identify small wins and pivot from small failures, you will be able to take small steps that add up to create a staircase that reflects your successful marketing journey. 

Before hiring your next digital marketing agency, you should have a clear understanding of your business model. In order to find an agency that will help your business grow and provide you with consistent results, you need to:

• Identify Your Business Goals

Identifying your business goals is the first step to achieving your desired results. By defining your objectives, you will be able to accurately measure your progress and make any necessary changes if needed. Depending on how big or small your business is, you can establish these goals for your entire company or for each department separately. Once you have your goals established, you will then be able to set your marketing goals. 

• Identify Your Target Audience

By identifying your target audience, you will have established an understanding of your ideal customers, who your competitors are and what core pain points you want to address with your products or services. When building your client persona, you will have a better understanding of how they like to communicate, what their demographic is and what their behaviours are, including their personality types and lifestyle preferences. This will help ensure that you communicate with the right audience at the right time.

What To Look For In A Digital Marketing Agency

1. Where Can I Find Your Customer Reviews?

Word of mouth is still one of the most effective ways to determine the quality of a product or a service. With that said, you might not be able to ask for the best digital marketing agency in a specific city such as Edmonton or Vancouver, as there are hundreds of agencies around. The search becomes even more difficult if you’re looking for the top digital marketing agency in Canada, as there are hundreds if not thousands of agencies across the country. You can no longer rely on word of mouth when it comes to finding a reputable agency; you will have to depend on online reviews. Now you might be thinking that online reviews are not always the best source of feedback as agencies may interfere with the review process and encourage clients to leave positive reviews; however, that is not the case with all online review platforms.

Clutch.co is a perfect example of an online review platform that helps business owners determine whether a digital marketing agency fits their needs or not. Unlike other online review platforms, Clutch.co carries out the review process entirely through its own channel, without any interference from the digital agency that is being reviewed. When a client decides to leave a review on Clutch, they select the agency they would like to review and Clutch schedules a call with them to ask detailed questions about their experience. Through this phone call, one of Clutch’s representatives will verify the caller and ensure that the review reflects the customer’s honest opinion without being influenced by the agency or receiving any compensation in return. When the review is posted, the digital marketing agency cannot alter it, nor can the reviewee edit it once published.

If you’re looking for the top digital marketing agency in Edmonton, you will be presented with a list of trustworthy agencies and read authentic customer reviews based on their experience. You can also toggle the search option to view agencies based on Clutch Leader Matrix, which reflects the top-performing agencies in a particular location.

2. How Do You Measure Your Data?

Digital marketing is all about data. Promoting several creative campaigns and running numerous ads is an excellent way to spread awareness, but how will you be able to identify whether your marketing efforts were successful or not? By analyzing data, you will be able to determine what parts of your campaign went right and what needs to be refined and adjusted accordingly. A strong marketing agency should always have tools to measure the results for all programs, including organic and paid reach. Some marketing agencies might forward the reports, failing to explain what they mean or what they will do next.

At Atrium Digital, we have a dedicated team of specialists for each marketing program that not only track the results in real-time and adjust the strategy according to the marketing goals but also create detailed reports of the current marketing strategy and present them to clients after each quarter to carefully explain what the numbers mean, and advise them on how to move forward. Having a two-way conversation with a specialist will allow you to fully understand the complex analytics behind the campaign and help you make an informed decision based on data-driven insights.

Marketing Systems Engineered

Learn more about what questions to ask a prospective digital marketing agency in part 2 of this blog. You can also contact us to speak directly with a marketing specialist in Edmonton who can help you identify your goals and align your marketing strategy with your business model.