Top Digital Marketing Agencies

Digital marketing is a vast business growth arena, but the top agencies understand that optimizing a brand website for search engines is arguably the most important strategy for meaningful business growth. In fact, 93 percent of online experiences originate from a search engine, according to Search Engine Journal.

Top agencies have the tools and expertise to audit websites, analyze traffic, and tailor everything from title tags and code to content marketing around carefully chosen keywords that consumers are searching for online. By investing in search engine optimization (SEO), websites become much more discoverable to their target audience, which increases valuable traffic and, ultimately, revenue.

Top digital marketing agencies have teams of content experts who brainstorm, develop, write and publish long-form articles and blog posts that increase brand awareness. These team members also work collaboratively to determine who will create the content and how it will be effectively promoted to your existing audience as well as new potential consumers.

Content marketing is a simple and effective way to foster a strong brand identity, organically promote products and services, generate content for social media platforms and email marketing campaigns, and increase revenue. In fact, according to Hubspot, the more you invest in content marketing, the better your bottom line looks. B2C companies that increased monthly blogging from four to five times each month to 11 or more saw four times more leads.  

Unsurprisingly, every brand should invest time and energy into proper social media marketing. Seventy percent of the U.S. population alone has at least one profile on a social media website. Plus, social media marketing (both organic and paid) is relatively low-cost, particularly when compared to traditional advertising, yet provides a strong return on investment.

Allowing the best digital marketing companies to handle your social media campaigns is wise -- especially if they are already managing other forms of online marketing for you, too. By outsourcing social media, you’re allowing experts to create an effective omnichannel strategy that promotes your business on multiple channels without detrimental overlap or confusion. Plus, experts can look at analytics, determine your demographic, focus on the most valuable social networks, and adjust the strategy as needed.

Forty-six percent of search engine marketing experts believe that retargeting is the most underused yet valuable digital marketing strategy -- but the best digital marketing companies understand how to integrate this tactic into an overarching initiative.

Essentially, retargeting drops cookies on a visitors browser when they land on your website. If they leave, those cookies will serve them ads for your brand as they peruse other sites, imploring them to click and revisit your digital destination. Great digital marketing agencies have dedicated teams, designers and programs in place to effectively facilitate this dynamic form of advertising (along with its email-centric cousin, remarketing), which perform up to 10 times better than regular banner ads.

The best digital marketing companies have access to the latest and greatest software and resources that streamline all processes. This enables them to gather more accurate data, draw stronger conclusions, target more valuable audiences, and ultimately grow your business. Ask the following questions to ensure you understand how an agency will integrate proper tools and resources into your marketing initiatives.

• How will you audit our current marketing campaigns, initiatives, and online presence?
• How do you stay on top of the latest trends?
• What tools, programs or resources will you use to identify, execute or track valuable strategies that our brand should implement?
• Will we have access to these tools?
• Will we need to pay extra for the resources needed?

Digital marketing isn’t just one action -- it’s a comprehensive strategy comprised of many areas, team members, and smaller projects, all of which work together to promote your brand. Because digital marketing IS so complicated, make sure you ask the following questions to understand how an agency plans to formulate a strategy, facilitate communication, and ensure results.

• What digital marketing tactics do you think are the most valuable and why?
• How will you create and prioritize our marketing strategy?
• What information or deliverables will you need from our team?
• How often will we meet to discuss marketing strategy?
• Who will our point of contact be?
• How will you ensure the project is on track?
• What programs or process do you use to streamline communication between teams?
• How do you plan to integrate all digital marketing initiatives into one comprehensive strategy?

At the end of the day, clients aren’t paying for deliverables or ideas or meetings with their agency -- they are paying for business growth results. Therefore, it is imperative that businesses find the best digital marketing company with the track record and expertise to reach those goals -- and the questions below will help you find it!

• How will you track results?
• What analytics or metrics do you track? Why are them important and/or how do they show business growth?
• How often will you report on them?
• How do you plan to use data and analytics to continually inform the marketing strategy?
• What results can you guarantee for each digital marketing service or campaign?

Of course, the cost of services is an important conversation for any business to have with an agency before they begin a partnership. Ask the following questions to gain a full understanding of exactly who you are paying for, what services you will receive, and any additional fees that may pop up down the road.

• What is your pricing structure? Do you charge by the hour, a flat fee, or per results achieved?
• What services are included in your fee?
• Are there any services, programs, etc. that may cost extra?
• Which team members are my fee “paying” for?
• Do you require a time commitment from us?
• How much will it cost to add additional marketing services during the project?
• Are you willing to sign a formal contract with these items detailed inside?

Digital marketing isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach -- and the best companies understand that. What’s more, not every digital marketing agency offers every available online marketing service -- and that’s okay! However, brands DO need to find a company that offers solutions to their marketing needs.

To get the best value and return on investment from a top digital marketing company, take stock of your own requirements and vision first. Then, as you meet with various agencies to find the perfect fit, ask them what they think the most valuable tactics are, where they see the industry going in the next few years, and what services they both currently offer or plan to offer shortly.

The best digital marketing agencies have a streamlined process from start to finish. This empowers them to create a comprehensive (and often multichannel) marketing strategy, complete with due dates, drafts, and deliverables, and desired outcomes.

How a digital agency creates a strategy, ensures deadlines are being met and facilitates follow-through is what takes a marketing company from good to great. Thus, it’s imperative to find an agency that gives you the level of attention, organization, and communication you need to achieve your goals. After all, if you don’t reach your objectives, what’s the point?  

The top digital marketing companies have robust client lists and detailed portfolios filled with successful projects. These prior campaigns are telling signs if an agency can deliver for you, too.

However, don’t just take them at their word. Do your own research and ask to speak to one or two of their clients to get an unbiased opinion on their professional work. Then, ask them even more detailed questions about these projects, such as what were the exact results and how were they achieved. Plus, don’t forget to ask agencies about their missteps, too -- everyone has them, but great agencies will recognize projects that didn’t go as planned and tell you what they learned, while lesser quality companies will skirt over the details and brush them under the rug.

Once you’ve determined if an agency is the right fit to grow your brand online, take the time to cement the services you will receive, results you can expect, and associated fees. Just remember -- sometimes a higher upfront cost can culminate in a stronger return on investment later, so weigh all the pros and cons.  

Then, the final step is then to document everything in a formal, comprehensive and legally binding contract. Although this step can be daunting, it is important -- and top agencies won’t balk at the task, either. A contract eliminates any confusion, solidifies a process, and ultimately protects agencies and clients throughout a project. Bonus: Don’t forget to include and non-disclosure clauses within your contract if an agency is dealing with sensitive information that you don’t want to be leaked to the public, other agencies, or your competitors.

Every brand is unique and that means that the marketing strategies your agency partner comes up with should be tailored to your business. Top digital marketing agencies emphasize the custom nature of their marketing plans and don’t blindly replicate what’s been done before for other clients. While it’s natural to expect that the agency will apply learnings and strategies that worked for other clients to subsequent campaigns, they should never offer cookie-cutter solutions. Look for a digital marketing agency that recommends ideas and tactics because they believe they’ll help meet the specific objectives of your brand.

A major element of choosing a new agency partner is reviewing the work they’ve done before. Top digital marketing agencies will have case studies on hand that demonstrate their ability to get results for their clients. If they have clients in a range of industries, they should be able to show you the results they’ve achieved for businesses that are similar in nature to yours. Don’t be afraid to ask to see case studies, and to ask the agency to detail the process and approach they used in order to achieve results for the client. 

Digital marketing is all about moving the needle for your business. That’s why it’s so important to work with a digital marketing agency that focuses on getting results. A good agency partner will be upfront about setting goals and outlining key milestones for your campaigns. They’ll be transparent in detailing what results you can expect to see from the work you’re investing in. Of course, they won’t be able to predict traffic or conversions with 100% accuracy, but they should be comfortable setting targets. This kind of transparency is key to making sure the agency is motivated to achieve results and the client is comfortable knowing what to expect from their investment.

You should never be kept in the dark about the progress of your campaigns. Top digital agencies make accountability and reporting a core tenet of their business practice. Before signing a contract, ask the agency who on their end will manage your account and be sure you have an understanding of how communications between your business and theirs will operate. The agency should be happy to set a regular reporting schedule and should set standards for responding to calls and emails that will ensure they’re kept accountable to results and client communication.