Finding The Right Internet Marketing Company For Your Brand | A Business Owner Checklist  

On the surface, in today’s ever-digital world, a business looking for an Internet marketing company to partner with has no shortage of options. From SEO to paid search to ecommerce to web development and beyond, every Internet marketing company promises the world and then some. How can you tell the top companies apart from the pretenders? Well, we’re here to help.

This guide will show you what to look for as you select the best Internet marketing company for your business. Note that the ideal fit for you might not be the biggest name or the flashiest option. Instead, it’s all about what works best for the unique needs of your business and your brand. But first, let’s take a step back and identify the role of an Internet marketing company within your marketing strategy.

What Does an Internet Marketing Company Do?

If you’ve never worked with an Internet marketing company, you might be confident in your ability to handle all of your company’s marketing in-house. However, this is an attitude that can quickly result in your company’s marketing falling behind the curve.

That’s because marketing is constantly changing — and there are a lot more changes at play than simply the marketing messages. The platforms marketers use, the technology that fuels marketing, even the ways customers prefer to contact businesses — virtually everything about digital marketing is in a constant state of flux. It’s impossible to stay on top of all of these changes while simultaneously handling the other aspects of running your business.

So, then, what does an Internet marketing company do? Basically, anything you want. An Internet marketing company can create content like blogs, infographics and videos. It can develop relationships between your company and other businesses. It can handle your social media marketing, and it can even facilitate email marketing automation. It comes up with the creative vision behind your marketing, and it captures the data that determines how well that vision is working. In short, your Internet marketing company can do as much or as little as you want, depending on your needs, budget and scope.

So How Do You Find the Right One?

✓Experience

As a business owner, you might pride yourself in giving chances to untapped resources. That’s okay in some cases, it’s highly ill-advised to go this route when picking an Internet marketing company to work with.

You don’t want someone who just says they can reach your audience without providing proof that they can. Instead, you want the assurance that comes with knowing you’re working with experienced marketers. This means not just seeing a portfolio of past campaigns; you’ll also want to see the results of those campaigns to see if they met the expectations of the companies the firm worked with.

Why is experience so important? If you’re working in a niche marketplace, you’ll want to see that the company is capable of understanding your audience and marketing directly to that group. If your audience is a bit more broad, a diverse portfolio will show the adaptability of the agency, giving you confidence that they can provide what you’re looking for. Simply put, experience gives you peace of mind.

✓Well-Rounded Skill Sets

Your initial approach to an Internet marketing company might simply be asking them to create infographics for you. If the company has the resources to meet those needs, that’s wonderful. But what about everything else?

Just as marketing as a whole changes frequently, so too will your company’s needs. Your infographic needs today might become video production needs tomorrow, and the next day they might be white paper needs. You need to work with a company that’s well-versed in providing all of these services.

You might not know exactly what you want on Day One, but you want assurance that this Internet marketing company can help you get there, wherever that might be. Consider your future needs alongside your current ones as you evaluate firms.

✓Support and Accountability

We all have experience in working with companies that swear they’ve got our back, only to find out that the customer support is extremely lacking or, in some cases, non-existent. Needless to say, you don’t want to find that your Internet marketing company is one of these organizations.

What’s your assurance that your company will get back to you within a reasonable timeframe? Is there after-hours support? If there’s a typo in one of your marketing materials, who do you call? You should have the answers to all of these questions before you sign anything. Don’t waste time issuing marketing materials that don’t reflect what you truly want.

At the same time, gaining some level of assurance that the firm will do what it promises is also highly desirable. Measures to protect yourself, such as a guarantee or an early opt-out, will help you tremendously if you find that the marketing or the data it produces isn’t meeting your expectations.

✓The Right Fit

How do you quantify the right fit between your business and the Internet marketing company you choose to work with? It’s very likely you can’t. However, you’ll definitely know if it’s not the right fit. And those butterflies you feel, or those little things that bother you at the start of the relationship, will be the things you kick yourself over not addressing when things go south.

The importance of fit cannot be understated. You’re not just working with an Internet marketing company here — instead, you’re partners. Partners of any sorts have to be on the same page in all areas. This goes miles beyond the marketing itself and seeps into the relationships that exist beyond advertising materials.

There are countless boxes to check to determine the right fit. First and foremost, you want to feel a good vibe from the Internet marketing company you work with. You should like them, and you should trust them, and you shouldn’t have the impression that you’re just another business to them. Second, both businesses should have the same goals. Your chosen marketing company should want to grow alongside you and bring both companies to new levels. Third, you want to see adaptability and a willingness to change with the times — it can’t be stressed enough how frequently and how drastically marketing changes.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, there needs to be a culture fit. Your business and your Internet marketing company should have similar philosophies. Commitments to valuing employees, workflow policies, embracing charitable causes and publicly embracing social change — these are all areas in which your business and your marketing firm should be in full agreement. Any breaks in the chain are the breeding grounds for future discord, which can derail the relationship. However, if the two sides are on the same wavelength, it will fuel the creativity that creates great marketing, and that’s a win for everyone — your business, the Internet marketing company you work with and most importantly, your customers.

Choosing the right Internet marketing company can be quite a challenge. With so much to review and so many potential options out there, the process can be quite intimidating. Focus on finding an agency with demonstrated success, that understands your customers and that shares your core values. If you’d like some assistance in finding the ideal Internet marketing company for your business, contact us at Commit Agency today.