How to find the Best Local Digital Marketing Agency for Small Businesses
If you are a small business owner, you are likely in need of help juggling all the aspects of gaining and securing customers. Many small business owners are already wearing several hats simply in trying to run their business, and, understandably, tasks such as marketing might become an afterthought. However, this can come at a steep price when considering the loss of those potential customers.
While it may sound extreme, having a strong digital marketing strategy can mean the difference between succeeding in your market or failing. If your customers do not see or hear from your business or brand on a relatively consistent basis, you will lose relevancy as well as your competitive edge.
Fortunately, there is help available even for small businesses, and it can come at a relatively low cost without sacrificing quality. Here, we will outline the things to look for in a digital marketing agency as well as how to look locally in Irvine or Orange County, California to find one.
Why Do You Need a Digital Marketing Agency for Small Businesses?
We have already broken down some of the risks above of not prioritizing a digital marketing strategy for your small business, but let’s go a little more in-depth on the benefits.
More Time to Run Your Business
Perhaps most important to you as a business owner is a time. As the old saying goes, “time is money”, and you need to prioritize your time if the most efficient way to keep your business running successfully. Building, executing, and maintaining a digital marketing strategy is extremely time-consuming. Hiring an agency to do it for you gives you that precious time back to focus on the most important things.
Access to Leading Edge Resources
With an experienced digital marketing agency comes new, fresh ideas as well as knowledge of where to implement them. The world of digital marketing is ever-evolving, and it can be difficult to keep up. Partnering with an agency means you gain their expert knowledge in placing content about your business in the right places at the right times to maximize your exposure and relevancy.
Measurable Results
Tracking the effectiveness of your marketing efforts is vital to remain versatile in the market. A digital marketing agency will assist you with identifying the metrics and measures of effectiveness toward your campaigns and outreach so that you always know exactly how your customers are engaging with you, and maybe more importantly, how they are not.
Finding Your Agency
Before you even get started with identifying the local digital marketing agency for small businesses that will work best for you, you should have a plan around what types of things to look for, what is most important to you, and what you are hoping to achieve. Oftentimes, you can narrow down the list of potentials simply by organizing your approach.
Outline Your Strategy
While a digital marketing agency will help you nail down the best strategy for your business, you should go into that conversation with at least a basic idea of how you want to market your business. This can be a simple as outlining your goals or as complex as defining the channels and tactics you wish to execute.
Refinement of your strategy will continue to take place over time and based on the outputs of the strategies that are executed, so do not be overly concerned if it is not in perfect shape in the beginning. It is meant to be a work in progress!
Define Your Budget
Setting aside a firm budget for what you will allocate toward a digital marketing strategy is key to making sure you stick to it and finding a firm that can get you the most for your money. A typical recommendation is that that small businesses should spend 7-8% of their revenue on marketing. However, this can fluctuate based on the size of your business and your needs.
For example, marketing strategies such as search engine optimization and social media advertising are both affordable and highly effective. Setting your growth expectations with a steady to plan to get you there will ensure you keep your budget on track.
Do Plenty of Research
If you search the web for a local digital marketing agency for small businesses, you will undoubtedly be inundated with results. Narrowing these down to a few that you can explore deeply can be done by reading over customer reviews as well as asking fellow small business owners for referrals. These are typically the best way to hear first-hand what another’s experience has been working with the agency.
It is also a good idea to find an agency that specializes in working with small businesses. Typically, these agencies offer more affordable options as well as strategies that cater to small business goals and growth.
Meet Face to Face
While you can get a pretty good indication of the business model and completed work by looking for a digital marketing agency for small businesses in Irvine or Orange County, California online, the working relationship should also feel like a genuine partnership, and that is something that can only be assessed in-person.
During this meeting, take the time to educate them about your business and your story, so they understand what things separate you from your competitors. If you are happy with how the meeting goes, ask them for a proposal for your business to compare with other agencies you meet.
Making Your Decision
With so many things to take into consideration when hiring a digital marketing agency for your small business, ultimately, the decision is the one that you feel best about and leaves you with certainty that your business goals will be achieved.
Since you will be allocating a decent amount of your hard-earned revenue toward this important aspect of running your business, it is important to follow the steps above to ensure that you make an informed, confident decision. Unifage also offers White label reputation management services. If you need your assistance, please feel free to call us now!
