You have decided to outsource your digital marketing to an agency — good idea! But how do you choose? With so many digital marketing and communications agencies out there, which one will be best placed to help you?

Here are 4 key criteria for choosing the best digital marketing agency. Let's dive in!

Choosing a web marketing agency

A web communications agency — or web agency — is tasked with supporting and advising its clients (businesses, associations, institutions) in their efforts to promote themselves or communicate with their target audiences. The level of support varies according to the objectives set by the client company: brand awareness, visibility, sales growth, recruitment, and so on.

A digital marketing agency can get involved at several stages of the support process, or throughout the entire journey.

Define your objectives

Before even thinking about outsourcing your digital marketing, it is important to define your objectives. This lets you know where you want to go, how to get there, and whether being supported by a digital marketing and communications agency could be beneficial. Beyond that, your objectives will determine the type of digital marketing agency to approach.

You cannot search for a good digital agency if you do not know what results you want to achieve. Even if the agency can guide you, it is not their role to help you identify your needs.

Without clear objectives, choosing the best-suited marketing agency to support you will be tricky. Without those objectives, you will not be able to achieve concrete results. The agency will support you in your digital strategy — they will be your guide.

Assess the agency's understanding of your brief

To choose the digital marketing agency best placed to achieve your objectives, you will provide them with a brief or a specification document.

Once the brief has been received, the agency will review it and propose a concrete response to achieve the results you are targeting. Assess their response time: if you have given a reasonable deadline, agencies should get back to you before the deadline you have set!

From the very first pages or lines, you will be able to tell whether your brief, your challenges, and your needs have been properly understood by the agency. If you notice a degree of misunderstanding, an incomplete piece of work, or a lack of personalisation, move on!

A good web communications agency will not hesitate to probe your brief more deeply and, above all, the objectives you want to achieve.

Analyse the agency's experience

Look at their work

Look on the marketing agency's website at their portfolio. If their work is not listed there, ask them to show you examples of projects they have already completed, along with the results obtained.

Consult client testimonials

Verify the agency's credibility by checking testimonials from previous clients — or even better, ask for references.

Word of mouth

Working with an agency that thrives on word of mouth means working with a reliable agency. Ask yourself: how long has the agency been in business? How does it acquire its clients?

Moreover, if a digital marketing agency has received one or more awards, you can have full confidence in it.

Note: a digital marketing agency can perfectly well prove effective without meeting all the criteria listed above; however, it is wiser to reconsider your decision when several doubts arise at once.

Trust your instincts

Amid the jungle of marketing agencies, it will sometimes be difficult to make a choice despite the criteria and objectives you have established.

Prices can vary twofold for the same guarantee of results. The simplest approach is therefore to trust your instincts. Working with an agency is, above all, being supported on your projects over the long term. It is therefore a human adventure.

Ask yourself whether you would like to work with these people. Apply a simple test: ask yourself whether you would be happy to go for a coffee or a beer with them.

If the answer is yes, it means you have a good feeling about the team that would potentially be in charge of your project.

Talk with the team — there is no better way to get to know people than by speaking to them. Show an interest in their expertise, their day-to-day work, and their professional experience. You could ask the following questions:

• Who will be responsible for my project?
• What are their qualifications / experience?
• How long have they been working at your agency?
• Can you send me a link to their LinkedIn profile?

The digital agency you select will be like an extension of your team. It is a strategic partner on whom part of your company's success will depend. If your gut tells you something is not right, listen to it and do not force things.