1. What Services And Channels Does The Agency Specialise In?
Different agencies specialise in different things, so it’s crucial to partner with an agency that’s an expert in their chosen field. If the agency’s specialty aligns with your business goals, you’ll be off to a great start.
There are pros and cons to working with a full-service agency. Yes, there can be benefits to having all of your requirements serviced by one team who can sit together and build a cohesive strategy – plus, you can get economies of scale when it comes to pricing. But often, the age-old saying of “jack of all trades, master of none” also applies. Working with agencies that specialise in specific areas ensures you’re getting the best possible service for each channel.
At Yoghurt Digital, for example, our bread and butter is data – from Conversion Optimisation and UX Design to Biddable Media to SEO & Content. This expertise helps us understand our client’s business deeper, identify real opportunities and create an effective, data-backed strategy for success.
2. How Big Is The Agency?
The size of an agency can influence the kind of service and attention you’ll receive, so this is where you can channel your inner Goldilocks. Consider what’s most important to you and your brand and find an agency that’s just the right size.
If your chosen agency is large with a long list of clients, they might not have the time or motivation to focus on your business as much as you’d like. You could end up being a small fish in a big pond – even if you’re a reputable brand with a decent budget. However, larger agencies can have a great breadth of experience and expertise working with a wide array of clients.
Smaller agencies, by comparison, will be more likely to dedicate their time to your company, getting to know your brand inside-out. They live and breathe your business because it matters more to them – you’re not just another number. They’ll also want to go that extra mile for you.
You’ll likely prefer an agency that provides a healthy balance of both knowledge and dedication as a brand.
3. What Makes The Agency So Good To Work With?
Being invited to help a business is a personal matter, and all good agencies consider the opportunity to help others a privilege. Find an agency that’s enthusiastic about your team and your brand. Find an agency that doesn’t want to be a service provider but genuinely wants to integrate themselves and be a part of your team—the word ‘partnership’ springs to mind.
For us at Yoghurt Digital, our desire to truly understand your entire ecosystem – from your company’s history, to team dynamics, to marketing initiatives, to customer behaviours – allows us to seamlessly integrate our workflow with yours and produce powerful results that matter.
4. How Does The Agency Manage Client Communication And Collaboration?
Understanding the way an agency approaches client collaboration is vital to success. Do they prefer face-to-face meetings? Can they work well with remote teams? Will they play nice with your other agency partners? How do they structure their reporting? Do they have project management software? Do you have direct access to the production teams or just an account manager? Are you getting their A-team?
Again, this will come down to your unique business needs. But it’s essential to establish exactly what the processes will be before engagement. This helps create a smooth working relationship with less time wasted on misunderstandings and more meaningful, productive work conducted.
5. What Do The First 30 Days Look Like?
A passionate, experienced digital agency will have the expertise to help direct and transform your marketing efforts from day one, so ask your potential agency what the first 30 days of working together will look like. You’ll know pretty quickly whether the agency has the right vision for your brand once they start taking you through the deliverables and their processes.
We like to hit the ground running, often conducting in-depth audits of our client’s accounts and digital assets to identify the areas of most significant opportunity. Without understanding a campaign’s history and existing setup, it’s impossible to develop a tailored, strategic roadmap for optimisation. Otherwise, you’re just following a ‘one size fits all’ approach, which you want to avoid at all costs. Following an audit, we map out exactly what will be done to drive short- and long-term results using data-driven strategies.
6. What Planning And Strategy Exercises Will Be Required To Get Up To Speed?
To establish a strong working relationship with an agency, you’ll need to invest some time and effort into understanding each other’s history, habits, goals and personalities. There are always small intricacies that both sides aren’t aware of yet, so it’s good to spend some time getting to know one another like any new relationship.
From learning about each other’s expectations and key performance indicators (KPIs) to agreeing on approval processes and deliverables, experienced agencies will have a well-defined onboarding approach and set solid foundations for the relationship.
7. How Does The Agency Ensure It’s Up-To-Date With The Latest Technologies?
A good digital agency should be at the forefront of what’s happening in the tech space so they can be your champions for innovative, competitive thinking.
You want them to be on a mission to understand the latest technologies and digital marketing trends and understand how to apply that knowledge effectively to your unique business challenges – from innovative website designs to the latest changes in Google’s algorithm. That’s where proper growth comes from.
8. How Does The Agency Work With Data?
Data is the heartbeat of modern marketing and is the lifeblood of any company with ambitions of scale. With everything in the digital world trackable and measurable, there’s more information about your customers, competitors and performance metrics than ever before. An agency that lives and breathes data can give you a significant advantage with actionable insights into ever-evolving opportunities.
We’ve built our entire agency on understanding your customers and their online behaviour through data – combining tangible insights with technical excellence and strategy to help you meet your goals. What sets Yoghurt Digital apart is that data, not opinions, drives our strategy.
9. How Does The Agency Become A Strategic, Long-Term Partner?
In an ultra-competitive and crowded market, long-term strategic partnerships are vital for success. Your agency’s efforts shouldn’t just focus on your immediate challenges. Still, they should also look ahead, ensuring your brand’s digital marketing initiatives are sustainable and scalable in an ever-changing marketing landscape.
Evolution is the best way to protect yourself from getting left behind, and the right digital agency will help you stay on track by using data-driven insights to stay focused and ensure you and your team don’t lose sight of your core business goals.
10. Is The Data Team In-House Or Outsourced?
In its most distilled form, data is the voice of your customers. That’s why data should influence everything from your SEO strategy to your Google Ads account structure and messaging, your CRM strategy, and your website’s usability, functionality, and content.
A digital agency with a dedicated, in-house team of data lovers will naturally use that data to guide its decision-making. In contrast, an agency that outsources may struggle to provide the same depth and frequency of insights.
For us, being data-driven is an essential part of the way we work and think. We use data as our compass, so all of our data specialists are in-house.
A Winning Combination
Choosing a digital marketing agency is not a decision you should make lightly – or frequently. Take time to think about your unique business goals, team requirements and values, and use these questions to help you find the right fit for your company. This will also help you lay the foundations of a successful long-term partnership that will save you time and stress while taking your growth to the next level.
At Yoghurt Digital, we’re committed to seamlessly integrating our processes with our clients to deliver the best results. Our data-driven approach and strategic thinking will drive performance by tying your business objectives to digital outcomes. Get in touch with our experienced team today. It’ll be your best life hack yet.