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How do you choose the right agency? If you’ve been considering working with a marketing agency, you’ve probably asked yourself this exact question. In this digital age, web design and marketing is a hot industry overflowing with agencies – but all are not created equal. You’ve searched your area, you’ve read reviews, and you probably still feel unsure about what you should be looking for in an agency

The fact is, any good agency should be excellent at marketing their own services, since marketing is what they do. To help you make the best investment possible, we’ll help you see past the pretty websites and flashy words to understand what is most valuable in a marketing agency. Read on for the top five marketing skills agencies should have to maximize your return and offer the most benefit for your business.

Branding – Many questions or issues that come up over the course of a marketing relationship can be quickly answered with strong branding

The first step in developing a marketing strategy should usually be to ensure a comprehensive branding strategy. Your brand strategy will help to guide your business decisions and should be given just as much attention as any other aspect of your company. The benefits of professional brand development are long-lasting and will continue to benefit your business well after the development of initial branding and planning. 

The components of branding include:

• Brand identity – Who are you? What are your business’s goals and values? Solidifying your brand identity is the first step in creating a solid brand strategy. The right marketing agency will know how to work with your business to create a brand identity that’s authentic and effective.
• Brand image – This is the design aspect of your brand. What is your logo? What are your color schemes? It’s important that your brand image is consistent across all communications and platforms to develop an easily recognizable brand. A marketing agency with a great design team knows exactly what to do to make you stand out. 
• Brand culture – What kind of community do you want to build? Your customers and clients, how they engage with your business and each other, and how they use your service or products all come together to create a culture that’s reflective of your brand.
• Brand personality – How will your brand be represented on things like social media and engagement? Your brand’s personality is reflected in things like language, word choices, and even punctuation and grammar. 

An agency with strong branding ability will have an easier time making decisions and doing what’s best for your business because they are able to develop a clear direction and goals for your brand. Many questions or issues that come up over the course of a marketing relationship can be quickly answered with strong branding. An effective branding strategy will also enable your business to more efficiently work within guidelines established for your brand, eliminating some conflict that may arise from having an unclear brand identity.

Related: How to Create Content that Converts

Writing – The best digital marketing strategies involve a lot of writing

The best digital marketing strategies involve a lot of writing. Marketing materials and components that require writing include:

• Web pages
• Social media posts
• Emails 
• Blogs 

Thinking that this writing can be done by just anyone is a common mistake, and one that often leads to marketing materials that lack authority and sound unprofessional. Read about the top 6 types of content marketing and why they might be important for your business.

To make sure your marketing strategy includes well-written copy and content, top marketing agencies typically employ designated professional writers. A great marketing writer is an asset to any marketing team and has the knowledge and skills to make your written materials do their job and help to grow your business. The best marketing agencies will not just have talented writers, but writers who understand SEO and take the time to truly connect with your target audience for the best possible results.

Related: Copywriting vs. SEO Writing: How Are they Different?

SEO – Search Engine Optimization – Organic traffic results in a much higher ROI than paid advertising and lasts longer

Search engine optimization may be a trendy term, but the concept and practice has been around for a while. Since the conception of search engines, there has been analysis and strategy related to getting your website to show up on search engine results pages. SEO involves understanding search engine behavior, monitoring trends, assessing competition, and creating content that ranks well.

It is hard to imagine a marketing agency without solid SEO expertise, especially considering that SEO provides organic traffic through online searches. This organic traffic results in a much higher ROI than paid advertising and lasts longer, possibly driving traffic to your site for years if you perform occasional maintenance of SEO content. 

According to Hubspot, 75% of search engine users don’t explore past the first page of results – because of this, the goal of SEO is to have your website and business show up on page one…or as close to page one as possible. The competition is fierce for popular keywords, so a basic understanding of SEO concepts is often not enough to produce content and pages that rank on top. A marketing agency with dedicated SEO services and an experienced SEO team will have the knowledge and skills to get your business seen in the right searches.

Related: How Much Does SEO Cost For Small Businesses?

SEM – Social Media Marketing – A good marketing agency will be able to make good use of the 3.4 billion users on social media platforms

These days, an online marketing strategy without social media marketing is almost inconceivable. Social media is responsible for about four percent of website traffic (Statista) representing significant potential for driving traffic that converts. Effective marketing through social media is an essential marketing skill that requires experience and flexibility. Whether you’re using one, two, or many social media platforms, details such as what to post and when can greatly affect your social media content’s reach. The right marketing agency will be skilled in social media marketing, and understand the nuances of each platform to effectively attract and engage the right audience. 

Considering that the global number of social media users is expected to reach over 3.4 billion by 2023 (Hubspot), any good marketing strategy should be able to make good use of social media platforms. An agency with knowledge and experience in social media marketing will not only be knowledgeable about what to post and when – they will also know which platform to use to best reach the audience that’s right for your product or service. Even the less-popular social media platforms attract hundreds of millions of monthly users, offering huge opportunity for marketing returns and customer conversion.

(https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/)

Teamwork – A well-rounded marketing agency usually has project management, design and development, content, and other teams or individuals collaborating to manage all aspects of your marketing needs.

Sure, teamwork isn’t a skill specific to marketing… but it’s incredibly important, especially when multiple teams and/or departments need to come together to develop strategies and execute marketing plans. A well-rounded marketing agency usually has project management, design and development, content, and other teams or individuals collaborating to manage all aspects of your marketing needs.

In a perfect world, any issues with a marketing agency’s teamwork and internal processes wouldn’t be visible to (or have any effect on) clients. Of course that’s not the case in reality – a breakdown in teamwork can result in inefficiency and poor communication, meaning wasted time and often wasted money for your business. Many times, poor teamwork and collaboration is only obvious after a few weeks or months of your working relationship. 

Its great to be flexible and understanding of things that can happen within a business, but keeping an eye out for signs of great teamwork when looking for a marketing agency can save you some headaches down the road. Here at ThinkPod Agency, we work hard to keep our teams communicating and collaborating seamlessly. What might great teamwork look like?

1. Recognition and respect for all team members – Acknowledgement of all people working on a project means a marketing agency values every contribution and capitalizes on team talents, no matter how small a person’s role is
2. Open communication across teams – Many marketing agencies follow the model of having one point of contact for a client and keeping the rest of the activity behind closed doors. This may eliminate some confusion on occasion, but enabling clients to discuss project details with the team members working on them helps to iron out processes and clarify any issues.
3. Consistent information – If you’re getting conflicting information from different people on your project, or if plans aren’t executed as agreed or described, its likely that there is some type of communication breakdown within the marketing agency. Consistent information and communication from two or more contacts means that things are figured out internally before any client contact.  

How a marketing agency tackles these skills is a good indicator of their efficiency, performance, and commitment to client outcomes. ThinkPod Agency has these five skills and more, and we’ll prove it. Contact us today to discuss your marketing needs and how we can help your business!