5 Ways to Identify a Cutting-Edge Marketing Company

The ideal marketing company is a combination of core competence and innovation - never afraid to head in the direction of constructive change through a constant process of measuring, testing, tweaking, and evolution. The problem is how to find the best digital agency for your business.

To help you in your search, keep in mind that a successful, cutting-edge marketing company knows:

The Buyer

Target marketing is an important facet of inbound marketing, and defining your target market is as important as the marketing itself. A cutting-edge marketing company knows:

• Your target buyer personas
• Your buyers’ pain points and objections
• Your buyers’ wants and needs

A successful marketing company leverages this in-depth knowledge to provide cost-efficient marketing by maximizing reach and frequency. The company knows when and how to market, and how often.

The Consumer Journey

While the basic sales funnel may be comprised of a simple threefold section of top-middle-close, the online sales funnel is a maze of cross-channel integration, consumer engagement, and entry and exit points. A cutting-edge company knows your business’ consumer journey and how to maximize  relevance to your buyers.

A successful marketing agency knows which content is relevant at which points of the sales funnel to which buyer personas. This means that your inbound marketing can:

• effectively pull in buyers at the perfect stages of the sales funnel where there is the least friction or least number of pain points
• deliver relevant content when necessary to grease the wheels of lead nurturing
• minimize buyer dropoff by steering consumers away from exit points of the cycle and pulling them deeper into the funnel

The Content

Different types of web content have different roles depending on the channel or platform they’re on as well as which part of the sales funnel they are delivered to target buyers. For instance, images work well with social media platforms to spread awareness. Meanwhile, more time-consuming content such as podcasts and videos are better suited to latter parts of the sales funnel, when consumers are willing to be engaged enough to spend time in consideration of purchase. And product catalogs and pricing guides are best delivered to consumers already on the brink of purchase.

A successful, cutting-edge marketing company knows which forms of content work best where (which platform), when (in the buying cycle), and for whom (buyer personas).

The Technical Side

Online digital marketing takes into consideration a variety of technical aspects such as search engine optimization and Analytics. Invaluable in-depth technical knowledge spans both breadth and depth. For instance, SEO alone requires both breadth and depth of knowledge spanning:

• Off-page optimization, which includes link building, search ranking theory, and familiarization to search engine algorithm
• On-page optimization, which includes knowing best practices in meta data, HTML know-how and familiarization with user interfaces
• Website audits and competitor analysis, which includes generating reports, research, and market information

The Budget

Finally, a successful, cutting-edge marketing company knows how to do everything within set budgets. This means that agencies need to stay lean while remaining effective. Among other things, a digital agency needs to know:

• Which campaigns to prioritize in terms of ROI
• Which marketing tactics to consider in what channels of advertising
• How to transition from paid marketing to organic marketing without severely impacting the bottom-line

Finding the perfect marketing company is tricky, but when you do, you win big.

Ask your marketing company how much of the above they know and measure the value they bring to the table.

Image: BusinessCommunity.com

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