If you know anything about marketing, you know that digital marketing agencies in Durham NC aren’t going away anytime soon. With the attention shift of consumers and the general public placing higher emphasis on the digital side of things, having a team whose focus is primarily digital is not a bad idea as they can help you expand your business beyond means that your in house marketing team may be able to achieve. Now as you’re making your decision on whom to partner with, it is important that you ask specific questions before entering an agreement, but what happens after the paperwork is signed and you are fully invested with a digital marketing agency? Once you’ve entered the relationship with an agency you will have to continue to build a successful relationship with them and that’s where the following tips come in to play!

Be Responsive, and Be Present

If you are working with the right marketing agency you will notice that they do not have a set it and forget it mentality. Modern digital marketing agencies are more so strategic business partners than someone who just executes a campaign you’ve laid out for them. Because of this, your ability to be responsive and present is one of the biggest factors that will determine your success. As your partner, the digital marketing agency needs to have your feedback to ensure that you are seeing an ROI. They will likely review reporting with you monthly to gauge success. For these reporting calls to be effective, you have to be present. Be sure to set aside the time to truly absorb the conversation and engage. Nothing can kill success faster than taking the “this is what I’m paying you for” approach.

Do Not Resist

Just because you may be a social justice warrior on Twitter does not mean that everyone is out to take advantage of you. This is especially true when working with a digital marketing agency. The agency will often give feedback on ideas you have or dependent on the circumstance, how your organization functions. Know that this is not to criticize or cause an uprise but to better align your marketing efforts to what you want to achieve. This piece is especially important to share with your in-house marketing team. The agency is never coming for their job, they want to work together and ensure that all goals are exceeded.

Setting Clear Expectations- From the Start

Despite how many conversations you have had with your agency contact, it is imperative that upon signing you go through your expectations for success on both a campaign and relationship level. Every client is different for the agency and if you feel more comfortable having a weekly call to discuss results then be sure to set that expectation initially. Nothing is more awkward than having to have that conversation months after you feel things aren’t where they need to be.

Transparency Will Go A Long Way

Another of the keys to a successful relationship with a digital marketing agency is transparency. You should let the agency in on all of your marketing efforts, as well as any pain points within the process within your organization that may cause less ROI. This will allow for the agency to brainstorm ways around the pain points. For example, if you are running a lead based campaign and the conversion is reaching out to your company but you are short staffed on the phones this would be something that your agency would need to be aware of. They could then focus more on digital conversions to drive form fills instead of phone calls.

Partnership over Vendorship

Last, but certainly not least, you have to be ready to utilize the digital marketing agency as a partner, not a vendor. Collaboration is key and you are the expert in your industry. Your digital agency is the expert in digital recommendations and will research to get to know your business, will never know your business as well as you do. If you aren’t willing to utilize the digital marketing agency in this regard then you will never achieve optimal success.

Final Thoughts

If you have read through the tips above and are ready to embark on a digital relationship with an agency then get crackin’! As always if you have any questions or want to start your successful relationship with Red Shark Digital, contact us today!