5 Questions To Ask Your Digital Marketing Agency Before You Start Working

Published on: 09 October 2020 Last Updated on: 04 November 2024
Digital Marketing Agency

In the past few years, brands, regardless of their shape and size have started understanding digital marketing. This means that convincing a majority of them about the advantages of digital marketing has ceased to exist in most situations.

You need to do thorough research when choosing a digital marketing agency that you need to partner with. If you are starting from scratch, you need to go via Digitech Web Design, a leading agency that can help you with everything from designing your business website to taking care of your SEO strategies and plans.

In 2020, brands are faced with a new challenge- which agency to partner with! Digital Marketing agencies are propping up left, right, and center. While everyone claims to be the best at what they do, it is for brands to be sure of their abilities.

In this article, we are going to help brands get on board the best digital marketing agencies as partners. However, before we get to the questions, brands should ask agencies, let us first look at some of the challenges of the same.

Challenges to Hiring the Best Digital Marketing Agency for your Brand

Every business is unique. It has its own sets of challenges. In terms of priority, some businesses want to concentrate on one aspect, while others look to do something else. It is important that your internet marketing agency understands your needs and requirements as a business.

Many brands feel that every digital or internet marketing agency offers the same. However, that is not the case. If you want to work with a complete 360-degree agency, you will have to shell out a premium. Therefore, it is essential to work with a skill set, which you feel would be most helpful for you at a specific time.

A creative agency will tell you that it is all about branding, logo, design, and language. An agency geared towards social media would want to focus on just that one aspect. You need to team, which amplifies your complete digital performance at all levels.

List of 5 Questions to ask your Digital Marketing Agency before you start

1. What is their area of Expertise?

It is essential that you honestly ask them about what their area of specialization at the very start is. Like we already mentioned, while some have a great social team, others might boast of a brilliant SEO team. Depending on what you want to proceed with for the next year, you need to ask them about their different verticals in the organization.

2. What are Budget and Fees?

At the end of the day, money matters. If you are looking for a highly-skilled, specialized agency, you need to shell out a good amount as retainer every month. However, if your agency helps you increase your sales and revenues multiple times, you will not feel the pinch. Try starting with a smaller agency to understand those basics and then proceed with the bigger ones.

3. What are their Credentials and Past Work Records?

Many brands feel secure when they see that an agency has handled clients in the past from their niche. While this is a great starting point, you should not let your options be limited by just this fact. If they have worked with a business of a similar nature in the past, then they are aware of all the challenges, strategies, and processes, which will be required in the case of your business.

4. What are their Marketing Inputs about your Brand?

Most agencies will ask you about your pressure or pain points and then proceed to offer solutions accordingly. You can use this to ask them about larger marketing and sales goals. This will help show you how much they are aligned with your brand. It will also demonstrate whether they understand your issues and are willing to address the same with their skills.

5. What is the Timeframe for seeing Results?

You are only working with an internet marketing agency because you want to start seeing results. There is always an expectation involved. Do not fear or feel embarrassed in communicating the same with the prospective agency. This will allow them to assess their performances and see whether they have the capability to fulfill your expectations.

The Final Word

It is essential that you proceed with these five questions before signing on an internet marketing agency. This will allow you to structure your expectations accordingly. A good digital agency can be a great asset to a brand. However, on the flip side, if you do not get the best agency, you will end up losing money.

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SMS Marketing

Your Ultimate Guide To Creating SMS Marketing Campaigns

Every marketer would tell you that there are reasons why text marketing continues to become a mainstay in marketing agencies. In fact, both conventional and modern companies highly rely on their efficacy when it comes to reaching out to their target audience. Because when you think about it, every person checks their text message inbox every time they receive a ping.  Leveraging communication strategies like an effective SMS marketing campaign allows you to grow your brand more, target more audiences, and even build closer relationships with prospects. There are a lot of things that SMS marketing can help you with in terms of achieving business goals. But before you partake in this marketing tactic, it’s important to understand the concept behind this marketing practice. Use this guide to make successful SMS marketing campaigns.  What Is SMS Marketing?  It’s crucial to understand first the concept behind this old but gold marketing strategy. SMS marketing refers to a short message service you send to your customers to build relationships with them. It’s important for text marketers to communicate with their target audiences in a respectful and compliant manner. No matter what your business goals are, SMS marketing puts you one step ahead of achieving them. For instance, you can drive more leads, introduce new products, lead them to check your website, and so on. The ideas that you can do with this marketing method are limitless.  Compared to email or push notification marketing, SMS marketing has several advantages. For instance, every person who receives an incoming message in their phone inbox will surely take the time to check and read them one by one. While some people might check their emails at least once a day regarding text message inboxes, people often check them as soon as they receive a message.  Your message can be concise and clear with SMS marketing. There’s no need for lengthy advertising messages. With brief sentences that can take up less than 160 characters of the SMS limit, you can already deliver what you want to say to your prospects. Choosing The Right SMS Marketing Tool  Now, it’s time to understand the tool to use for this marketing strategy. With the advent of technology, there is now text marketing software at your disposal. For one, you can take advantage of Drop Cowboy Ringless Voicemail service and some other brands that offer reliable text messaging as marketing services.   Text message delivery depends on the tools and services you choose. Such software comes with pricing plans that fit your marketing budget and goals. Unlike any other conventional marketing promotions like print ads, TV ads, and billboards, this marketing campaign is priced reasonably better. Also, consider partnering with the best SMS marketing service provider to automate your text messages to your target recipients.    How To Maximize On SMS Marketing Campaigns As mentioned, a high percentage of people open text messages every time they receive one. By sending promotional messages via SMS, you ensure your customers will read them because they will arrive directly in their inboxes. Check out these ideas in which you can maximize your SMS marketing campaigns.  1. Limited-Time Promotions  You can use an SMS marketing strategy to encourage your customers to avail of coupons and discounts or even redeem incentives or gifts. Offering these incentives for a limited time makes them even more effective. Announcing that the campaign only runs on a promo period is an effective call-to-action strategy so your customers won’t miss out on such opportunities. It’s one effective strategy to get your business to high ranks.  Considering SMS marketing's high open rate, it’s the most effective way to communicate time-sensitive offers with customers. As a result, you ensure your customers don't pass up a good deal. This yield win-win situations for both the customers and your brand. They get discounted rates, and you could convert your sales funnel more effectively.   2. Reminding Customers  One good purpose for SMS marketing is when you could send notifications regarding the recent actions of your customers. For instance, whether they checked your website, changed passwords, or linked different payment modes, an SMS notification will be sent to inform them that the activity is successful. Sending notification messages is essential for many businesses, and they’ve realized how effective it is in retaining customers.   By relaying notifications about their recent purchase or online activities, the customers will grow their trust in your brand. It could lead to continuous patronage. Also, they will feel at ease by getting reminders of how your brand is already dealing with their orders or purchases. Receiving reminders is valuable, especially for customers who are always busy with other things and obligations.   Make sure your brand is always at the top of your customer's minds. It’s a job that SMS is best suited for. With SMS marketing, you can remind your customers about everything from their most recently liked products to the purchased ones that are going to arrive soon.  3. Order Updates And Confirmation  An SMS is also useful for customers to receive updates regarding their orders. Once they make a purchase, a message will be sent regarding the successful transaction. It ensures peace of mind for the customer.  Also, the confirmation messages sent via SMS will allow them to use them as proof or evidence regarding their purchase. If products don’t arrive as planned, they can refer to the SMS notification.   4. New Product Release And Launches  SMS advertising is also useful for announcing new product releases. It’s the most cost-effective way for marketers to advertise new product launching. Without paying for the expensive talents of celebrities to promote new products, a large number of users will discover your new product offering through the message they can read in their SMS inbox.  Using this method will generate buzz and interest, and you could even entice old customers to come back and check out what's new. You can also use SMS campaigns to drive traffic to your website or storefront. Thus, you can simply include a link they can visit to check your new product or any offers.  5. Send Welcome Messages  Send your customer a welcome message once they subscribe to your SMS marketing campaign. Companies must start building relationships with their customers. As a result, you will be able to communicate with them right away, as they will know they have been subscribed.   It also alerts them to expect a few messages from your end every now and then. There’s no need for lengthy or complex welcome messages. Sometimes short but sweet thank you message about their subscription are already enough for your customers to remember your business.   6. Customer Service Tool  SMS is not limited to being a marketing tool; it’s also a customer support tool. In this era where customer service should be at the forefront of any business, SMS strategy can be used to ensure customer satisfaction.  It’s imperative that your work processes are as transparent as possible, and you can achieve this by constantly sending them SMS in case necessary. After all, a text message is the easiest way to communicate with pre-sale customers and post-sale tech support. 7. Collect Customer Feedback  It’s essential for businesses to receive customer feedback to determine what they are doing well and what they need to improve. And it’s something that’s being offered with SMS marketing. You can send out surveys through SMS, and customers can answer them timely and convenient.   There are many ways to create survey forms for them to easily fill out. The key is to attach the link to your SMS. Another option is to ask customers to rate you using a ranking system that’s easy for them to use.   8. Announce VIP Programs  By offering a VIP program, you can encourage loyalty among your subscribers and customers. If you want to make your VIP customers feel special, offer them VIP-only discounts. This sense of exclusivity allows your customers to treat your brand with more respect and value.   Also, use this program for customers to gain early access to sales and other promotions. One way for them to qualify for your VIP list is to encourage them to fill out a signup link. However, since it’s VIP, make it seems more challenging for them to enter this list. The harder it feels to qualify, the more special and valued they would feel.  Tips To Apply Effective SMS Marketing Strategies Applying SMS marketing strategies require effective implementations. When done right, they can produce the best outcomes for your business. Here are some tips to apply effective SMS marketing strategies for your brand:  1. Ensure That Your Customers Opted In  Your customers probably already provide you with their phone numbers. However, one common courtesy is to get their approval to start receiving SMS from your brand. Mass texting them without their consent is ethically wrong and will only lead to adverse effects on the customer. Ensure to get your customer’s clear opt-in before starting to send out text message campaigns.  Your website or other online channels can allow customers to opt-in to receive text messages. However, you should get a text confirmation before you send them anything. There are ways to get their opt-in consent. One is to make them reply Yes or No to your single SMS regarding SMS subscription. Another way is through your website. They can press a CTA button regarding their receiving SMS messages from your brand. When the user clicks the link in the offer, they can fill out the subscription form and enter their number so they can start receiving your SMS campaigns.  2. Take Time To Introduce Yourself  A good practice is to take the time to introduce your brand in any of your SMS campaigns. Chances are your customers don’t know where the messages are coming from. Failing to include your company name or brand name on the message will only forfeit its purpose. Hence, it’s important to include your company or brand name in that short message that you’re sending.  3. Make Messages Fun And Short  It’s common for people to use SMS messages to communicate with friends and family informally. Texting should remain fun in your SMS campaign in the same way as a fun communication tool between people. Be friendly and personal with customers to build trust.   Use local trending words that are popular with your target audience for the time being. It ensures to catch their interest and make them read your text message completely. The maximum number of characters in an SMS message is 160. With an opt-out option and the need to identify yourself, that's not much to work with. Don't waste any characters, and go straight to the point of what you want to say.   4. Don’t Forget To Use Target Keywords  To encourage users to connect with you, you should select contextually relevant keywords alongside simple messages and shortcodes. Using such keywords will allow them to easily remember anything about your brand or company. If they want to research you online, they can use the same keywords found on your SMS. 5. Give An Option For Customers To Opt Out  All marketing communications should follow these standards and rules. Much like getting their buy-in, you should also give them the option to opt out and unsubscribe from your SMS campaigns. You are more likely to lose customers if you constantly text them when they do not want to hear from you.  Your messages should come with the unsubscribe option, so your customers can freely opt out anytime they want. There are some viable reasons for them to do this. But it doesn’t entirely mean that they won’t be good prospects for you in the future. It’s just that not everyone prefers to get this kind of information via text.  SMS open rates tend to be much higher than those for email, so you should also expect a higher unsubscribe rate. After a message is sent, unsubscribes may spike and treat it as a normal occurrence.   6. Be More Informative Than Promotional  You should be extremely considerate of your buyers' inboxes since promotional SMS messages can easily be turned off. Therefore, staying informative and interactive is best, and not focusing too much on sounding sales or promotional.   A good rule of thumb is to focus most of your communication on order, whether a status update or a request for feedback. Schedule your promotional messages and send them at least only twice a week at a minimum. No one wants to keep receiving promotional messages that are obvious that they want to make money from you. Conclusion You can increase engagement with your target audience by using SMS marketing. Keeping your customers' attention is easier if you market to them where they are most active. Therefore, if your target audience is always in their phone’s SMS inbox, it’s worth considering SMS marketing as part of your marketing mix. Use this guide and wait for results to reflect your bottom line soon.  Read Also: Calling Out – How Telemarketing Allows You to Reach a Wider Audience How To Move Your Career In Social Media Marketing Up A Gear? Best Marketing Strategies For Lawyers In Houston

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Online Store Sales

Getting Help from an E-Commerce Expert to Boost Your Online Store Sales

Every new online store comes with subpar sales, at least in the beginning. While this may make you want to give up, remember that there's still a chance for you to generate more sales and earn more money. All you need to do is seek the help of an e-commerce expert like Matthew Lepre. With his years of industry experience as seen in tons of Matthew Lepre reviews, he can help you perform the following tips that can help boost your sales: Be Visual A picture paints a thousand words. This is especially true when it comes to online selling. Since the client cannot see or touch the product for himself, he needs to have a good visual reference. You can provide this through captivating photos. While you may not be a photography expert, you can still come up with pro-grade images. First, use a good backdrop – a plain white one would do. Next, mind the lighting when you take a picture. For this, you can use softbox lighting. There are several more things to consider, so make sure to refer to these photography tips for beginners. Enhance Communication E-commerce experts believe in good communication, something you can promote with a live chat feature. This can be a chat screen that automatically pops up on your site. You also have the option for a more subtle clickable button. So, what makes live chat good for the business? For one, it addresses the issue of urgency. Some of your clients may have concerns regarding specific products. With live chat, you can answer them right away, and this swiftness might be the push they need for the purchase. With 77% of customers refusing to buy from a store with no live chat features, it's essential to have this feature installed right away. Ease the Checkout Process Clients go online shopping because of the fuss-free experience. As such, you stand to lose several customers when you complicate the buying process. A lot depends on the UI, UX, and hosting when it comes to easing and accelerating the speed of checking out. Using a Magento Hosting helps in improving the speed of the experience and allows the final payments to be made in a fraction of seconds. This helps in improving the overall user experience. Because of this, e-commerce experts recommend easing the checkout process. This can be done by offering a guest checkout option. That way, eager buyers don't have to fill out several forms to complete their purchase. Simplifying the process should not be limited to guests, though, as you need to deliver the same service to your existing subscribers. One way to hasten the checkout process is to reduce unnecessary form fields. You can do this by having a tick box that allows the program to use the shipping address for the billing address. Adding a progress bar is a worthwhile consideration as well. With this, the clients are informed of all the steps they have to take to finish the purchase. Improve Client Trust Trust is the foundation of relationships – whether personal or business. This is why gaining your clients' trust is vital if you want to continue transacting with them. Fortunately for you, an e-commerce expert can help you promote trust through every part of the funnel. The best way to do so is through social proof, that is, adding customer reviews to your product pages. Apart from the product description, the review is another aspect where clients base their decisions. If the product comes with many rave reviews, the buyer will be more convinced to click the checkout button. It's also important to show your badge of honor for payment security. Remember, identity theft is not an issue to be taken lightly. It affects approximately 14 million individuals or 1 out of 15 people. With the many payment badges available, it's best to use those that generate the most trust. So far, the most popular seals include: PayPal Verisign McAfee Truste Better Business Bureau Apart from showing these badges, putting in client testimonials will help boost sales, too. Like reviews, this can help assure your clients that they're making a safe purchase decision. If many others have bought from you securely, why shouldn't they? Utilize Email Marketing Many people believe that email marketing is dead, but e-commerce experts are quick to point out how mistaken they are. You get to earn as much as $42 in ROI for every $1 you spend on email marketing. You can capitalize on email marketing in several ways. If you don't have a list yet, you need to do a promotional bit to collect email addresses. For example, you can give discounts or a free shipping coupon in exchange for newsletter signup. Now that you have a couple of emails under your belt, you can use them to boost your sales. One technique that e-commerce experts recommend is cross-selling. This is where you promote products that are related to or complementary to the client's purchased items. Another way to boost sales is to send promotional deals during hot dates, like Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Make sure to appeal to the client's fear of missing out by offering limited-time offers such as one-day sales or flash sales. Launch Paid Ads The term 'paid' may make you queasy, mostly if you have already spent a great deal establishing your online store. That said, this should make you consider paid ads even more. Despite its name, paid ads are cost-effective ways of generating sales. And you don't have to necessarily spend a lot to get started. You can test the waters for as low as $50. An e-commerce expert can also help you gain a clear understanding of your target audience. This will help you hone in on the group that's more likely to buy your products. That way, you gain the best value for your money. An e-commerce expert can also help you run multiple campaigns with different ad variations. According to Matthew Lepre reviews, this is important because social media channels help generate the most leads. More importantly, an expert can also help you monitor and interpret the metrics that come with the ads. That way, you get to focus on the campaigns that bring the most revenue. Optimize Your Website To grow your sales, it’s essential to optimize your website’s loading speed and uptime. If your website doesn’t load quickly there’s a high chance that the visitors may bounce away without even checking your products or services.  Your expert may recommend using reliable Magento hosting solutions that can help boost the loading speed of your e-commerce website. Additionally, the web hosting provider also determines the uptime of your website. The expert will help you find a host who has minimal downtime to ensure that your website remains online all the time. E-commerce experts can help you boost your sales. With the many benefits they can bring to your business, it's high time that you contacted one today. Read Also: CRM and ERP Combination for Business Solutions 5 affordable e-commerce shopping carts for small business The Right B2B E-Commerce Platforms to Sell Your Used Machinery

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E-Commerce Platforms

Never Launch An E-commerce Platform Without Testing – Here Is Why

In simple words, without sounding too nerdy, let us try to look at what performance testing is. Performance Testing is the process of rigorously testing all the tech and digital components of an E-commerce business. This includes the desktop version of the platform and mobile app testing. The key is to look at and analyze how the entire tech and digital ecosystem operates. Especially when exposed to real-world use. Imagine hundreds of people using the E-commerce platform app at the same time. The questions that then arise are- Is the server able to handle the heavy load of all the traffic using the mobile app at the same time? Is there a lag or breakdown that any of the users are experiencing or is there a UI and UX compromise under stress? What are some of the benchmarks and standards that one should use to judge speed and whether the platform is exposing some bottlenecks? Performance Testing is more than just looking at loading page speeds. It seeks to test each aspect of the E-commerce platform and suggest the perfect optimization for the same. Important Things To Consider During Performance Testing For E-commerce: In this section, we request experts at QA Madness to help us. Specifically, to list some important things that should be considered during performance testing. 1. Testing Financial Transactions One area where things can go wrong is in financial transactions. With so many people using the same platform at the same time, testing becomes necessary. You need to test to ensure that every transaction is going through. Integrations with Payment Gateways, the ERP, and Inventory Management Software are all areas that should be covered under this software testing services. 2. Checking The Mobile App Exhaustively Mobile app testing perhaps constitutes one of the most important verticals for Performance Testing. How does the app perform? Is it SEO friendly? Is there a compromise in the graphics? These are the common issues that mobile app testing will help resolve. In addition to the app, the mobile version of the E-commerce platform’s website also needs to be tested rigorously. 3. Region-Based Testing For Different Geographies- If you are starting an e-commerce business, you are looking at a truly global audience. This is why you need to make sure that the internet protocols of the different countries are not interfering with how the customers in those countries are engaging with your platform. Changed domain URLs, IP addresses, and other rules and regulations need to be considered. 4. Data Management Testing Any successful E-commerce ecosystem is incomplete without integrated data management. For an E-commerce platform, data is the lifeblood that helps all its verticals- marketing, sales, and CRM. Performance Testing needs to ensure that the data collection, cloud storage solutions, and the final outputs are ready for systematic generation. The Three KPIs Of Performance Testing As Stated By QA Madness- While there can be multiple KPIs that software testing services can help E-commerce brands with, QA Madness states that the following are the three major ones. They refer to the same as the three ‘S’s of their Performance Testing goals. A. Speed When it comes to speed, we are referring to the speed of the website, the mobile version of the web, and the mobile application. It also includes the speed with which users are progressing from one page to another on the app and the website. The higher the speed, the better will be the user experience. This combines to deliver the best sales and revenues for an E-commerce platform. B. Scalability You do not want your website and app infrastructure to be so weak that it crashes only after a hundred visitors. You're E-commerce website and the app must go under a test for scalability to handle massive loads all at the same time. This will help you provide a fluid experience to millions of users and potential customers all at the same time without compromises. C. Stability A lot can go wrong on an E-commerce website when it is put under stress. Graphics can fall out of place and payment gateways can collapse. You never want the users to experience these problems on your platform. An E-commerce platform needs to be stable all the time, with or without load. Performance Testing seeks to build the stability of an E-commerce platform. What Do Experts Have To Say? There is no set rule as to when an E-commerce platform should go for Performance Testing. Some believe that it should be done at the early stages of development. Others believe that it should be done once the development of the platform is complete to identify the loopholes and then plug them in accordingly. No matter when you get them done, Performance Testing is essential for your E-commerce platform. If you want to create a highly optimized and result-oriented business, this is a great investment to make. If you have any other questions on software testing services or mobile app testing, feel free to ask them. Use the comments section to drop your queries. We will once again request or reach out to our friends at QA Madness to help you out. What Happens With A Lack Of Thorough Test? Not performing performance testing for an E-commerce platform can get you in a lot of trouble. Your site is live; suddenly, hundreds or thousands of people have started using it! What could possibly go wrong?- Well, without performance testing, things will go downhill really quickly. So, let’s see what could happen when not to perform performance testing. Crashes And Slowdowns If your E-commerce platform hasn’t been tested for scalability, it could easily crash when too many users try to access it. A slow website or app not only frustrates users but also drives them away. No one likes waiting for pages to load, especially when they’re trying to make a purchase. The result? A major drop in sales and a tarnished reputation. Failed Transactions Think of users wanting to purchase an item and their transactions fail. Users will not be ready to trust your platform anymore. This is why performance testing is important as it ensures that all financial transactions are smooth on your site even when there is heavy traffic. Poor User Experience Have you ever been on an app or website that lags, has images that don’t fit, or feels unresponsive? It’s not fun. The UI/UX of your platform can feel the same way without performance testing. This gives a very unprofessional impression and will make people leave your site out of frustration (high bounce rate). Increased Costs Skipping testing might appear to be a good way to keep some money in your pocket, however it will actually cost you more in the end. If your site crashes during a big sale or promotion, the time and expense of getting those issues fixed after the fact will likely be substantial. Plus, if your site is down for any longer period of time, you’ll be losing out on all that potential income. Safety Not Guaranteed! No matter what app you’re building, you’re likely going to be handling some sort of user data. Whether it’s a login and password or more sensitive financial or health information, users need to know they can trust you with that data. What About The User's Interest Finally, one of the most significant risks is losing users’ trust. If your platform crashes, slows down, or declines a transaction, for instance, and that happens to some users, they will probably never come back. Even if you fix everything afterward! When people’s trust is broken, it’s very hard to be rebuilt! Read also: The Right B2B E-Commerce Platforms to Sell Your Used Machinery Approaches for Increasing E-commerce Sales Through Inventory Reports 5 Reasons to Use Magento for Your Next Ecommerce Website

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