How to Choose the Right Digital Marketing Partner for your Business

Running a small business means you may not always have the time and resources you need to market your company online. In fact, 57% of small and medium business owners, across Australia and New Zealand, told us in our 2015 Online Marketing Habits Survey they feel that they should be doing more in terms of their marketing (out of nearly 1,000 respondents). A digital marketing provider can help deliver results to get more customers coming through to your business. So, how do you find the right digital marketing partner for your business needs?

We’ve put together a list of questions to consider:

What is their approach to different types of businesses? Do they offer a one size fits all solution? Or do they invest time, effort and research into looking at your business and what you require?

Do they provide Software as a Service or Software with a Service? What’s the difference? Are they providing you with a technology that you have to plug into your system and make meaning of yourself? Or are they providing you with an expert who will take the time to sit down with you to understand your business and set out achievable digital marketing goals. Are they then leveraging a technology and guiding you on how it works so that you get the best results?

Does the digital marketing provider report back to you? Will they do an initial set up of your marketing campaigns and then have no further involvement? Or will they be reporting back to your on how your digital marketing is performing on a regular basis?

Do they provide a total digital marketing system – i.e. a suite of solutions for paid advertising, SEO, retargeting and live chat? 29% of respondents to a recent ReachLocal survey said that they use 3 or more different suppliers for marketing services or software.

Has their business won any awards or received industry recognition? If so, what for? Is it for customer service, great technology, innovation? How do these match up against your requirements and expectations?

What are the companies and brands they associate with? Are they, themselves partnered with other well-known industry leaders?

What message do they portray of themselves online? Are they offering resources, tips and thought leadership through their online communications? Do they make an attempt to provide platforms to have open dialogue with people? What do they share online about their company culture and values?

We hope these tips are useful for helping you choose the right digital marketing partner for your local business. If you’re looking for a trusted partner to take charge of your digital marketing efforts, we invite you to learn more about ReachLocal and our suite of digital marketing solutions. www.reachlocal.com.au