Does Your Digital Marketing Provider ‘Walk The Talk’?

Digital marketing has risen to prominence as one of the most critical aspects of every business. If you don’t have an excellent digital marketing campaign, you will find it hard to be as successful as possible.

You must have a strategy that revolves around driving traffic to your website, improving your SEO, converting leads, and so on. Without this, you’ll never unlock the real potential of your brand.

Best Digital Agency For My Business?

Almost every business will have a digital marketing provider that they call upon to help them with this side of things.

Understandably, you want the best agency to ensure your business has a winning strategy. Many business owners continuously ponder whether or not they’ve made the right decision and if they should change their digital marketing provider.

To answer this, you need to consider what makes one digital marketing agency better than the rest.

Do they have a specialty in one field? Have they got the experience to back them up?

There are plenty of things to consider, and here are a few thoughts on what it could be that tips the balance in favor of one marketing agency over another.

Specialist or Generalist

The first thing to think about is whether or not your digital marketing provider should have specific expertise in one or all of the core areas of digital marketing.

Social media marketing, email marketing, and online advertising, are standard fare, and it’s commonly known that these areas of digital marketing are the ones that yield the best results but are they, experts, in:

• All-things SEO
• Content Creation & Curation
• Leading Providers of Analytics or Conversion Rate Improvements

If one digital marketer is an expert in these core areas and another isn’t, does this automatically mean the first provider is the better option, and you should switch to them? Not necessarily.

The primary point about online advertising, social media and email marketing being the staples of digital marketing is the underlying test of whether you need to replace your provider immediately or seek more information on their overall suitability for your business and it’s aspirations.

Content Creation and SEO and measurement maybe the skills your provider outsources to ensure a deeper level of understanding and expertise is provided.

Do They ‘Walk The Talk’?

If you’ve not heard the phrase ‘walk the talk’, then allow me to explain. Many digital marketers and agencies will talk about what they can do and what they’re great at. This is all well and good, but where’s the evidence that proves they’re as good as they say they are?

If someone can ‘walk the talk,’ it means they’ve showcased their abilities and proven that they don’t just talk about the service they offer but also do it.

Client Case Studies

This links into what assets you expect an expert digital marketer to have. For one, you should look at the experience to prove that they can do the job. If they have numerous case studies of previous clients that show they’ve taken them from a pretty lowly place to a good one, this is an excellent indication that they walk the talk.

Conversely, a marketer lacking experience may be seen as too much of a risk for your business as there’s no proof of their skills.

Marketing Blog & Social Media Profiles

However, you shouldn’t just look at previous work experience as the only proof of someone walking the talk.

Also, look at the provider in question and see if they have their own successful marketing blog. This should be a given, considering they’ll probably claim to be digital marketing experts.

Along with the blog, they should have a host of regular articles that get plenty of clicks and views. Not only that, but the blog itself should perform well in search engines and receive loads of traffic.

This goes a long way to showing someone walks the talk as they’re clearly capable of creating a site with excellent SEO and plenty of traffic, precisely what your business is after.

Furthermore, you should also dig into their social media profiles.

Are they active on the most popular social platforms and using unique features on Twitter or Instagram?

If they’ve got a solid social media presence and can engage with their followers, then this bodes well for you as it’s a clear indication they know what they’re doing.

Ultimately, it all boils down to ‘walking the talk.’

Your business needs to look for digital marketing providers that can prove their expertise and clearly show you that they’re good at what they’re doing.

Whether through their own blogs and social media channels or case studies of previous clients, just make sure they walk the talk.

Active Network Of Experts

An expert digital marketer doesn’t necessarily need to be an expert in every single aspect of digital marketing. As long as they surround themselves with people with expertise in the central areas, that’s all that really matters.

If you’re searching for a digital marketing agency that claims to be an an expert in every aspect of marketing, you’ll be looking for a very long time. Most will focus on one area and may outsource to other expert marketers to take care of other specific parts of a campaign.

Realistically, you should look for a provider with a specialty your business considers the most important. If you’re really struggling on social media, then find a social media expert.

If you desperately need SEO improvements, then look for SEO experts instead.

Love What They Do

But, all the time, make sure the marketer can walk the talk and is passionate about the work they do.

The great thing is that a marketer with their own blog or an active social media presence talking about marketing will obviously be passionate about their work.

So, should your business change its digital marketing provider? If they can’t walk the talk and you don’t feel that they’re passionate about their job, then yes, you should.