Criteria for Selecting an Online Marketing Firm
Many marketing organizations are unable to stay abreast of the ever-changing online marketing landscape and thus, fail to take full advantage of it. And their Ad agency and web development teams just don't have the needed skills. There is good reason for this when you consider the skill set required to be successful.
The best online marketing firms will have deep knowledge in three key areas: web tools and technologies, best practices for online marketing, and online buyer behaviors. This is such a diverse set of skills, ranging from the details of software programming required to create a modern website, to the understanding of psychology and the implications of the latest online buying behavioral research, to the broad and fast-evolving landscape of internet marketing best practices.
Some larger companies have built their own internal online marketing experts, but most companies can't afford this luxury. Instead, they build a partnership with a top online marketing firm like StratiMind that specializes in providing a comprehensive set of online marketing services.
Online Marketing Firm Checklist
Before you hire an online marketing partner, here is a checklist of things to consider:
- Experts in all the online marketing disciplines
It is important that your online marketing partner be well-versed in all the online marketing disciplines. The world of online marketing is not just an extension of the traditional advertising and public relations discipline. Nor is it reachable by extending website development skills alone. Instead, online marketing (or internat marketing) requires a wholistic view of the marketing function that many agencies and web development firms just don't have. Some of the more important disciplines include:
- search engine marketing (both paid search and natural search engine optimization),
- online branding, messaging and positioning
- online copywriting and editing
- online (and offline) lead generation programs
- lead conversion process design
- lead conversion analysis with web analytics
- secure online transaction processing
- website design and development (both programming and creative)
- web apllications development (database-driven sites, e-commerce sites)
- website integration with web analytics, content management, marketing database, sales automation and other IT systems
- web site hosting and web site maintenance processes and technologies
- Current knowledge of best online marketing practices
Every day there seems to be something new in the world of online marketing. Staying on top of the rapidly evolution field takes a dedication to staying abreast of new developments - something that many firms just don't make the time to do.
- Deep knowledge of online tools and web programming technologies Lets face it, the technology side of the web can be intimidating. Your online marketing partner should have the technical horsepower and experience to get the job done correctly and continue to support you as your business and technolgy needs grow. This includes, for example, the successful development and integration of customized web-based software applications, secure e-commerce transactions and database-driven dynamic web sites. Your partner should have the technology muscle and expertise to take you safely and efficiently through this mine field of computer programming like a walk in the park.
- Extensive operational experience in senior marketing roles. There is simply no substitute for the experience gained by working in and leading marketing organizations in companies like yours. Finding this kind of experience in an agency or web development company is rare, and yet this is the very thing -, that intagible factor - that will enable your online marketing partner to integrate online marketing programs into the bigger corporate picture. By attaining this strategic marketing synergy, such a partner can deliver far greater value to you.
- Accessible experts that actually do the work.
The services provided by traditional consulting firms are built on a model that exploits the economic efficiencies of the organizational hierarchy. In this model, the top executives do the selling and the worker bees do the implementing. But the downside is that they have to pay a fixed overhead to stay in business. So you end up paying for both their fixed overhead costs and their management hierarchy. And when junior-level people work on your project, you usually get junior-level results.
In contrast, virtual firms like StratiMind can deliver "all senior experts all the time" consulting at comparable prices because we don't have the fixed overhead of traditional firms. There are no account executives (salespeople) in this model, so you deal only with the experts right from the start through to project completion.
- A results-oriented, collaborative approach You know the drill all too well. You have to show results from investing your marketing dollars. Results come in many flavors, but in marketing, it usually comes down to growing your top line revenues. Your online partner should have your same goals in mind, and be willing to build metrics into online marketing programs to enable measurement of outcomes. You should also look for a partner you trust and with whom you can feel comfortable collaborating. After all, we spend most of our adult lives at work, so why not choose partners that can help you be successful while making the process exciting and even fun!
- Track record of client success. Make sure your choice of online marketing partner has proven their capabilities with other clients. Look for referencable customers - clients that are willing to talk with you about their experience with that partner. If your potential online marketing partner is not willing to share with you the contact info for their happy customers (at the appropriate time of course), then think twice about hiring them. Online case studies and customer testimonials are also reassuring if they are specific about the company and person/people. But it is often not possible nor advisable for firms to publish this kind of detail on their web sites. So ask for the details if you see these on the firm's web site.
Where to Next?
Learn about How StratiMind Measures Up Against These Criteria
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