The demand for digital marketing is growing at an incredible rate. The vast majority of business in today’s virtual landscape is conducted online, which means it’s more important than ever for companies in every sector to find ways to increase their search rankings, customer reach and entity visibility. In order to help businesses accomplish these goals, digital marketing agencies need to be equipped with the right tools, skills and intentions to attract the right clients and succeed in the saturated online world. 

Ready to elevate your digital marketing agency and ensure long-term success? Read on for a comprehensive list of everything your agency needs in order to thrive in the industry. 

1. Proof of Legitimacy

The burden to prove that you’re worth the investment is placed largely on the shoulders of your company, but this proof should come in more forms than just a visual demonstration of past client work. 

Establishing trust between your agency and present and future clients alike can be made easier when you produce additional examples of your expertise and legitimacy, including graphed evidence of conversion rate improvements, an emphasis on user-friendly security measures such as mobile authentication and documentation showing how much revenue past clients have saved or generated because of your services. 

2. Niche Value

Because there are so many different social media sites and strategies, SEO approaches and graphic design styles, your digital marketing agency could get lost in the crowd if you lack specificity with your offerings. Simply stating that you offer social media marketing strategies, website redesign or SEO marketing services undersells what makes your agency unique and effective. 

Take a look at what makes your team unique in your industry and advertise it as specifically as possible. Rather than state that your agency is proficient in social media marketing, choose several platforms with which you and your team possess the expertise and advertise why a client should hire your agency, whether you’re skilled at creating visual content that increases engagement with new customers or your team is well-known for effective short-form copy to increase conversions. 

3. A Solid Portfolio

A portfolio can not only demonstrate why clients should hire your agency, but it’s a good practice in demonstrating the use of your digital marketing skills in order to convince clients to do business with you through the same effective copy, appealing graphics and impressive data you would offer them as part of your services. 

A successful digital marketing portfolio can take several approaches, from value-based demonstrations to clean, simple project pages. A portfolio is a great way to show off some of the highlights of your past work and make an impact on potential clients with past client testimonials and accessible examples of your credentials and work history. 

4. Talented Staff

In order to become the full-service marketing agency you’re destined to be, you need to assemble a highly skilled team of employees with various talents and skills. It may seem like a good idea at first to try to split your workload between a few people, but task switching and management can become tiresome and cause your work to suffer. Instead, it’s a good idea to hire reliable, dedicated staff to tackle each area of your company, from finances and marketing to copywriting and design. 

Your company is more likely to achieve success when the person in charge of each aspect of a project is tasked with a specific, dedicated role. Some marketing agencies prefer to outsource some tasks to contractors or freelancers, which can conserve business resources for other pertinent tasks on your plate. 

5. High-Quality Tools

A lot goes into every digital marketing campaign, so it’s important to keep track of all the moving parts throughout the entire process. Investing in the right tools and software in order to track and analyze data, collaborate on projects, designate roles, manage tasks and communicate between team members can make your workflow smoother, boost productivity and save valuable time and resources. 

6. A Balance of Versatility and Defined Scope

Not every marketing agency needs to master every content marketing strategy. However, a company that specializes in too few channels or strategies may pigeonhole itself and miss out on valuable growth within the industry. Take a look at what your company resources can accommodate, where your skills and expertise lie and what strategies are most likely to bring clients to your business. 

From there, find ways to either further specialize in what you’re already doing or branch out slightly in order to cast a wider net in the digital marketing world. Rather than split your company’s attention amongst a large variety of strategies and master none, position your agency as a collaborative authority on the strategies in which you excel–and keep growing at a sustainable rate to keep up with the competition. 

7. Excellent Customer Service

The success of any digital marketing agency relies not only on their technical skills and expertise but on their ability to build positive relationships with clients. Satisfied clients are more likely to return to do business with your agency, as well as refer your services to colleagues for both small and large-scale projects. Word of mouth is a powerful tool in the industry, and great customer service will better ensure future referrals for your agency. 

It may be helpful to consider each business relationship as a long-term client from the start. That way, you can prepare strategies that require ongoing upkeep or intervention as long as the client is interested in your services. 

8. Stellar Marketing

Digital marketing agencies are in a unique position in which your company must practice effective content marketing in order to demonstrate your skills as content marketers. Using the same effective strategies you’d offer your clients, build effective campaigns to set your agency apart and build an audience of your own. 

Conclusion

Your digital marketing agency has a brand with its own story to tell, and how well you can tell that story will dictate whether clients will want to work with you or not. Whether you offer assistance or collaboration with a company’s existing marketing team or your company provides full-service marketing campaigns for various industries, build campaigns around demonstrable skills and your authoritative voice in the industry.