In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is essential for businesses of all sizes.
However, with millions of websites competing for attention, it can be challenging to get your website noticed by potential customers. If you haven’t noticed, the website is just hanging out there on the web, all alone. Of no use.
That’s where digital marketing comes in. Digital marketing is a catch-all term that can mean many things: Google ads, Google local ads, pay-per-click ads, Facebook postings, Facebook automated ads, other social media, sales funnels, and more.
So, where do you turn? Which type of ad do you pick?
A better question is: Who can help me pick the right kind of ad?
And an even better question is: How can I trust what the marketing company is telling me? These are people who I probably will never meet in person; they could be telling me anything just to get themselves a new client!
In this article, we’ll provide you with ten tips for choosing a digital marketing company, as well as highlight what sets Silver Moon Agency apart from other online marketing firms.
Seven Tips for Choosing a Digital Marketing Company
1. Look for a company with a proven track record of success. Don’t be afraid to ask for case studies or testimonials from previous clients.
Placing ads is not just clicking a few buttons and registering your ad. Every industry has buzzwords (keywords), and some of those words aren’t accepted by all of the advertising platforms. The copy (wording) of your ad will make or break you—this is psychology all of its own.
Ask the prospective digital marketing firm to give you examples of their ads. Be sure you are looking at samples of digital ads, not print media, which is a totally different color. Sometimes it’s difficult to provide the whole ad because the pictures are all online, but they can at least provide the copy. Look to see if the copy looks like a fourteen-year-old wrote it, see if it’s persuasive, and digest it for how that kind of copy would fit your business.
Don’t be shy. If it’s the first time someone has asked them for samples of copy, they haven’t been in business very long. Thank them for their time.
2. Choose a company that understands your business and its unique needs. A good digital marketing company should take the time to learn about your industry and target audience.
Look for someone who has years of business experience. They should have 100 or more companies they have worked for, across a variety of industries. If they “specialize” in just a few industries, their copy, website setup, and general tone of their ads may be stale because they are peat, repeat, and repeat. Copywriters tend to lose their “freshness” after struggling to come up over and over again in the same industry. Worse, they tend to plagiarize other media campaigns and websites, which will get you into big trouble with the search engines.
3. Avoid companies that make unrealistic promises, such as guaranteeing top rankings in a short period of time.
Everything on the internet changes all the time, sometimes daily. It’s very difficult to keep up with. What worked yesterday may not work today. Those of us who have been around for a while understand this, and we are very careful when making any guarantees.
Not only that, we may run into a market (a combination of a business type and a geographical location) that is highly competitive, and the results of your campaign may be unexpectedly different than promised. That’s why you want a marketing company that will hang in there with you and tweak, test, and adjust your ad campaign until BOOM! It works!
But guarantees? Not a chance.
4. Look for a company that follows best practices and doesn’t use unethical or spammy tactics.
With the advent of artificial intelligence, this subject has reared its ugly head even more than in the past.
“Best practices” insist the work be done by a human. The search engines know the difference between AI language and human language. There is nothing like having your content removed from your ads or your ads not getting approval to run because of plagiarism or AI-generated copy.
Make sure any blogs provided by a marketing agency are not simply copied from another website or blog post. This is considered plagiarized and the search engines will eventually find it.
5. Look for a company that offers a range of marketing services.
Ads don’t stand alone on the internet. Your branding has to be uniform and effective across all your digital assets. Your logo should be the same everywhere. That sounds simple, but you would be surprised how many times companies change their logo in one location and forget to change it in another location. Same with color. Same with addresses. Same with hours of operation.
If you are going to hire a digital marketer, be sure you hire someone who understands this concept and who will take the time to do the research.
It will waste your time and money if you don’t.
6. Choose a company that communicates clearly and regularly with you about their efforts and progress.
Now, in reality, sometimes progress on the internet takes a while. Google doesn’t look at your industry every day; your new pages might not get scanned and categorized for a couple of weeks. You have to be patient.
But you still want to hear from the web person just so you know they are still alive, don’t you? And when they call, be sure they give you an update on how they are spending your money online. If you don’t understand something, and if the web person seems to be too “slick,” or is speaking in some unknown web language with lots of anachronisms (abbreviations) that you don’t understand, slow the person down and ask for specifics.
Transparency is critical. The reports don’t have to be complicated. They can be by email, by phone, or through a client management system. Just be sure you are kept up-to-date.
7. Avoid companies that use black-hat tactics or engage in unethical practices.
There are a lot of these.
Every industry has its own standards. Your industry has a set of standards. If you are a printing company, your standards would look like this: the product is produced from the ordered material, the print is what was ordered, the message is what was ordered, and the price was agreed upon in advance.
In digital marketing, the standards are very wide-ranging, and only someone who has been in the business for a pretty long period of time and who keeps up with continuing education will keep out of trouble.
Remember, if your digital assets get into trouble, you are left holding the bag. It will be your ad campaign that is canceled. It will be your website that suddenly disappears. The digital marketing company just walks away and goes to other clients.
What sets Silver Moon Agency apart from other SEO companies in Houston?
Silver Moon Agency is a digital advertising agency that offers a range of digital marketing services to help businesses of all sizes grow and succeed online. Here are some of the key factors that set us apart from other marketers:
Expertise:
Charlie Montgomery, the owner of Silver Moon Agency, LLC, has over 45 years of experience in consulting with business managers. She has assisted over 100 companies (mostly small businesses), sometimes bringing them back from the brink of bankruptcy. Her clients have been from many business types: service companies, product manufacturing, construction, real estate, and retail sales, just to name a few.
Our team of experienced digital professionals has a proven track record of success in improving our clients’ rankings and driving traffic to their websites.
We use a variety of techniques for our clients’ success, depending on their industry, geography, products, and company goals.
Personalized Approach:
We take the time to learn about our client’s businesses and tailor our strategies to their unique needs and goals.
Every company has a flavor, a unique environment, and an exclusive set of skills to offer the world. We ferret out that uniqueness and share these specialties over the internet so they get noticed by the world.
Transparency:
Silver Moon Agency believes in being transparent about our efforts. If something isn’t working, we work with our clients to figure out where the “sweet spot” is and to slide them into that groove. We are clear with our clients about what they can do and what the internet can’t do. We guide our clients through the noise and confusion that other digital markets create in order to avoid accountability.
Results-Oriented:
We focus on delivering measurable results for our clients, such as increased website traffic, higher rankings, and improved lead generation.
Sounds easy, right?
Well, we are here to tell you it’s not so easy.
But we know how to do it.
Range of Services:
Silver Moon Agency, LLC, offers a range of digital marketing services, including social media marketing, email marketing, pay-per-click advertising, SEO services in Texas, and even print media when needed.
Make Silver Moon Agency Your Go-to Houston Digital Marketing Company
Choosing the right digital marketing company can be critical for your business’s success. The world has changed; no longer are direct referrals enough to feed a business’s needs. Online marketing offers an opportunity to generate steady and consistent leads. The question is: Can you, as the business owner or manager, handle the increase in traffic?
We can even help you with that question.
By following the seven tips outlined in this article and choosing a company like Silver Moon Agency, LLC, you can ensure that your overall marketing plan is tailored to your industry, your size of business, and your future goals.
Contact us today to learn more about our digital marketing services and how we can help you grow your business the way you want it to.
We can help. Call us. 832-370-1328, Charlie Montgomery.