How to Choose The Best Digital Agency

1. Selecting a digital company can be a tricky. You can never go wrong with this “Go-To” guide. FLYNAUT presents HOW TO CHOOSE The Best Digital Agency Your Online Presence Is Your Business

2. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST DIGITAL AGENCY Internet has become one with humanity. By the end of 2016, the number of Internet users will surpass 3 billion that is over 43% of world’s population. For a business to flourish, what do you need? Misjudgments in finding the right agency can lead to disastrous partnerships causing a blow to your finances and brand image. • A great product or service. Agreed. But is it enough? • Are you covered for leveraging the online space? After all that’s where most of your customers are waiting to be explored and tapped. Your brand should be able to boast of strong online presence by one or more of these: • High visibility and frequent mentions on various social platforms • Increased traffic of new clients and prospects on your website • Successful conversion of leads into customers • Improved revenue through direct sales via e-commerce • Better productivity and communication with respect to people and processes A great digital agency will help you achieve all this and more. But this is where the things get interesting. The sheer number and types of agencies that have cropped up in the market make it difficult to decide what agency to trust your money with.

3. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST DIGITAL AGENCY If you are determined to not lose your customers to competition, your business needs to make a unique mark in the digital space A right digital agency would help you to do both – be unique and be awesome. However, before you jump the gun consider these subtle yet strong realities of working with a digital agency: • Be clear that the agency and its members cannot be treated as outsiders. This streamlines the hiring process where you choose them for specific skills and expect them to deliver value. Just like a regular employee! • Agency cannot work as a standalone boxed up team. They need to work closely with the in-house marketing team and coordinate on routine basis for the online efforts to make sense. • Do not get swayed by the agency strengths and assume they are right for you. Explore their limitations too. If those shortcomings can have an impact on your online marketing drive, maybe it’s safe to search other options. Favor agencies that can offer industry specific experience and success stories rather than creativity and entertainment. A right digital agency can produce a positive chain reaction: = LOYAL CUSTOMERS ENGAGING & TARGETED 
 ONLINE CONTENT GOOD BUSINESS OFFERINGS +

4. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST DIGITAL AGENCY The search for ideal digital agency is a logical sequence of events. If you fast-forward or keep backtracking on the online strategy, it can do more harm than good. The journey to find a digital agency that is perfect for your business can be broken into 3 important phases. INTERNAL FINE TUNING This means getting your organizational game right. You need to be sure the internal parts are in tandem before scouting for agency in the outside world. Checklist of things you need to consider during this phase include: • Is your objective to hire digital agency clearly spelled out? 
 (Is it for branding, generating leads, traffic, increasing sales, boosting the ranking or user activity?) • Are your marketing requirements chalked out? 
 (What you want the agency to be involved in – Website design, SEO, PPC, Blogging, Social Media Marketing, Ads, etc.?) PHASE 1

5. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST DIGITAL AGENCY In case of multiple agency pitches, it is good to have a uniform scorecard where terms of scoring and weightage are clear to everyone • Have you got other relevant departments onboard? 
 (Sales & marketing, IT, Service, Communications – Their needs and how they plan to coordinate efforts with agency) • Is buy-in of important stakeholders available?
 (The business leaders, CMO, CIO and other brand managers should give go-ahead to a specific single marketing strategy to avoid different versions and confusion) • Is scoring criteria decided for agency selection?
 (In case of multiple agency pitches, it is good to have a uniform scorecard where terms of scoring and weight-ages are clear to everyone) PHASE 1

6. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST DIGITAL AGENCY The search for ideal digital agency is a logical sequence of events. If you fast-forward or keep backtracking on the online strategy, it can do more harm than good. SEARCHING & INVITING AGENCIES Once the internal inputs are streamlined, the next phase is to do market research and get the agencies excited to work with your company. Checklist of things you need to consider during this phase include: • Have you decided on the type of agency to search/approach? 
 (This includes choosing between the different permutations and combinations to narrow your search. Categories include Large/Boutique Agency, Global/Local Agency, Creative/Industry specific Agency, and General/Specialized Agency) PHASE 2

7. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST DIGITAL AGENCY The search for ideal digital agency is a logical sequence of events. If you fast-forward or keep backtracking on the online strategy, it can do more harm than good. •Have you done budget analysis? 
 (This involves studying the way these agencies price their offerings and comparing the proposed expenditure with budget at hand. Also letting the agencies know upfront about budget helps to filter the choices) PHASE 2

8. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST DIGITAL AGENCY The search for ideal digital agency is a logical sequence of events. If you fast-forward or keep backtracking on the online strategy, it can do more harm than good. • Have you studied recommendations, case studies and samples? 
 (Creativity and talent are good things to have in an agency. But so are timeliness, openness, flexibility, and fair pricing. Client testimonials and examples of previous work provide great insight and narrow down the search) PHASE 2

9. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST DIGITAL AGENCY The search for ideal digital agency is a logical sequence of events. If you fast-forward or keep backtracking on the online strategy, it can do more harm than good. • Have you planned your briefing sessions with agencies? 
 (Right from discussing your requirements to company culture, fueling the thought process of agency members works wonders through these sessions. When they know the highlights of your product/service, timing schedule and do’s/don’ts’s in advance, you get refined agency proposals specific to your needs) Quick Tip: If you are looking for novel perspectives from agency, always build your Request for Proposals (RFP) based on the business problem you want to address through online initiatives, rather than preparing RFP around the solutions that you wish to implement. PHASE 2

10. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST DIGITAL AGENCY The search for ideal digital agency is a logical sequence of events. If you fast-forward or keep backtracking on the online strategy, it can do more harm than good. EVALUATE & FINALIZE This requires digging deeper into their agency credentials and qualifications to deliver expected output during the professional association. Here you put all the pieces of puzzle together to visualize final picture before making that crucial call. The checklist at this juncture consists of the following questions:
 • Have you verified the agency’s capabilities? 
 (This covers understanding related to how they leverage technology, available certifications and marketing stack, support for analytics and disposition to digital landscape/ trends/best practices) PHASE 3

11. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST DIGITAL AGENCY The search for ideal digital agency is a logical sequence of events. If you fast-forward or keep backtracking on the online strategy, it can do more harm than good. EVALUATE & FINALIZE • Have you discussed the project management details with agency? 
 (A very critical step to success of agency-organization partnership, project management involves clarity on timeframes, delegation of roles, review/approvals, feedback, task prioritization & allocation, client management and project execution) • Have you done the final SWOT of working with a particular agency?
 (Identifying what sets the agency apart from competition, value creation for clients, commitment to fair pricing, retention and repeat projects, reliance on systems/automation tools, episodes of failure and reasons, maturity/culture of the agency) PHASE 3

12. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST DIGITAL AGENCY The search for ideal digital agency is a logical sequence of events. If you fast-forward or keep backtracking on the online strategy, it can do more harm than good. • Has there been an exchange over deliverables? 
 (Apart from the final online output, will the agency give you customized reports, analytics to improve the strategy, matrix to measure success of activities, time allocation for your project, response time, post delivery service, etc.) The chances to find the right digital agency are directly proportional to your abilities to question, negotiate and shop around PHASE 3