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What Can You Do to Choose the Best Digital Marketing Agency in India

What Can You Do to Choose the Best Digital Marketing Agency in India 2021?

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When it comes to choosing the right digital marketing company in India, it is no mean feat. More often than not, a lot of companies prefer to have a digital marketing agency at their service instead of forming an in-house digital marketing department. The reason is, it is hard to maintain. With so many new online marketing tactics coming up every day, it is almost impossible for business organizations to stay on top of the latest digital marketing trends. Thus, getting someone else to do the job is easier, better, and much more fruitful. Now, the hard part is, which company should you hire?

Today, anyone with an internet connection can create a website and start to offer services as a business owner. There are almost no barriers to being a small business owner these days. Therefore, it is tough to the right digital marketing agency. Every business is different and its target audience is also different. For instance, if you are targeting business executives, then you have to focus on getting seen on LinkedIn. On the contrary, if your target audience is much younger, then you have to be more active on Instagram.

When you hire a professional digital marketing company in India, you can focus on other areas of the business instead of wasting weeks training someone. If you are looking for the right digital marketing agency in India, this blog will help you. Here are the things you need to do, to get the right marketing agency for you.

 

SL NO. Digital Marketing Elements Digital Marketing Stats
1 Email Marketing 49% of the customer emails are opened on mobile devices
2 Video Marketing 86% of the customers love to watch videos of products before buying
3 SEO 82% of the marketers opine that long-form of content is better for SEO than short contents
4 Mobile Marketing People access 69% of their media on smartphones
5 Social Media Marketing More than 80% of people will check social media before making a purchase decision
6 Content Marketing 44% of the B2B marketers say that blogging is the most important form of content.
7 E-Commerce 43% of the e-commerce traffic comes from organic Google Searches.
8 Lead Nurturing 20-40% of the seminar attendees become leads
9 Online Shopping More than 1.66 billion people shop online every year
10 Social Selling 78% of the salespeople using social media perform better than their peers.

 

 What Can You Do to Choose the Right Digital Marketing Company in India?

  1. Know Your Goals and Desired Outcomes

You have to know this, just like every business is different, so is every digital marketing agency. You might have heard a lot about agencies calling them “full-service”, but they specialize in certain genres. Thus, the first step in choosing the right agency is to understand what you hope to achieve by working with one.

Things can be easier if you break it down to deliverables, the goal of every deliverable, and also the outcomes that you hope to achieve. Once you know these things, it will help you communicate what you want to get from the project. When an agency truly knows what you are looking for, they know whether they can help you out or not.

  1. Look for sizeable portfolio or a list of clients

Every smart digital marketing company is proud of who they are, who they work with, and what they do. Thus, they are very particular about showing their partnership with their previous and existing clients. They want the world to see it and know about it. You don’t necessarily need to know who their past clients are. Of course, it’s a bonus if you do, but you can certainly check the list of recent clients or testimonials they have worked with. Yes, there are certain kinds of services that are not easy to display, like SEO service or content marketing. Thus, you may not find them displayed. However, that doesn’t mean the digital marketing firm in India is not an expert in it.

The idea is, checking the company portfolio, the reviews, and client testimonials is a good indication of their experience. Also, for services like graphic design/web design or website development, you should see a nice portfolio of the type of work they do. If you cannot find any examples, you should move on to another digital marketing service provider in India.

  1. Look for Experienced & Specialized Team Members

Irrespective of the services you want, it is important to make sure that the agency you hire has got experienced professionals to suit the needs of your project. For instance, you would not want an agency to design a logo for you if they don’t have a graphic designer. Thus, you can look through their about us page to know if they have their team members listed out there. If not, you can also check the digital marketing company in India on LinkedIn.

You can also find the team members of the company on LinkedIn. Visit the company and click on ‘people’ to check who works there. Remember that this will not show if they have any freelancers working for them. Thus, it is not always a sure-shot indication of who works there. Also, some of the team members may not be on LinkedIn at all, but this is a great place to start. You can always ask questions during the consultation if you are not sure.

  1. Social Proof and Better Industry Reputation

Just like the testimonials, the social presence and activity of a company also play a vital role. The social proof can offer a deep insight into what it will be to work with the agency. Also, smart marketers will understand the benefits of showcasing social proof on the site. Thus, if you cannot find any strong social presence, or if they have not been active on the social platforms for quite some time, they may not be the right digital marketing company in India for you.

Source – susangilbert.com

Every company loves to flaunt its strong social presence. Thus, if they are not really active on social media, they may not understand the social media marketing industry that well. Apart from the positive reviews, the negative or neutral reviews too can shed some light on the areas where the agency struggles. Keep an eye on the neutral reviews as well. Also, finally, you can check the Google reviews to know what others in the industry are saying about their experience with the company.

  1. Identical Core Values and Company Culture

Take a moment and think about what are the core values and culture of your company? It is important to work with a digital marketing agency in India that will value the same things you value. If that happens, then it will be easier to blend your team of resources with the digital marketing company in Kolkata.

Remember the agency you hire, will be an extension of your business. They will either help you grow your business or they cannot. Choosing the right agency with similar values is as important as knowing about their quality of work. The last thing that you would want is the stress of working with people who don’t value similar things or work in the same way.

Listen to words and phrases that the agency uses to describe their kind of work. Do they align with your values? There are digital marketing agencies in India that try to mold and convince their clients to work in the way they want. If you have to try too hard to convince a company to work in the way you want, then that is not the right firm for you.

  1. A well-Crafted Seamless Website

Your website will be the gateway where your audience will feel welcome. The right digital marketing agency in India will know the importance of a well-designed website. Thus, they too should have a seamless website to display everything they have to offer. So, if they don’t have a proper website to display, then how can they deliver something better for you.

Source – esyfix.com

This is specifically true if they offer web design and development services. So when you visit the website of a digital marketing company in India, go through the site thoroughly and experience how it feels. Because that is how your audience will feel when they visit your website. If it doesn’t feel right or feels lacks quality, then you should move on to some other digital marketing firm in India.

  1.  They Will Not Make Extravagant Promises

The kind of result an agency promises will indicate how well they understand the industry. For instance, if an agency promises to bring your website to the number one spot within a span of a month, then they are not the right digital marketing company for you. The reason is, clearly, they are not aware that SEO requires both long-term and short-term marketing strategy and you also need continuous work to maintain the rankings. It is not a one-time thing.

Also, no one, and we repeat NO-ONE can guarantee a number one spot in Google searches in just a month, especially nowadays unless they are using Black-hat SEO techniques. That is surely not the company you want to do business with. Make sure that is in sync with what you know about the online industry. Remember outlandish or extravagant promises are a major red flag. Stick to such agencies that ensure transparency and realistic promises.

  1. They are Easy to Get in Touch with

The best digital marketing agencies will make things as easy as possible for you. When you navigate through the website, it doesn’t feel like a maze. Their contact information is not more than a few scrolls away, irrespective of what page you are on. They offer a clear CTA so that you know what to do next. Also, the first step should be very clear. Do they want to schedule a free consultation with you? Or they want you to offer your contact information for a tailored quote. If you have to struggle to figure out how things work on their site, then it is better to shift to another digital marketing company in India.

  1. How do They Run Their Business?

This is one of the most important signs to check before hiring a digital marketing agency in India. The way they run their business shows how well they can garner results for your business as well. If you want to hire a digital marketing agency for blog management, check how their blog pages are. If you want to hire an agency for media promotion, check how strong their social media profiles are.

When you want them to do SEO for you, check how they rank on the search engine results page for the terms in their industry. You can either check these details on your own, or you can also ask the digital marketing firm in India as well. If you find that they don’t practice what they preach, then it is not the right company to hire.

  1. What are their KPI’s?

Most businesses track vanity metrics. What does this mean? Vanity metrics are the numbers that apparently seem to matter but don’t have any correlation to getting you more profit for the business. For instance, the number of likes you get on a Facebook post doesn’t have any relation to the number of leads it can get. This has no relation to sales or profit for you.

Yes, it is true that engagement is also important to enhance a brand image. However, there has to be an improvement in the sales and leads as well to increase your customer base. The last thing that you would want is to pay premium charges only for more likes and shares but no boost in sales or leads.

Thus, you should ask the digital marketing company in India how would they measure the success? Here are some important metrics you should know about.

      How does a Digital Marketing Company Measure Success?

  • The number of unique visitors every month, and also how many visitors are converted.
  • How much time your target audience is spending on the website and how can they help in increasing the time spent on the website by the audience.
  • What can they do to reduce the bounce rates?
  • Also, you can ask how can they improve the Click-Through-Rate? It is a measure of how many times an ad has been clicked compared to the impression it has received.
  • If you are looking only for social media services then engagement like the number of followers, likes, comments, shares, and views matter.
  1. What do They Charge?

You can filter out the good digital marketing agencies from the bad ones depending on the price they charge. A lot of businesses want to save money. Thus, price is usually the first thing they ask. However, if you find an agency that charges a low price, then they might offer low-quality services too. You have to think about it from their perspective. When an agency quotes a very low price, they make lower margins on their services. Thus, their quality of services will be cheaper as well.

Also, they will not go that extra mile for your business because there is no incentive to it. Digital marketing agencies in India that charge a higher price tend to treat their customers more generously because they can afford to do so. Their quality of services will be much better as well. Yes, as a small business we know there will be budget constraints. However, it is better to not cut corners when you have found the right agency to do the job.

 How to Work with a Digital Marketing Company in Kolkata?

Now, this bit is a little tricky. Being a client, there are certain things you can do to enhance your results and make the most of the strategic partnership with the digital marketing firm in India.

  1. Prepare Your Team and Do Your Research

It is important to have everyone on the same page. Thus, have a meeting with the team and also let them explain the new project and partnership so that they get the time to be ready. If you have any kind of obligation towards the agency, make sure you spend time doing it well. The agency too needs to know the ins and outs of the business you own and this is the time to put it all on the table.

  1. Understand the Timeline, Scope and Process

Before starting the project, you have to make sure that every person is on the same page and agrees on the estimated timeline of completion. Most of the digital marketing projects will go through four phases. They are:

  • Discovery & Research
  • Project Planning
  • Execution
  • Reviewing, Results & Offboarding

Make sure to lay out the details of every step with your team and agency so that everything is clear before the project starts.

  1. Do not expect there will be a hands-off experience

The best digital marketing agencies are highly communicative and collaborative. Also, your inputs, ideas, and thoughts will help in taking the project forward in the right direction and match the desired outcomes. You will find some digital marketing firms in India to be more collaborative than others.

Thus, you have to make sure you understand what they need from you through the entire project. This might help you in having a dedicated point of contact and a team member ready to manage the project. When you have someone available it helps in ensuring you are not holding things up on your end.

  1. Be Prepared to Give Control

You need to remember that the agency you hired is great at what they do. You hired them for their experience and expertise. Thus, a time will come when you have to share the access of the social media platforms, admin access of the backend of your website, and other accesses as well. Don’t hesitate to share access to different aspects of a project.

This will allow them to do what they do best. Also, it is important to listen to what they want to say. When they have a reason for doing something in a certain way, then you have to remind yourself that they are the experts. You may not agree with the way they do things, but it is fair to have an open mind if they bring you results.

  1. Ask Questions

If you have never worked with a digital marketing company in India then you will see a lot of new things. It is completely normal when you don’t understand every bit of what is happening. The best thing to do is ask questions.

For instance, you may not know why they chose a certain color over another one. Or there is a piece of data that you don’t understand. Perhaps someone said something that doesn’t make sense to you. There is nothing wrong with not knowing things.

Ask about the things you don’t know. This is an excellent way to know how a digital marketing firm in Kolkata works. It will also help you clear the uncertainties.

 Why Shouldn’t You Train In-House Employees and Hire an Agency?

Like we already mentioned above, a lot of small or mid-sized businesses tend to train their in-house employees. Most businesses face the dilemma of whether they should hire a digital marketing firm in India or they should train their employees. Let us explain what you would need to run a successful digital marketing campaign.

  1. Understanding/Knowledge

Before you start a digital marketing campaign, you have to have a deep insight into customer behavior and the variations needed in the campaigns for a different target audience. However, in a lot of cases, most of the marketing messages end up sounding generic because the companies don’t take the time to truly understand their customers and their problems.

  1. Processes

To scale anything, you need proper documentation on systems, processes, and workflows needed to complete a task. This means a marketing campaign should follow a structured system whether it is about blog management, running a PR campaign, creating social media promotions, paid ads, and more. It is not possible for a business to train and create an effective process that brings results from the above marketing activities. Thus, hiring a professional digital marketing agency in India is always a better option.

  1. The Tools

Different marketing campaigns of today, require different tools, right from the start to the end. For instance, you might need email marketing tools like MailChimp or Drip, Analytics tools like Google Analytics or KISSmetrics, communication tools like Slack, and more.

These tools help in accomplishing the key tasks and also reach your goals easily. Thus, you will need these tools. A digital marketing agency will already have these premium tools. They know how to use these tools and can help you reach your goals in an easier and much more effective way.

  1. Consistency

When it comes to inbound marketing, one of the most important things is patience. Noticeable results will come in a few months of starting the digital marketing services. You cannot expect immediate results. There is no way to get instant results in digital marketing. Thus, it requires consistent dedication, tracking, analysis, trial & error, adjustments, and so on. It is not possible for a business to dedicate so much time and effort to digital marketing service alone. Thus, it is better to take the services of a digital marketing company in India and let them handle the nit bits.

  1. Quality

It is easy to create random blog posts, images, videos, gifs, or infographics. But can you create quality content targeted to your audience? Can you create a video that would engage with your audience? The quality of content makes the difference. A digital marketing agency in India has content creators on board who can deliver exactly the kind of blogs, videos, or images you need for your audience.

 Which Industrial Sectors Benefit the Most from a Digital Marketing Company in India?

Business companies in India have to take a lot of decisions every single day. Whether we realize it or not, most of those decisions are influenced by digital marketing services. One way or the other, a digital marketing company in India can influence a wide array of business industries.

You will be surprised to know that more than 90% of the consumers trust word of mouth promotions on digital media or social media and search engines. This itself is more than any other form of advertising or promotion. Most of the industries get an ROI of $8 for every $1 spent on digital marketing. You would not want to miss out on that, do you?

However, there are some industries that have remarkable ROI from digital marketing, compared to other industries. In the following section of the blog, we will share the top industrial sectors that benefit the most from a digital marketing company in India.

  1. Use of Digital Marketing Services in the Healthcare Sector

Digital marketing is vital for the healthcare sector in India. Do you know social media has become a major source of information for a myriad of health issues and their solutions? Also, social media is the best way to connect with healthcare practitioners and hospitals for millions of people. Nowadays, when you have got mobile apps like NetMeds and Practo, you cannot miss out on the services of a digital marketing firm, if you are a healthcare provider.

More than 40% of the consumers find social media to be useful in dealing with health problems. Also, 90% of the users from the age of 18-24 years trust medical information shared by others on social media. If you don’t use social media marketing strategies to reach out to your audience, then you will be missing out on a lot. Now, social media is just an aspect of digital marketing that we are talking about.

Apart from that, you can also run PPC ad campaigns to promote your healthcare services, create a blog to inform patients on different health issues, create videos, use live sessions and webinars to interact with people and so much more. These are some of the areas where a digital marketing company in India comes in handy.

Thus, if you are in the healthcare sector, you have to know that the internet is the primary source of healthcare information. Medical websites, coupled with in-app notifications, online advertisements, and push notifications are highly important to reach out to people who need healthcare services.

  1. Use of a Digital Marketing Firm in India for the Education Sector

The education sector is another important sector that needs the services of a digital marketing agency in India. If you are in the education sector, you know that social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook can help connect teachers and students in a seamless way. At present, a lot of schools and universities are using digital marketing services in India for promotions.

      What Digital Marketing Actions can the Education Sector take? 

  • Most colleges and universities use social media platforms for campaigns, online admissions, promote campus events, and more.
  • Schools use the Google Ads PPC service to promote their services and awareness to students and parents.
  • Also, the schools and colleges these days have websites where you can find a lot of relevant information about them.
  • The SEO-optimized websites and mobile marketing services also help them in getting more traffic.
  • Webinars, live sessions, and online Q&A sessions also help you connect with a lot of your audience, especially students.

These are some online promotional and marketing activities for schools, colleges, and universities where the digital marketing agencies in India come in handy.

  1. Use of Digital Marketing in the Automobile Industry

The automobile industry relies a lot on marketing. There is no doubt that the automobile sector has used every means of marketing possible to promote its products and services. The best part is, a digital marketing company in India can help an automobile company to save a lump sum amount of money compared to traditional marketing. Starting from 2016 till now the automobile sector has increased its budget in digital marketing to 45%.

Multiple automobile manufacturing companies in different parts of India like Noida, Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore are using the services of a digital marketing company in India for reaching their target audience. The primary reason for the boom of digital marketing in the automobile sector is you can track the user-interest. Thus, if you are in the automobile business, you can update customize the automobile designs, change the mechanisms and specifications according to your customer preference.

  1. Use of Digital Marketing in the Real Estate Sector

This is another sector where digital marketing services are highly relevant. The primary reason is, most of us when we search for homes, do it online. Thus, if you are in the real estate business, you can use the services of a digital marketing company in India. How? You can use the online Google Ads to advertise house listings, apartments, and more.

You can use post videos and images of houses for sale on social media and promote them to reach a higher number of people. Of course, you can get a website where you put up all your listings, services, blogs, and information for your audience. Use SEO to boost the website rankings. Digital marketing agencies help real estate organizations to put up the best ads on houses and lands.

At present, if someone wants to sell a house or rent their property, all they need to do is post an ad. You can do it on social media, OLX, or even place an ad on Google. Now, to get the best results out of it, you will need a professional. This is where the services of a digital marketing agency in India come up.

They can help you create content, design the ads in the best way and also use different promotional tactics to get you more traffic. Therefore, you will get more leads, the conversion will increase and so will the sales. You will find a lot of digital marketing companies in India in different locations like Noida, Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, and Bangalore.

  1. Using Digital Marketing Services for the Retail Sector

The retail sector has invested highly in digital marketing services. Using different elements like social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, Google Analytics, PPC, email marketing, it has become easy for them to align the business goals with the customer demographics. Also, all thanks to the technology, you can add voice search and AI.

In the retail sector, it is important to know and understand the customer journey. What can be a better way to know about your audience than to use a multi-channel approach? Online retailers need people to click on the ads. Thus, a digital marketing company in India can help you increase the click-through rate.

Also, you have to remember that the e-commerce industry has already shifted to mobile commerce. Thus, to become a successful brand, in the retail and e-commerce sector, you will need the services of a digital marketing company in India.

 Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say that digital marketing is the key to grow your business anywhere in India and abroad. Almost every major industrial sector uses digital marketing. This blog contains all the aspects you need to know while choosing a digital marketing agency in India. It could be in Noida, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Bangalore, or anywhere else in India. The elements will remain the same if you want to get the best digital marketing agency.

These are the features that you cannot train your in-house employees. This is something that you get when you hire external agencies or firms on digital marketing. The right digital marketing company in Kolkata will help you in generating real-time profits, peace of mind and also allow you to avoid the hectic process of setting up an in-house team. Thus, you can focus on your time, strengths and do what you are good at instead of worrying about the digital marketing segment.

Remember that every project, whether it is big or small, deserves the attention of a true industry expert. However, sometimes it might become overwhelming to choose the best digital marketing agency in Kolkata, Noida, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, and more. With so many companies available to choose from, this is no surprise. But now, you know what to look for, how to prepare, and what to avoid. Use these tactics the next time when you hunt for a professional digital marketing company in India.