How to choose the best digital marketing agency

In 2006, I wrote an article on How to select the most qualified SEM vendor, as I discovered many prospective search engine marketing clients didn’t have consistent evaluation criteria. I felt they were making a mistake if they didn’t utilize a standardized process throughout the vendor evaluation and selection process. As the digital marketing industry evolved, clients got smarter about vendor selection, but I still felt the need to refine and improve evaluation criteria. In 2018 (exactly 12 years later) I wrote a more extensive blog post for SEMpdx, 12 questions to ask when hiring an SEO/SEM company. As helpful as the updated article was, I still feel brands would benefit from an even more comprehensive list of evaluation criteria to help determine the best digital marketing vendor for 2020 and beyond.

Utilize the following checklist to ensure your digital marketing agency vendor selection process is consistent, thorough, and effective. This vendor evaluation criteria can also be used as an outline for a request for proposal (RFP), if not just for the vendor review process. The list is broken down into two components: foundational (basic) criteria and value-added (advanced) criteria. A digital agency with the ideal fit will effectively address all items on both lists.

10 Foundational Digital Marketing Agency Evaluation Criteria

1.     Service mix: This may seem obvious to many, but make sure the digital marketing vendor you are considering provides the marketing services you desire (in-house). Many agencies outsource and white label services like search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) management. Rather than pay the additional margin to an agency that isn’t familiar with specific digital marketing disciplines, hire agencies that specialize in that capability with the appropriate team, process, and infrastructure.

2.     Industry experience: While it may seem obvious to hire an agency with deep industry experience, that can be a double-edged sword. The best vendor fit may have less experience in your industry, but have a more creative, strategic, or data-driven approach that will get the results you want. At some point, every professional, and agency, had zero years of experience in your industry and it was gained over time. Early client “investors” get the benefit of an agency eager to learn and earn the business and the industry vertical, which can result in greater value for the investment.

3.     Years in business: This metric can also be misleading, as experienced talent change agencies regularly. That said, there is significantly less risk selecting a vendor with 20 years’ experience over a competitor with 5 years under their belt. Experience is built over time and seasoned digital marketing agencies typically have better processes, tools, and talent than startup firms.

4.     Management team credentials: The downside to weighing the executive team experience is that they may not be active on your account (for better or for worse). What matters more is how they run the business and where they add value. In my case, I’m a front man that clients would not be best served if I were to be active on their account day-to-day. Conversely, I do often step in to provide strategic guidance and problem-solving expertise others can’t. Look for that balance in a senior team, otherwise, you’re paying too much for service or getting too junior of a team.

5.     Size and experience of team: Size does matter, to a point. While many marketers see bigger as better, it’s a correlation but never causation. In fact, I’ve intentionally kept Anvil under 17 employees since I founded the digital agency in 2000. Other firms have been successful in scaling, but I’ve found in the world of digital, it’s impossible to recruit and retain world-class talent above the sweet 16 mark. Without formal degrees to pull from, the talent pool is distributed, inconsistent, and younger generations view loyalty differently. The agency you choose needs to have an account team big enough to meet your needs, which should be more than 1 and likely less than 10.

6.     Client list: As mentioned previously, industry experience is extremely helpful, but can only carry you so far. Look for a digital marketing client list that has diversity in size (agencies tend to close if they have too many eggs in one basket and lose their largest client) and shape (complementary industries can be very helpful). If you’re a hotel, an agency with travel and tourism experience is helpful, but so too would be ecommerce and senior care expertise, as all point in the same direction (heads in beds and online transactions).

7.     Marketing industry credentials/certifications: Google Ads certification is table stakes for a PPC/SEM agency, but does the agency have 100% of its staff certified? Anvil has required that step for the past decade, for example. Is the team Microsoft Advertising (Bing) certified? Do they obtain other third-party training or certifications? There are many, but few are widely known or valued. At my agency, we have our own internal Anvil University training and certification. Training takes time and effort, but make sure your vendor takes it seriously.

8.     Client testimonials: Any digital agency worth its salt should have client testimonials on its website or in collateral. While Anvil is no exception, it is part of our daily mission: to delight and elevate. The consistent output is client testimonials. If the agency you are considering for your digital marketing needs can’t produce a meaningful number of testimonials, it should raise a red flag.

9.     Case studies: A natural outcome of consistent delight and elevation is digital marketing case studies. Digital agencies should have a handful of compelling case studies at the ready, since we’re all in the measurable marketing business. Look for case studies with impressive numbers, but enough detail behind them to provide context and credibility.

10.  Client References: A few years ago, I heard a CMO share a tip relating to client references. He would ask digital marketing vendors for three client references, then throw them out and ask for three more. A credible agency should be able to produce at least six client references, although this can be more difficult than you think, especially for newer or poorly run agencies.

Ten Advanced Digital Marketing Agency Evaluation Criteria

1.     Commitment to Content: The most common saying in the agency world is “the cobbler’s children have no shoes” in that agencies are great at marketing clients but not themselves. As a result, even many of the largest digital agencies in the world are not able to consistently create content, including regular blog and social media posts. Your ideal agency should be doing both. At Anvil, we’ve been blogging consistently since 2004.

2.     Thought Leadership: This is a big one, in my opinion. Any digital agency staff can read the latest publications and attend industry events. Thought leader agencies are writing the articles for industry publications and are speaking at the industry events. For example, I regularly contribute to SmartBriefs and Portland Business Journal and not only co-founded SEMpdx, our industry trade association in Portland, but regularly contribute to speaking engagements. I’m speaking at our annual conference, Engage, which I also co-founded in 2005.

3.     Press coverage: This party validation is a powerful tool. Are the agencies you are evaluating regularly cited as experts by marketing industry publications, business or local press? In 2019, Anvil was quoted or mentioned in the press more than 130 times, significantly more than agencies 20 times larger in size.

4.     Awards & Recognition: Third-party validation also extends to industry groups, press and entities evaluating where agencies stack up against each other. Organizations like Clutch interview clients, review case studies and utilize other metrics to determine the best agencies, while others are pay-to-play. It helps to know the difference. At Anvil, our policy is never to pay for awards or recognition. We rarely go as far as paying submission entry fees, yet we average a dozen awards a year.

5.     Education: Beyond training and certifying staff, how does the agency value education externally? For the past 10 years, I’ve taught a Search Engine Marketing Workshop as part of a digital marketing certificate at Portland State University. I also teach quarterly social media workshops for SCORE Portland. We also host free monthly webinars to educate business owners and marketers on the latest digital marketing trends and techniques. I personally speak 30 times annually, educating professionals around the globe. Some agencies prefer to stay under the radar and take a “black box” approach to their service delivery.

6.     NetPromoter Score: Does the agency care what their customers think and feel? Do they regularly and systematically solicit feedback so they can improve? Do they make incremental improvements over time? For the past decade, Anvil has run annual NPS surveys. In 2019, our NPS score was double the industry average, according to ClearlyRated. On top of that, I personally check in with clients at least annually (our goal for 2020 is bi-annually) so we can learn, adapt, and improve our service and delivery.

7.     Client referrals: One of the most telling, but difficult to measure (externally) is the quality and quantity of client referrals. We track our client referrals in order to gauge the team’s efficacy and the trend has improved over the years at Anvil. Consider asking your agency how often (or recently) a client referred them a new piece of business. Only the happiest clients become referral sources for agencies.

8.     Culture fit: Perhaps the most undervalued evaluation criteria for selecting any vendor, is culture fit. My policy at Anvil is to be a magnet for companies that we want to work with and repel the rest. I know, for example, our sweet spot at Anvil is working with companies who know who they are and where they want to go and know they need help to get there. All other companies are a crapshoot regarding fit. When evaluating agency fit, the people on your account team are certainly the most important, but don’t forget that process, tools, and other partners are part of the mix that impact fit. Make sure you have a full picture of the entire organization, team, and how they all work together to evaluate culture fit.

9.     The Why: While I define agency culture as to how employees act when they think nobody is watching, there are other factors that influence culture and more importantly, the overall fit. Your digital marketing agency vendors should be able to clearly communicate company purpose, vision, mission and core values. If they don’t have them or can’t recite on command, then they are less likely to have cohesion, intention, and long-term focus.

10.  Long-term direction/goals: Speaking of long-term focus, I’ve yet to have a prospect in 20 years ask me what my long-term goals are for Anvil. Most corporate marketers look 1-2 years out, while I must look 5-10 years out as an agency owner. As such, I’m crystal clear on where I want Anvil to be at that time. For those curious, it involves transitioning to more of a business consultancy with subject matter experts across the digital marketing spectrum that have an eye on the big picture and a nose for business. Will your agency evolve with your business? Have they asked where you see your business in 5-10 years?

With the above checklist in-hand, you should have a clear sense of which digital marketing agency is the best fit for your business in the near and long-term. The twenty-points marketing vendor evaluation criteria listed above are not exhaustive, but from my experience, they will ensure a 95 percent confidence level as you make your decision. Feel free to add any additional criteria I may have missed in the comments section below.