The role of any great digital agency is to generate effective and meaningful impact for brands within the digital space. A variety of factors help facilitate this impact – such as thoughtful customer relations, refined employee engagement or driven sales tactics. But what exactly does it take to stand out? While many agencies promise to provide impact to businesses, successful digital partners can prove their worth to represent and build brands based on the few core skills and qualities listed below.
People-Centered, Business-Focused
A digital agency itself is a business that requires great relationships with customers and vendors to deliver a suitable product or service that meets their needs. When agencies are people-centered, while keeping in mind business goals, they are better able to connect to what their audience really wants and help grow the business.
Great Staff
An agency’s success depends primarily on the success of its staff. When an agency takes full advantage staff members who are experts in their fields (i.e – experts in design, copywriting, sales management, etc.), they can cover all the touchpoints of the digital space. An agency that also understands how each employee works together in a team can sufficiently meet all of the needs for clients, stakeholders, and other departments.
Strong Leadership
Businesses are a reflection of the choices made by their leaders, and the results of their employees. An agency with sound leadership can ensure things go according to plan and forge new opportunities for the business.
Understanding of the Marketing/Sales Funnel
If you’re a part of a digital marketing agency, you’ll need to clear understanding on how to grab attention, and what it takes to make a sale. Great digital agencies generally have a grasp at the following 5 phases of every sales funnel
- Awareness – gathering attention in potential markets
- Interest – generating appeal and connecting prospects with solutions
- Conversion – convincing customers to buy
- Closing – making the sale
- Retention – building brand loyalty and return customers
Experience with Analytics
Digital agencies have to be familiar with the latest tools that cover the metrics and analysis behind business operations. Digital marketing managers that can properly manage loads of data from content, social media engagement, SEO, and other key performance indicators can help an agency improve the overall quality of work for a business.
Good Communication
This quality may be obvious, but it is fundamentally important to the overall success of a digital agency. Good communication is the glue that allows your team and clients to work together seamlessly. Although there are different methods of communicating digitally, it is important that those digital routes are meant for building upon set relationships, rather than defining them.
Persistence
An agency must be willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that their clients’ problems are well taken care of. There must always be an approach to every problem so that a solution can be reached. Great agencies have tried-and-true processes in place that allow them to deliver on their promises to clients, especially on agreed upon timelines.
Social Media Familiarity
Social media expertise is a crucial element for digital agencies. A great agency has the ability to experiment with different techniques and strategies from the latest tools without creating costly consequences for the business, such as wasting time and other resources.
Regular Training and Development
When an agency encourages an atmosphere of ongoing learning, they can help stay relevant in the market and grow the quality of their staff. A few examples of how an agency can help drive this mindset with their employees include workshops, trade shows, conventions, and networking opportunities with thought leaders in specific industries.
Global Branding and Digital Mentality
To be greatly successful, an agency needs to have a vision and confidence to reach a global audience. This does not necessarily mean an agency should sprout physical locations around the world, but rather have the capabilities to connect to a worldwide audience and understand the digital behaviors and market trends that can drive their business forward in the future.