Finding the right digital marketing agency can be a lot like finding the right match on a dating site: You want someone who is going to be attentive, understanding and will listen to what you want for the future, not just talk about what they’ve done in the past. You want them to be located close enough that you can sit down and meet them face to face, and they should be eager to go the extra mile to make you happy. And, of course, you want to make sure that they’re as fabulous in person as they appear to be online.

As digital marketing has evolved and pushed aside traditional marketing, digital marketing agencies have popped up to serve every size and share of the market. With so many choices, how do you find the one that’s right for you? There are many factors that make a digital agency “the best” for you, and often that begins with its location. So let’s start by looking at the advantages of working with a local digital marketing agency.

The Benefits of Working With a Local Digital Marketing Agency

Yes, there are great digital marketing companies all across the country. But if you’re local to Dallas-Fort Worth, there are many advantages to confining your search to the DFW Metroplex. The area has a wealth of talented digital marketing professionals and no shortage of companies to consider. Why look any further?

A few of the benefits of hiring a local agency are:

It creates a hands-on, high-touch partnership. Face-to-face meetings aren’t always necessary, but when they are, it helps to be working with a local agency. If you’re working with an agency that’s geographically distant, scheduling face-to-face meetings becomes trickier, and sometimes video conferencing just doesn’t do the job. There’s a certain kind of familiarity that comes from those face-to-face meetings that you won’t find any other way.

You can see what you’re getting. The ability to meet the team members who are working on your account is a huge benefit. It gives you more confidence in the team as a whole because you have a much greater opportunity for interacting with them. Plus, it means that you can see their workplace and get a feel for their overall “vibe” before you sign up.

You know the same community. As a business decision-maker, you know a lot about the community you live and work in. When you hire an agency with that same kind of familiarity, you know that they’re seeing the same changes in the market and can adapt their marketing strategies to suit those changes.

It boosts your local SEO. Again, this goes back to knowing the community in which you live. A local digital marketing agency will have a better grasp on local keywords to build up your keyword portfolio, PPC campaign and overall marketing strategy. They’re familiar with the cities in the area, the phrases that people are using on search engines and the local landmarks. And that never hurts when it comes to thinking outside the box.

What to Look for in a Digital Marketing Agency

If you haven’t worked with a digital marketing agency before, you might not be sure what to look for. To find the best digital marketing agencies in Dallas-Fort Worth, you can use a few different tools. One great starting place is online reviews; while you can be certain that every agency will post positive testimonials on their website, look to an independent source to get a better picture of what working with them would be like. Google reviews are a great place to start. Don’t just look at the number of stars they’ve been given; read what other clients like about working with them. This gives you a better idea of what your own experience with them would be like as well as insights into their culture and personality.

Another source of agency reviews is HubSpot, which provides third-party reviews and the marketing credentials of the best local agencies providing digital marketing services. HubSpot’s reviews can help you narrow down what skills each agency has so you can search for an agency that has the specific expertise you are looking for.

Also, look to sites such as The Manifest and Clutch to learn more about what each one has to offer. Again, you can read reviews to learn more about the type of work they do, what their specialities are, what makes them easy to work with and possibly even how much they might cost. The best digital marketing agency in Dallas-Fort Worth for you may be different than what another business sees as “the best,” so identify what is important to you and then find a company that appears to be a good fit. You can even talk to people who have worked with them in the past and get more firsthand information about the agency.

What Awards Mean to Digital Marketing Agencies

Digital marketing agencies offer evidence of their effectiveness by providing customers with such quantified metrics as increased online traffic, click-through rates, social media engagement, downloads and more. They should be able to provide you with case studies of how they’ve improved a client’s business and tell you what results they’ll measure for you.

Another indication of a digital marketing agency’s capabilities is found in the awards that they’ve won — not just the number of awards, but the reputation of the awarding entity as well. When a company consistently brings home top honors from high-profile organizations, it tells you that they’ve earned the respect of the industry and/or their peers.

Look at what honors they’ve been given and who named them the recipient of those awards. And, if the awards are in areas where you need help, such as website design, video production or an email campaign, you can have even more confidence that they’re capable of handling your company’s projects.

As you set out on your quest to find the best digital marketing agency for you in Dallas-Fort Worth, take all of these factors into consideration. Whether you’re looking for a single solution or need a new agency of record, there are many options to choose from — and one of them is going to be right for you.

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