Today, it is difficult to imagine a marketing agency that does not have its own website. Moreover, it should be a modern, interesting, regularly updated resource containing elements of inbound marketing (responsive design, simple navigation, an active blog and other components that help increase brand awareness and attract customers).
It is not at all necessary for the website of an advertising agency specializing in SEO promotion to be included in the TOP of search results. Most likely, the agency pays more attention to promoting the resources of clients, and not its own site, or conducts market analysis of products for the client company, and not for itself. Whatever the case, but the marketing agency must have an attractive and high-quality Internet resource.
Reviews and Awards
As a rule, users leave reviews and panama email list comments on the agency's website. It is quite possible that you will find only praise there, but it can be very useful to determine the agency's strengths (it is worth paying attention to what it is praised for). Moreover, the lack of information about the author of the comment, his place of work, template phrases and generalized formulations should raise doubts about the authenticity of the post.
Reviews about the company can also be found in other online sources:
On online listings (for example, AgencyList, GoodFirms, Glassdoor, Clutch and others containing advertisements for the provision of services).
On sites where employees rate employers (for example, Vault, JobAdvisor CareerBliss and WorkAdvisor).
On social media pages (usually LinkedIn and Facebook).
In addition, you can find out the contacts of the company's previous clients and contact them. If the company is confident in the results of its work, then such checks do not scare it. The only obstacle may be a DNA (non-disclosure agreement) concluded with the client, but this is practiced extremely rarely. As a rule, the contacts of individuals and companies that used the agency's services can be found in the client base or case.
Regarding the awards, the following can be said: do not be too trusting. As a rule, most cups and certificates are either purchased or issued by little-known organizations/sites. In 2018, a new one was invented for such awards - the comic prize THE PENGUIN AWARDS.
Case studies
Conducting case studies is the best thing companies can do to demonstrate their professionalism. Large-scale market analysis of business structures, meta-analyses of a number of studies by other companies, content for beginners, detailed descriptions of use cases, studying fashion trends and publications of employees in which they talk about their developments - and this is far from a complete list.
The BrightTALK report clearly states that such materials are the best indicator of a company's marketing competence, with detailed and precise descriptions of use cases considered the most valuable. Typically, such content is published on the company's blog or in a separate section on the website. Sometimes, to get a description of a case, you first need to contact the manager.
If there are no case study materials available, it is worth looking for another agency.