Digital marketing: the mystical and often misunderstood facet of any successful company. Those in the biz have a fundamental understanding of the industry, but clients are often left in the dark.
Helping your partners comprehend the ebb and flow of everything from paid online advertising to search engine optimization helps build trust and strengthen your business relationship.
When choosing a digital marketing agency, prospective consumers should focus on companies employing transparent marketing practices—no smokescreens or confusing fudged reports.
For clients, working with a digital marketing agency is a risky dice roll, but we’re here to change that! Contact us today to set up your marketing strategy and get all the juicy results you’ve dreamed of.
Keeping Your Clients in the Know
As a business, we know it’s disappointing to produce subpar results. Maybe your hard work didn’t pay off in the end, or your team didn’t meet personal performance expectations. But the bad news is bad news you still have to deliver.
It’s tempting to fluff up your results. Clients may not understand the reporting anyways, so what’s wrong with a bit of data overload just once or twice?
It’s easy to fall into the trap of saving your skin and presenting a squeaky-clean image to your partners, but we caution you against these dishonest and downright shady techniques.
Time for some tough love!
Even if you’ve had a bad week, month, or quarter, providing your client with clear yet detailed reporting is vital. Our partners trust us with their livelihood and rely on our companies to deliver results and promises.
Avoid overloading your clients with excessively long and complicated reports. They aren’t trained in the intricacies of cost-per-click metrics or keyword rankings and will need a little explanation about why your numbers matter.
Don’t be that person who underdelivers, either! We mean ALL of it when we say to provide your partners with complete and accurate information. Don’t remove that week of low site activity because it isn’t conducive to your ideal reporting.
Transparent marketing matters because it helps clients understand their business progress and your role. They deserve to see every win or misstep along the way and view the fruits of your labor as the leads roll in.
Your marketing services may be sweet, but sugarcoating what you do never works out. Don’t be the digital marketing agency that cried wolf!
Mistakes in Overpromising and Underdelivering
Hey, we see you promising page-one rankings in a month! Stop that!
Even if you have SEO Greek gods running your team, no one is THAT good. It can take months to see any tractions on Google and even take years to make it out alive in oversaturated and competitive industries.
Hyping yourself up should be relegated to pep talks in your bathroom mirror, not in emails or Zoom chats with your clients.
Marketing transparency includes more than transparent reporting. You must provide reasonable expectations and timelines to your clients about your team’s capabilities and the services they purchase.
Only guarantee items you can reasonably offer. If your clients are paying for your stellar ideas, you better have the results to back them up. Failing to return with those exaggerated results (or having nothing to show at all) only creates distrust and discord within your team and clients.
Transparent marketing agencies provide clear expectations and pricing structures attached to their services. Overpromising makes you look great on paper, but it will bite you in the butt whenever reporting comes back around.
Predatory & Hidden Pricing
Ugh, hidden fees. Don’t get us started.
Whether you’re checking out of a week-long hotel stay or trying to buy the latest tickets to your favorite pop artist princess’s return to touring, hidden fees are unwelcome surprises.
As a marketing agency, you should be people-driven, not profit-driven. If you only see dollar signs when you stare at your client list, you’re not focused on delivering accurate results for everyone.
Transparent pricing structures are vital for any healthy and long-lasting marketing relationship. Don’t surprise your client with random fees down the road that they didn’t sign up for or underdeliver for the cost your clients are paying for their marketing services.
What even is a video meeting convenience fee??
Your partners are shelling out the big bucks for your top-notch assistance. Make sure to fairly compensate them for their investment in you by meeting their expectations and making your time worth their money.
Keep consumers updated about where their money is going and how you’re using it to benefit their business. Building trust with the people who keep you employed is essential, so avoid all the gimmicks and bad practices used by many predatory agencies.
Transparent Marketing: Searching for the Right Agency
Sorry, digital agencies, we’re equipping all clients with our industry secrets.
Here’s what to remember when picking shopping for marketing plans.
Unclear Reporting from the Get-Go: If you asked for a sample report or site audit and your agency isn’t giving you detailed answers or support, it’s time to look elsewhere. Always opt for a company that takes the time to explain its data or metrics—no death by spreadsheets here.
Unavailable Team Members: First, your Tinder date ghosted you, and now your digital marketing agency?! When you’re trusting hundred or thousands of your hard-earned dollars to a stranger or unfamiliar agency, you need to know that they have your back, no matter what. Trust a company that will be there to answer your questions and put out any fires that may spark.
Be Wary of False Promises: If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Take it from us. We’re good, but we know the limitations of our services. Don’t sign up with an agency promising phenomenal results too swiftly.
Unfair Pricing: Working with a marketing agency that surprises you in your monthly bill? It’s time to ditch them for something new. No, really, what’s a video meeting convenience fee?
The Bottom Line
Digital marketing is challenging, but choosing one doesn’t have to be! You need someone to catch you whenever you leap into the rough and tumble world of SEO & paid search services. Transparent marketing is a must for any successful client/agency partnership.
Plus, if you’re still in the market for a transparent agency to deliver the results you need for your business, we may have someone up to the task. Uh, hello, it’s us.
Contact Lizard for any of your digital marketing needs! Take a look at our services, and send us a message whenever you’re ready to talk shop.
