How to choose a Digital Agency for your Real Estate Business?

Every real estate business needs a responsible and experienced digital agency to manage their online marketing needs. But, with an increase in the number of digital agencies in recent years has made it a difficult task for choosing the right one. Plenty of these agencies have little experience and are learning on the go.
Choosing the right digital agency for your real estate business is vital for your bottom line. Opting for the wrong one can quickly drain your budget and impact your branding negatively. So, here is our recommended strategy for finding a digital agency that can help you enhance your business.

Knowing your needs
The first vital step in the process is to understand your needs as the better you will be able to describe your real estate business needs in terms of the website, search engine optimization (SEO), advertising, social media, graphic design, the better your conversations will be with potential digital agencies.

Knowing your budget
The next step is to understand your budget and your willingness to spend. A good marketer should be able to set his expectations & be able to work with any reasonable budget.

Demand full transparency
Full transparency is another important criterion while choosing the right digital agency for your real estate business. Always review an agency’s website, if you don’t find an address, the bio or a client list, then you should avoid going ahead with this agency as it is trying to hide something. It is found that many offshore agencies commit big promises at cheap rates. The consequences result in clients hunting for another agency after a bad experience.

Trustworthiness is important
Make sure you determine the digital agency’s trustworthiness and experience. Go through the client testimonials on its website. Try figuring out whether the testimonials seem authentic. You can ask for client references, like one or two that did not go so well.
No one gets it all perfect in one go. All agencies might have had engagements in the past that did not go down so well, and it’s essential to get an idea as to how they dealt with them in addition to references from the good ones.  Instead of sending an email, try calling out these references as you might get more information you can obtain from a phone call rather than that on a call.

Figure out their industry experience
Does the agency have experience in the industry that you are catering to If it does, then inquire about those engagements, what went right, what did not and why, what were the challenges. If it lacks, ask them as to how it approaches a new industry.
A good marketer can estimate a client’s industry, online presence and competitors and invent an effective strategy accordingly.

Consider the client, agency as well as the technical sides
Today most marketers discuss the client and agency sides. You too are either on one side or on the other. But there also lays a third side that is often ignored and often the most crucial i.e. the technical side.
Understanding technologies related to website development is critical to any marketing strategy especially the website as it’s your mothership and must be built, hosted & handled properly. You should ask your potential account manager what side do they cater to or have had past working experiences. If their career has taken up all three, then it’s a bonanza! They most likely will have an all-rounded view of digital marketing.

Finalize your Hiring decision
Just before finalizing your hiring decision, make sure that you have cleared your goals regarding which services are you planning to avail from that digital agency. It can be branding or lead generation, inbound marketing, quora marketing etc. Clearing your goal set at an early stage will not create any problems in your relationships in future.
The moment you have shortlisted your list to only the genuine contenders, ask yourself what you really expect from this relationship. Everyone desires something a little different from their agency relationship as marketing is believed to be fun for business owners who are doing all the routine operational tasks needed to run their business. So, opt for an agency that aligns with your qualities and accessibility and is also fun to work with.