How to Choose the Right Internet Marketing Company
If you’re a business in British Columbia trying to grow your visibility, working with a BC-based internet marketing company can help you achieve your goals. Whether you need to improve brand recognition, drive more leads, or improve your reputation and reviews, internet marketing can be the key. Local SEO marketing to attract your customer, whether you’re in Penticton, Osoyoos, Okanagan Falls, Peachland, Summerland, Kelowna, Vernon, or Lake Country, can help you target the right people.
What Is Internet Marketing?
Internet marketing is a comprehensive approach to making your business more visible online. It encompasses everything from an optimized website and content, citation directories listing linking, review and reputation marketing, Google and Bing ads, and concentrated local SEO marketing and optimization. Peak to Peak Marketing has delivered proven results to businesses throughout BC with our proprietary system. Internet marketing includes developing a deep understanding of your target market, knowing what your customers are searching for online, and making sure they find you when they search.
Yes, You Need Internet Marketing Even If You’re a Local Brick and Mortar Business
Every business, both online and physical, must be visible online to attract customers and grow. Almost everyone turns to an online search even to find a local business now.
- Customers search for products online before going to a store to buy them.
- They look at reviews before deciding to give your business their trust.
- They seek out recommendations online by reading reviews – and they trust those reviews to guide them to the right businesses.
- Customers pick up the phone and search for whatever they need “near me” to find YOU.
Internet Marketing Is a Full-Time Job
Unfortunately, if you spend as much time as you should working on the online marketing efforts for your business, it can be overwhelming. Not only do you need expertise in an array of areas from Google Ads to content marketing, but the time you spend online takes you away from the work of the business. It can be more than you or even your internal marketing team can handle, especially the more specialized areas of advertising and review & reputation management.
So How Do You Choose the Right Internet Marketing Partner?
Deciding to partner with an internet marketing company starts with having trust in what they can do for you. In order to determine that, you need to put on your customer hat and look at things like:
- Services offered
- Responsiveness of the company
- Reviews from other customers
Internet marketing is an investment; however, it is one that can definitely deliver on ROI when done well. It’s always so disappointing to meet with a potential new client and hear their frustration over throwing money away for six months or more by working with a company that made promises they couldn’t keep or who didn’t have the expertise to achieve the business goals.
How You Can Make the Partnership Better
When you outsource your online marketing, you will get the most success from treating it like a partnership. That means you take the time to provide the materials and information the marketing agency needs, you work with them to identify and refine your business goals, and you give them a starting point to develop your target market. In return, your marketing company will be able to develop a more comprehensive plan that is tailored to meet the needs of your business, whether you’re in Penticton, Osoyoos, Okanagan Falls, Peachland, Summerland, Kelowna, Vernon, or Lake Country.
Online Marketing Changes Rapidly
When choosing the right internet marketing company for your business, consider the staying power of the company you hire. An internet marketing company that has years of longevity behind it means one thing: the agency is agile enough to change. This can be one of the most important qualifications because if a marketing company just keeps doing the same thing they’ve always done, even as consumers change and Google algorithms change, and best practices change, you’ll be the one who suffers for it.
Here are some traits to look for when shopping for an internet marketing company:
- An accessible list of current and past clients
- Specific and verifiable expertise
- Reputation – read the testimonials and reviews on the agency, not just the ones they share on their own website
- A website that provides enough information for you to understand the services offered
You should also seek a company whose mission and goals are aligned with your own company’s culture. For example, if you’re an ice cream shop in Kelowna and the company you’re looking at is anti-dairy, it might not be a good fit culturally. An oil and gas company might not want to work with a marketing company known for its corporate responsibility efforts in green energy.
Avoid Unattainable Promises
Some internet marketing companies will promise you page one SERPs within 30 days and other outlandish promises. Internet marketing is part science, part art. It takes time to see results. Big promises sound exciting and often get you to open your pocketbook, however, those promises can often be empty. Choose an agency that will be honest with you about timelines and the investment required. Look for transparency.
Seek Value and ROI, not Price Point
Of course, price is a consideration when looking for the right internet marketing company, however, don’t let price be the decision-maker. You may spend a little more per month for the right internet marketing company but see twice as many leads because of it. If you’re ready to grow the visibility and customer base of your local BC business, an internet marketing company like Peak to Peak Marketing can help. We work with businesses throughout British Columbia, including Penticton, Osoyoos, Okanagan Falls, Peachland, Summerland, Kelowna, Vernon, and Lake Country. We bring expertise and extensive experience to the table and focus on creating a customized plan that will help you achieve your business goals. Get in touch today.
