So your digital agency just lost a hot lead: you're probably wondering how that happened. Now it's time for some clever detective work to figure out what went wrong to help prevent this from happening again. The first thing to remember is, this happens to all digital marketing agencies.

No budget

Often enough, we all hear the classic "we don't have a budget" which can actually mean two different things. "We don't have a budget" could actually mean, "we don't have a budget". Not everyone is aware of online marketing through SEO so many marketing managers haven't considered this in their yearly budgets yet. Alternatively, this could also mean, "we aren't interested and don't see the value in this".

How do you get around this? Show a quick and easy win immediately. Use graphs with a timeline and include a pound sign (literally). SEO is more of a long term digital marketing plan which involves plenty of valuable research. You'll need to show something which is easily achievable in a short space of time. This could be anything from increases in keyword rankings, increase the main service pages by a few positions and/or a lower average cost-per-click (CPC).

In-House

Often enough, you'll hear a prospective client say they do their digital marketing in-house. This doesn't mean the lead is cold. There is still a good chance to win the account. Perhaps their in-house team is a small one and could do with a little extra help with planning and executing plans. They may just have one person doing their SEO but not PPC. Make sure all areas of digital marketing are covered. Keep track of the company’s progress and get in touch again a few months later, showing the prospect what could have been achieved.

Your Agency Is Too Big

In other words, the prospective client is worried about the cost of your monthly retainer. Smaller budgets are mistakenly underrated by some digital agencies, and are given less attention, which might be your prospect’s issue. On the other hand companies with high budgets wonder when they'll see their return on investment. Remember that large digital marketing agencies always receive the best rates for online tools and have contacts which charge lower prices as they know they receive a lot of business through agencies. Using a digital marketing agency to deal with your entire online marketing through SEO, PPC and social media comes with plenty of perks. We're not just saying that. Any changes to the marketing on either side can be better communicated and little to no delay in communication.

The Last Digital Marketing Agency Damaged Us

You may be able to offer the best SEO and PPC marketing strategy in the market, a company with a negative prior agency experience will have trust issues. A bad meal doesn’t encourage you to return to the same restaurant. Comfort your prospects and reassure them you're here to set them right again. On the phone, allow them to talk you through their bad experience. This should be the start of your research and planning. Let them explain how their traffic has decreased; show them case studies in their sector and how you improved theirs.

 

By Nick Haggis, SEO Account Manager at Polaris.

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