No two digital marketing companies are the same. That is why the agency you partner with can make or break your business. But there is an even bigger picture. Digital marketing dictates your entire online image, from your website appearing for organic search queries to your social media reputation and everything in between.

Finding a digital marketing agency that would be the perfect match for your business, therefore, takes precedence. But with every company claiming to be the best, whom do you trust? Here are the top 10 qualities to look out for in an agency.

Top 10 Must-Have Qualities for a Professional Digital Marketing Company

1. Efficient Team – At the heart of every successful business lies a team of dedicated people. And the best digital marketing agencies are staffed with experts from various fields like programming, web design, SEO, social media, sales, and more.

2. Excellent Communication – Frequent and honest communication is the key to any healthy partnership. A trustworthy digital marketing company will view its clients as partners. Lack of communication is a serious red flag.

3. Creative Outlook – Fresh and ingenious ideas are what separates the pros from run-of-the-mill marketers. Partnering with a trendsetter instead of a reactionary has its perks. A proficient marketing firm will proudly flaunt its portfolio.

4. Flexibility – Digital marketing is a fluid domain, and strategies that work today might be useless tomorrow. Therefore, constant innovation and the ability to adapt are crucial. Find a partner that’s able to anticipate and adapt to changes on the fly.

5. Practical Resolutions – No matter how well prepared you might be, problems will appear. Look for a company that’s able to quickly identify potential problems and quickly resolve the issue.

6. Quick Actions – it doesn’t matter how unique your ideas are if you can’t execute them. A digital marketing company with a long list of loyal customers says a lot about its ability to deliver on its promises.

7. Measurable Results – At the end of the day, delivering results is what matters. So, always look for testimonials and case studies to verify the success rate of an agency’s marketing campaigns for past clients.

8. Market Analysis – A successful digital marketing company will always analyze your competition before planning a campaign. They’ll also take the time out to explain the findings and the target results.

9. Robust Online Presence – If a digital marketing company can promote your business, they can surely promote themselves. A renowned marketing agency will have an updated website, a strong social media presence, and a ton of testimonials.

10. Transparent Billing – Professional digital marketing agencies will be upfront about their charges to help you analyze your expenses. What you see is what you pay. Look for a month-to-month contract with defined goals for the period.

Are you sick of your job? There are many reasons why you might be looking for new career opportunities. Perhaps your work has become disinteresting, or there is no room for growth.

Whatever the reason, now is a great time to look for new career ideas or consider some of the top side hustles out there. Thankfully, new career ideas are all around – you just need to decide on the one you need.

Here are five top ideas you should consider when trying to change your career:

1. Plan Events

The job of an events planner is a fun and rewarding one. This gives you the opportunity to earn a living by organising parties, conferences, sports competitions and other activities people love to participate in.

Not only do you promote and administer events, but you also develop relationships with event organisers, sponsors, and vendors. You might work at a performing arts venue or be in charge of planning an annual ball for a nonprofit organisation.

Events can be planned in a variety of styles, from a formal meeting to an outdoor picnic. Event planning helps you extend profitable familiarity with people and bring communities together.

2. Manage Social Media Platforms

Social media has continued to gain dominance in the digital marketing industry with 49% of global users. It is used by businesses and entrepreneurs alike to promote their products or services to millions of people worldwide.

Social media managers manage content and interact with customers on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin and Pinterest etc. This job requires organisational skills and the ability to stay up to date with constant changes.

3. Become a Photographer

Being a photographer can provide you with a great career and allow you the freedom to be your own boss. Photography is very rewarding, especially when you get to see your photographs in print or on a website.

You decide which photos to take, what kind of cameras to use, where to shoot, and who to show your work to. You can sell your photos online, at local craft shows, in art galleries, or at an outdoor farmers’ market.

The best part is that there are many different areas of photography to specialise in, such as party and event wedding photography, child and family portraits, or professional headshots.

4. Become a YouTuber

With so much information online, people are constantly looking for easy guides. You can be that guide. Posting high-quality tutorials on YouTube is one of the popular means of earning a living today.

All you need is to find a niche and create and share tutorials on YouTube that will teach people how to do anything. The more people watch your tutorials, the more you earn.

It may take some time to grow a sizable audience, but YouTube is rewarding for those who are willing to devote their time.

5. Become a Fitness Coach

Fitness is a popular pursuit across the world. With health concerns growing, there is more interest in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and looking good too.

Become a fitness coach and get paid to help people look good and feel great. Fitness coaching involves helping clients lose weight or get stronger while gaining confidence.

Fitness coaching allows you to work remotely, meaning you can choose when and where to work based on your desire. However, to get started, it is important you learn the basics.

Conclusion

Being stuck in your job can result in stress, unhappiness, uncertainty and lack of fulfilment. Unfortunately, it happens a lot. And most people find it really difficult to move on from their current jobs because they’re either scared about finding another job or simply don’t know where to start.

Hopefully, you can now boast of knowing up to five new career ideas that you can replace with your existing career.

1. Become a Leader in Your Niche or Industry

You can use your social media accounts to create posts and articles. Also, it is possible to participate in industry events, or even publish eBooks dedicated to your niche. Become an expert who is demanded by people looking for a certain kind of solution.

If you promote yourself as an expert, who can solve a specific problem, you will receive warm phone calls from people wanting to buy from you instead of making cold calls yourself and talking to people, who are not interested in your product.

This is an inexpensive way to grow your small business since you can make the best use of numerous platforms to share content. All you need is to take time to research your market and develop decent content.

This strategy works for all niche types, whether you are engaged in traveling or finance. Each niche has a web-based target audience struggling to learn more about their favorite product or service.

2. Organize a Free Event or Workshop

There is no better way to establish your brand awareness, showcase your expertise, and make new contacts than by organizing a free event or workshop for your target audience. Find a location (maybe someone can even offer a room free of charge!).

Bonus tip: Bring your top-notch business cards with you to hand them out. Inform your potential clients about special promotions they can take advantage of after signing up for your newsletter. Thus, you can use a whole set of marketing ideas at the same time without spending a fortune!

3. Create a Customer Reward Program

The most widely-used way to grow your small business and get new clients is referral marketing. You will hardly find a marketing strategy that can convince new buyers of your reliability and experience as much as personal referrals. If you want to make people talk about your brand, consider creating a customer reward program.

Offer a discount for recommending your services to their friends, and give a discount to their friends as well. This will be an additional incentive for people to contact you. If every satisfied customer brings a friend, soon you will be able to double your company’s client database.

4. Boost Sales Using Email Newsletters 

Email newsletters are the best way to reach potential and returning customers with a system that builds relationships and increases sales. If you haven’t tried this approach yet, you can use dedicated email marketing software to help automate this process.

5. Boost Your Business’s Visibility

Improve your online business visibility. Incorporate SEO technologies in your work to drive your rankings in search engines. If you run a brick-and-mortar business, you need to mark your business location on a Google map. 

Avoid promoting your business only through your Facebook or any social media platform page since you always be under the heel of their algorithms. Make sure you are in search results by typing in your website/company name and your location in the Google search. 

6. Automate Your Tasks

Marketing your small business requires time and patience. Nevertheless, it is possible to take advantage of inexpensive or free marketing automation tools. For example, you can incorporate Hootsuite and Buffer to manage your social media scheduling.

7. Create Social Media Contests

Online contests help you drive your brand awareness and attract potential clients. When people participate in a contest or giveaway, they show interest in your products and services. Even if they don’t win a prize, many participants will definitely make a purchase because they are now familiar with your business and brand.

8. Be Socially Active 

To effectively grow your small business, you need to build connections with your clients. Take it one step further by being active on social media. 90% of marketers believe social media is critical to their business. 

Building a good online presence on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and other platforms can help you communicate better with your customers. If social media management isn’t your forte, delegate this task to a professional.

9. Increase Your Site Speed

Time is money, especially when it comes to web page loading. Google research shows that more than half of mobile users leave a site that takes more than three seconds to load. Amazon found that just one second of a load lag time can cost $1.6 billion a year in lost sales. Test the speed of your site to make sure it’s fast and users can interact with your content promptly.

10. Improve Your Local Marketing Strategy

The web may be the best playing field for businesses of all types and sizes, but the local market is still a valuable resource for all small companies.

You can distribute attention-grabbing business cards. Rather than using boring layouts, try to produce something creative. There is no need to approach designer services since you can use ready-made business card templates. You can also offer free consultations, join your local community of entrepreneurs or professionals, etc.

11. Wow with High-Touch Customer Service

There is no need to spend lots of money to create good customer service. Sometimes it is necessary to make some investments, but, most often, you need to be patient.

If your company has the same level of services as competitors, you can make your brand stand out by providing high-touch customer service. It is the most popular method in the industry that helps a company anticipate the issues its customers will probably have. Even though it is rather difficult to achieve immediate results, this game is worth the candle.

12. Remember about a Mobile Version

Another tip for growing a small business is to create a mobile-friendly website. Check out whether customers can find you online, both on a desktop computer and a mobile device. Mobile-centric design is mainstream since 2019, which means Google has primarily been considering a mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking.

13. Take Part in Collaborative Projects

It doesn’t mean that all marketing strategies should be implemented by a single company. You can considerably improve your marketing performance by joining forces with other professionals whose business complements yours. 

You can create special offers or other promotions and grow your audience together. However, instead of working with large organizations, try to collaborate with companies with a similar level of development.

When each party announces a special offer to their clients, you achieve a chance to advertise your services to the target audience of a competing company free of charge. You can reach a much wider range of people than if you did it alone. Thus, you can build trust among novice clients while cooperating with a company they rely on.

14. Use Pay-Per-Click Advertising

You can use the pay-per-click (PPC) Internet advertising model aimed at driving traffic to your site. It is possible to choose a campaign based on your financial opportunities. You can taste the water by using free advertising credits offered by the majority of platforms. 

Thus, you can understand how this marketing model works before you invest in it. Remember to deactivate ad campaigns if they haven’t generated enough revenue to pay for themselves.

Running an HR department can be a tedious job, and you will have to do a lot more than you think. If you are the owner of a small business, you take on many HR responsibilities such as performing a DBS check on candidates and organising assessment days. Finding ways to streamline this part of your job while still keeping accurate track of everything will be crucial for the success of your business. One of the best ways to keep on top of HR is by going paperless with an online employee time clock.

Going paperless allows you to have instant reports, which can include information such as hours worked, employee attendance, and paid time off used. The best news is that an online employee time clock stores all information, which can help you streamline and automate your business. You can access important information from work, home, or even on the go with the help of your smartphone.

Trying to record everything by hand is tedious, and frankly, a waste of your time. Keeping paper records means you have to be in the office for reports, and you have to file, sort, and dig through them when you need them again. Adopting online time clock software is essential for HR management and ensuring the success of your business.

Going Paperless Is Essential

Going paperless allows you to have access to crucial information at your fingertips. The best thing about an online timecard system is that it not only tracks hours but can keep the data for years at a time. You have to keep accurate records of how many hours someone worked for three years for many businesses. If you keep paper records, these can easily get lost, misplaced, or not filed accurately. It is in your best interest to find a way to go paperless.

On top of that, it can be safer than a file cabinet. You can passcode protect all critical files and ensure their safety when you transfer them to an online employee time clock software. If that isn’t the best feature, think about how much office space you will save when all of your most crucial information is online.

Employee Management Made Easier

With the help of a cloud-based time clock, your team can easily punch in and out without you being there. If there is a mistake, you can easily override it and fix the problem. This gives your team more freedom while still allowing you to take accurate records of their times. You can also make schedules in advance and send them out to your entire team before the month arrives. This allows them to request days off or switch shifts if needed.

Transparent scheduling can help reduce employee turnover rates and increase employee happiness. It allows employees to feel like they have more control over a schedule and makes them want to work for you longer. Employee timesheet software offers your workers a healthy work-life balance while still meeting the demands of your business.

Tracking Time Off

It is your responsibility to track all time off that an employee accrue over time. Tracking earned time off can be a significant pain to do by hand. A time and attendance app can be programmed to automatically calculate accrued time off and update their balance accordingly. This will allow them to see how much time they have and help you become aware of when they need to take time off. An online time clock can even be programmed to carry over the paid time to the next year if necessary.

If you have not yet invested in an online employee time clock to help streamline your HR processes, it is time to do so. It can help your company grow and help keep your employees happy. You will eliminate tedious and boring tasks and use your time to focus on something more critical daily operations that allow your business to succeed.