5 Warning Signs That You’re Dealing With a Bad Digital Agency

Bad digital agencies are everywhere, like good ones. If you’re not cautious, they might trap you and such vitality out of your business. Their whole focus centres on catering own interests more than of clients, so their shenanigans are always dubious. It’s however never easy to spot them easily as by the time their real face is known, a lot of damage is already done.

That’s why you should treated with care while selecting a digital agency for brand promotion. At the hand of a right partner, your brand reputation will grow, and your business will be able to achieve its true potential. A bad digital agency won’t serve any purpose and might even set your business back by a few months and hundreds of dollars as well.

The key therefore is always to choose a digital agency based on its track record, its portfolio, the reviews it has got across platforms etc. Once these factors are analysed well, chances of running into a bad digital agency are brought down drastically. So, never rush into hiring an agency because you need quick promotion; rather wait, watch and weigh in all plusses and minuses of that company before availing its services.

Here are some warning signs that you’re dealing with a bad digital agency –

1. They trap with lofty claims

Lofty claims are easily the most obvious sign to spot a crook digital agency. Most of them will claim to give #rankings in Google and deliver top results in search engines in quick time. They will promise you to put rank on Page 1 without discussing any solid strategy in regard to traffic, revenue, conversions or leads to the site. Bad agencies often lure clients with deceptive ads.

More so, they do send a free audit and email you to show or inform that reasons behind poor performance of your website on the web. They will promise you to fix the problem immediately and ensure amazing results with organic traffic. Some are even so deceptive to deliver top rankings but with useless keywords. In overall, their only focus is to claim big so that you can fall for them.

2. They will tell only their story, not yours

A bad digital agency will always tell their story, not yours. Which means, their focus will only be centred on the things that went right from their end so that clients can see the good side and don’t pay attention to the shoddy work behind the scene. Such an agency will never be transparent as if they did, clients would cease to exist. That’s why they only tell the rosy pictures which are most misleading with no value to the business.

Similarly, most digital agencies avoid disclosing their methods as they don’t want the world to know their ‘secret formula’. But there is nothing like a secret formula as digital marketing is all about putting in efforts and getting rewards by following search engine principles. So, if results are there not and the agency is avoiding telling anything concrete about that, it means you’re trapped. So, stay focussed to avoid damage by a bad digital agency.

3. They behave like a vendor not a partner

A bad digital agency will be another vendor on the roll who will keep sending you monthly bills without actually sharing your sentiments. You must avoid them and rather search for a partner instead who can promise to dig in with you, work for you sincerely, help tide over problems and strategize together for every imaginable situations. If you have hired a bad agency, the relationship is going to be transactional most of the time, which won’t serve you well.

On the other hand, a partner will be one who is ready with actionable things for your brand, and who has done research as well to get data and give the much-needed fillip to your digital marketing. Unlike a vendor, the partner will focus on the long-term strategy not for monetary gains but for setting your brand on the right path in a gradual manner. So, choose the agency with care and achieve brand building goals easily.

4. They will seek full control over logins and data

A bad digital agency will always try to have a total control over your logins and data. They will ask you to hand over control on the pretext of handling your accounts better. This is basically a trap you should avoid falling into because once the data and reporting and log-in credentials have been handed, you will always be at their mercy. They might hold on to your details to delay the separation and send bills as well.

In fact, such a situation might also lead to legal disputes where you will have to fight a case for own data and logins. That’s why the key is to hire a trusted digital agency by going through reviews, feedback and after consulting referrals. You should never hand over data and log-in details to a digital agency you’re not sure about. That’s why a bit of search is essential before hiring a partner for digital marketing.

5. Lack of testimonials

A bad digital agency will often lack testimonials. It will never tell you the companies it has worked for. Basically, such agencies don’t have a good track record, so they don’t want clients to know this. Some even resort to false info with the intention to dupe clients. In such cases, you can always ask the project details and even personally call the client the agency claims to have worked for.

More so, such agencies also use bogus reviews and testimonials to win the trust of their customers which you can verify and easily find out the truth. You can ask them to provide contact details of one of their clients so that you can contact them personally. To avoid all this problem, you should hire only a top digital marketing agency and get the best results possible for your brand promotion.