Looking at a marketing agency website, you’d think they’d want to put their best foot forward.

Often, though, the effect you get from digging into one of these websites is exactly the opposite.

Marketing agency websites can be confusing, convoluted, and give you the runaround.

That’s bizarre considering almost all of them want to sell you website design.

As a full-service marketing agency, we’ve looked at thousands of marketing agency websites – and not just our direct competitors, either. We’re always watching out for the latest trends that can help you to reach your goals. Sadly, many marketing agency websites look like they came from 2003, not 2023.

Here are the biggest issues:

1. Tons of Service Offerings with No Clear Strategy

The “ala carte” model of digital marketing assumes that when you walk through the door, you’ll already know exactly what you want. The truth is, you have a lot of other things on your mind – your marketing team should be ready to help you construct a marketing strategy based on your needs.

There was a time when just having a website or posting to social media was enough to get attention. These days, “if you build it, they will come” is the worst advice you can get. Good marketing doesn’t mean trying a little bit of everything but doing a handful of things consistently.

What will effective marketing look like for you? It depends on a number of factors:

• Your audience and where they like to spend their time online
• The kind of platforms and content you’re comfortable with
• Whether you want first-time visitors, leads, or bookings
• Your budget and expectations for the next twelve months

Certain things work for some companies and not for others, but that doesn’t mean you need to reinvent the wheel. Your marketing agency should have your back with proven insight into your industry. This brings us to the next issue that sinks so many would-be marketing agencies.

2. No Vision for How the Work Applies to Your Industry

To compete online, every business needs certain things.

One of those is a website. Another is an active blog.

But that doesn’t mean there’s a “one size fits all” solution to your marketing needs. Quite the opposite. Building trust and rapport with your audience means understanding what they expect from you and the industry you represent. Your team should apply each tool in your digital marketing toolkit with care.

At New York Ave, we’re confident our methods can move the needle for just about any business. But we also realize we don’t know everything. That’s why our team has taken the time to deep dive into several key industries we serve on a regular basis. We’ve helped brands like these grow and scale again and again.

If you’re not in one of those industries, we can still work with you – and we look forward to being a part of your success story. But the journey will be different as we gather and use data specifically about your customers’ behavior to find the sweet spot that keeps them coming back.

3. No Clues Given About Timeframe or Pricing – Just “Call Us”

When all a business wants from you is a phone call, you know to prepare for the hard sell.

Like it or not – and we like it just fine – customers like you are in control of the buying process. If you wanted to, you could do thousands of hours of research before you talk to anyone who’s interested in “making a sale.” When businesses aren’t straightforward, they’re trying to ignore that simple fact.

At New York Ave, we post on our blog every single month so you have the information you need to get a sense of our work. When you decide to set up a call or a meeting, it should never feel like walking into an ambush. So, let’s talk facts about both the timeframe and price of marketing services.

Even with online advertising, results don’t happen “overnight” – and marketing should never lead with ads. It’s always the other way around. So, even the best strategy hand-crafted by marketing experts takes about 90 days to gather steam. From there, the impact only grows.

As for cost, working with a marketing agency should always cost less than hiring in-house. At the same time, it should offer 10x the quality of even the most effective freelancer. The average monthly cost to retain a marketing agency is about $3,000 compared to $7,779 for one marketing director.

Want to know more? Contact us to get started.