Digital marketing services are one of the best ways to promote your business, product or service and to gain new customers in today’s competitive environment. But how do you choose between all the different companies offering digital marketing services? Here are five tips to help you figure out which services will work best for your needs and budget.

1) Finding Digital Marketing Agencies

Once you’ve decided that your brand could benefit from digital marketing services, how do you go about finding a digital marketing agency? Like with any other agency or consultant, research is key. Use Google to search for a digital marketing agency + (your city/region). On some of those results, you should see websites of digital agencies in your area. Take advantage of Google Maps and look at each agency’s location (you can even check out street view). When you visit each website and review their offerings, keep an eye out for a few things: general design quality, audience targeting ability and testimonials. Sites with poor design probably don’t have much expertise when it comes to digital marketing campaigns.

2) Technical Expertise

If you’re in need of a digital marketing agency that has a technical background, it can be hard to figure out whether or not they’ll be able to help you. Don’t jump at an agency just because they have a fancy website; look into their expertise and experience, as well as what kinds of past clients they have worked with. Ideally, any digital marketing services you hire should be able to show off past work that is similar in nature to what you are trying to achieve. There will probably be some differences between your situation and theirs but if there aren’t any overlaps, that could be a red flag.

3) Pricing

Understanding pricing is an important part of choosing digital marketing services. The actual cost of choosing, running and monitoring a digital marketing campaign can quickly climb if you don’t know what to look for. Make sure you are clear about both your total costs as well as any additional fees that may come up along the way (such as credit card processing fees, social media management and more). You also want to make sure that your service provider has a plan in place for managing your return on investment (ROI) if your business decides to pay for performance. All told, there’s no reason not to explore all of these details before making a decision that could have such a far-reaching impact.

4) Case Studies

If a company has some happy customers, ask for case studies. You want an idea of what kind of results they’ve generated for past clients so you can determine if those outcomes are likely for your business as well. If possible, try to look at three or more case studies before picking a company. It can be helpful to contact each client and verify that their experience is accurately reflected in the case study. Don’t worry about feeling annoying; you have every right as a customer (and potential customer) to do your due diligence and ensure that what you’re seeing is real.

5) Experience

This is probably one of your biggest considerations. Ideally, you want someone who has years of experience working in your field—in other words, someone who can speak your language. Think about it: if a plumber showed up at your house and didn’t understand what p-trap meant, it wouldn’t leave you feeling confident in his abilities, would it? Well, that same principle applies to hiring a digital marketing firm. Find out how long each agency has been around and make sure there’s at least one person with at least 5 years of experience (at least 2 with 10+).