Imagine the following: you have or work for a small or mid-sized company that’s doing well in the country it’s based in, and you are thinking about expanding your business to Japan. Or you have a great plan for a new business to launch in Japan. The Japanese market offers significant opportunities due to its sheer size, but consumers as well as businesses are famously discerning when it comes to deciding who they will do business with. So how will you go about increasing brand awareness, creating your social media profiles, and making digital marketing strategies that will do well in the Japanese market? Working with a digital marketing agency will take a lot of work off your hands, and you can profit from their experience in the Japanese market if they are specialized in Japan. Let’s go over the specifics of how a digital marketing agency can support your business goals in Japan, and if it could be smart for your business.
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Preparing for Working with a Digital Marketing Company
First of all, it is good to know that not every business will be able to profit from the services of a digital marketing company. A good digital marketing agency will let you know during the inquiry process whether they will be able to help you reach your goals, or if your business isn’t a good match currently. One reason for your business not being able to get the most out of working with a digital marketing company could be the current lack of a good infrastructure, which would make it very challenging to keep your business’ online reviews good.
Good online reviews are a very important part of a digital marketing strategy, and they can easily make or break a business. Another reason that could make it hard for you to profit from a collaboration with a digital marketing agency is if you don’t have clear marketing goals yet. It is important to know what you are aiming at, so the marketing agency can tailor their marketing efforts and keep tabs on the progress of your campaigns and make adjustments if necessary.
Once your infrastructure is in order and your marketing goals are clear, you are ready for the next step which is to see what digital marketing agencies in your target market have to offer. It is always a good idea to check out their portfolio, see what services they offer and if they fit your marketing goals, and if the methods they use are current. They should be able to give you a nice and clear proposal including what results to expect. Iis good to see if they are not making any outlandish promises that would be very hard to keep. Making sure that they are honest in telling you what results you can expect and not just try to reel you in with beautiful promises (and then backtrack) is a good way to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Digital Marketing Services
What kind of services do digital marketing agencies actually offer? That depends a little bit on the company and what their strengths are, but the end goal is to promote your business, brand, and customer loyalty with online marketing techniques, hereby increasing visits to your website and social media channels and eventually your sales. In general, you can expect the following services:
- Creating a digital marketing strategy: looking at your goals, they will come up with a full digital marketing strategy including measurable targets
- SEO: this includes SEO on your website including link building, local SEO, and technical SEO
- Content creation and marketing: strategy, writing, images, video
- Social media management: creation of company pages, creating posts including images and videos, interacting with commenters, social media advertising
- Search engine ads: management of paid ads in search engine to boost page visits
- Localization: if you are looking for a digital marketing agency in a country that is not your own because you want to enter a new market, it is good to choose an agency that is experienced with localization in which they optimize your brand and content for their market
What to Expect from the Results
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If you are going to pay a digital marketing agency for their services, you want to know what kind of results you can expect. As mentioned before, it is good to make sure that the digital marketing agency you are going to partner up with isn’t making any empty promises that look too good to be true. Any experienced digital marketing manager knows that it takes time for digital marketing efforts to start paying off. If an agency promises to boost your sales by 200% by the end of the first month, that should be a red flag.
Especially when it comes to SEO, it often takes between 3-6 months to fully see the results while your posts (slowly) climb in the search engines ranks. If you are in a very small niche market, it may be a bit sooner. It is good to keep in mind that while good agencies will always do their best to bring you the best results, SEO and social media marketing are not an exact science and not everything is within your own control as what competitors are doing will also have an impact on how you will fare.
What they can guarantee you, however, is that you will do better with a digital marketing agency than without one, especially in Japan. That is, unless you are a specialist in digital marketing yourself and are already very much at home in the Japanese market. Getting years of experience in the Japanese market coupled with the newest insights of what is working and what is not in social media marketing behind you will give you an enormous head start in a market that can be tough to break in as a newcomer.
Your Go-to Digital Media Agency in Tokyo
Hashi Media is Japan’s go-to content marketing and social media company. If you are planning on entering the Japanese market and don’t know where to start, we’ve got you covered.
- Content creation
- Social media management
- Digital marketing strategy
- Brand localization
If you enjoyed what you read today and found it valuable, contact us today and let’s talk about your project.
