So you have decided to conquer the online marketing world, you have great ideas, a reasonable budget, site content and a newly re-designed website. You have even scouted out an agency to help on your quest for online domination. Moments before you sign on the dotted line you start to get cold feet, you’re wondering if this the best decision and investment.
Here are a few helpful questions that you should ask and consider before you go partner with a digital marketing agency!
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1. Do you have any examples of clients you have successful relationships with?
Most reputable agencies will happily direct you to their testimonials page along with their Google+ Reviews. Some will even have case studies of clients who have been successful working with them. This gives you confidence that their sales pitch and experience is based on fact! I have worked with clients who have gone with agencies without asking this question and the majority of them stated what they heard in their sales pitch and the how reality of the service they were provided and what they were promised were two very different things. It’s always better to go with the right agency the first time.
2. Can you guarantee me good results?
Now, this is a slightly tricky one. In an ideal world we would all love to be guaranteed exactly what we want; however, in the world of online marketing, if someone is giving you a guarantee you will be ranking on page one for all of your top key terms, chances are you are not going to want to go with this agency! You can never make guarantees online. If they show you examples of past successes and show projections of expected growth, this is a sign that you’re working with an honest agency that will keep you informed.
3. What am I responsible for if I sign on?
Most people would like to hand over everything to the agency and let them “do their magic.” This should never be the case. Why? Because the best agencies will tell you that your input in the beginning stages of a campaign are crucial. When we ask for your input on Imagery, content, keywords and campaign setup, etc. it is all done with your end goal of a high ROI in mind! Often times when I have worked with clients who are not involved in setup, the inevitable meeting will happen six months later when they say, the results are not at all what I expected. This is often do to lack of client involvement in the setup phase. No matter how you look at it, the client knows more about their business than any marketing agency ever will.
4. How will you track my ROI?
This is probably one of the most important questions you need to ask before going with any agency. Understanding their reporting structure is of paramount importance. In TechWyse Internet Marketing’s case we have AdLuge, It is a reporting tool that houses all of your information under one easy accessible platform. In our monthly meetings with clients we run through the leads that have been sold to determine the true ROI.
Of course depending on what you are looking to get out of your campaign the above can be altered, they are just a few of the key questions everyone should ask before making the commitment with an agency. It makes for happier client and agency relationships in the long-term.
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thanks for sharing the information…
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Thanks for sharing your great info.
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Hey shawn good question arose in your mind but it is already answered in question one of article.If you ask your Hire company about its successful marketing work on clients they give examples of clients and it is answer to your question.
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Hi Gemma – the last and maybe most important one is also the most difficult. Not the least because small businesses do not have a good system of key performance indicators in place (if at all) so the basis of comparison is wobbly to non-existent. But they may also use various channels like word-to-mouth etc. that bring results in waves that do not correlate to the agency’s efforts and -at best- overemphasize their results but maybe also do them injustice.
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Thanks for this well written out post. It is very important to see what kind of results they are getting, and their current clients. Also knowing exactly what is to be expected of you before going in, can give you a clear picture as to whether or not, it may be a good fit for you.
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Good blog post about marketing agencies. Of course I would have a main question that isn’t listed here. I would love for you to give your input on my questions as well. 🙂 My question: What is the success rate of your marketing service? Do you think that would be a good question to ask? Why or why not?