10 Questions to Ask a Prospective Digital Marketing Agency
Are you feeling overwhelmed with trying to keep up with the latest digital marketing tactics and trends?
Are you feeling overwhelmed with trying to keep up with the latest digital marketing tactics and trends?
I’m sure you’d much prefer to work on other aspects of running your business rather than figuring the ins-and-outs of an online presence. Or perhaps you realize that hiring an expert will get you better results and even end up saving you both time and money in the long run. Last, but not least, a lot of businesses are still ignorant about digital marketing.
Regardless of your reasons, we all have specialists in our lives that we use to solve particular problems. Whether it’s a real estate agent, a financial advisor or a specialized doctor, you typically already know what your individual needs are and thus know the right questions to ask when trying to find the right fit. But, what about finding an expert to help your business with digital marketing? Because digital marketing is a newer and ever-changing field, many aren’t familiar enough in the industry to know exactly what their business needs to flourish and thus have trouble finding the right expert for the job.
Not to worry. I got your back.
Generally speaking, there are three types of agencies:
- Full Service: These agencies can do it all. Traditional marketing (TV, radio, print, mail, etc.), digital marketing (website development, mobile, Blogging, SEO, PPC, email, etc.), and social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, etc.)
- Digital: These agencies focus on digital marketing. There are also a lot of agencies that focus on only one part of the digital marketing landscape – such as website development, Pay-per-click or email marketing.
- Social Media: There are even agencies that focus exclusively on social media.
10 Questions
Here are 10 key questions to ask when interviewing potential full service or digital marketing agencies to make sure they are a good fit for your business:
- How will you get to know my business so you can pinpoint our needs?
- Have you ever worked with a business similar to mine?
- What can I expect in terms of reporting and analytics?
- How are your services billed?
- What is your pricing?
- Can I see some examples of your work (both a successful example and unsuccessful)?
- What happens if we decide to separate? Who owns the content and where is it hosted?
- What results can I reasonably expect?
- How long will it take to start seeing results?
- What guarantees do you provide?
These questions are designed to help you get a better idea on who they are and how they operate. They might not provide guarantees or give you specific results to expect, and that’s okay, but if they shy away from those questions, that’s NOT okay.
The key of the interview process is to make sure you are hiring an agency that understands your business and focuses on results, not procedures or tactics. These questions help you find an expert that will create a custom-tailored plan for you that solves your problem for a reasonable price.
This article first appeared here.