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1,406 viewsMore and more entrepreneurs are now willing to hire a digital marketing agency in order to improve the performance of their businesses. They hope that a large team of specialists will work hard to solve their problems and present creative ideas. They except excellence no matter what. But is it really so? Like with everything in life…there will be some side effects. Delegating tasks comes with risks that are sometimes worth taking.
When you seek to hire a digital marketing agency, the first and most important thing is the interviewing process. Before signing any papers, organize an interview in which you’ll get to know the company better. You can see with your own eyes whether the representative of the company inspires confidence and trust, all while receiving more details about their offer.
We asked a few questions to Cary Briar, marketing and promotions manager at Bestessays.com.au, who has more than 4 years of practice in the digital marketing field. Based on her experience, she defined 7 essential questions every business owner or entrepreneur needs to ask before hiring a digital marketing agency. In today’s post, we’re sharing them with you.
Question 1: How do they measure success?
In general, when you’re looking to hire a digital marketing agency, there are several indicators that you should pay close attention to. These are the indicators which are worth measuring:
- Traffic. How many people visit your website? What is the bounce rate? What is the traffic’s behavior?
- Traffic sources. Where does your traffic (potential customers) come from? It could be social networks, organic search traffic, or maybe some black-hat SEO practices. You never know until you ask.
- Conversions. The number of people who visited your website and became leads.
- The cost for a lead. How much do you pay to receive one lead? That is the average investment you make for each potential loyal customer. Pay $4 to get him to purchase and in a lifetime he’ll earn you $40. That’s a good cost per lead!
- Income from one lead. How much money do you get from one lead? This is the other factor (besides CPL) that will indicate your ROI (return on investment.)
Make sure to let the company’s representative understand that you’re looking for specific indicators or metrics. I’m talking about the above listed; if they can’t provide that, it’s likely that they’re less professional than you thought. If you hire a digital marketing agency and you pay good bucks for it, they’d better pay attention to the important indicators and stats.
Question 2: What is the company’s experience in digital marketing?
This is an incredibly relevant question because it asks for a concrete answer. It asks for proves. It asks for validation. Whenever you consider hiring a digital marketing company to assist you, find out who else they have assisted. Find out about their previous achievements and results.
Some companies might tell lies or showcase invented achievements. The best way to make sure you’re staying out of danger is to take the time to further research those statements. So if they praised themselves for helping X company, visit that company, talk to their higher ranks and ask about it. Or, you could talk to an ex-employee of that company. You will find genuine answers and be able to validate (or disband) your potential outsourcer’s statements.
My advice is to be very careful with the experience aspect. Ask for concrete things, ask them to show you instead of telling you. Those who can show you real facts and proves are inspiring more trust and professionalism!
Question 3: Who will work for your company?
Digital marketing agencies usually hire freelancers from the countries with lower wage level and transfer most of the work to them. Basically, they’re outsourcing workforce and they’re making a profit because of the higher paychecks that they retain. Unfortunately, many webmasters fall into this trap because they don’t go further with their research.
The solution is, in fact, simple: ask your potential outsourcers to honestly tell you about the quality of their services. Ask about the individuals who are performing the job. Where are they from? Are they natives? Do they have education degrees? Do they have enough results to be worthwhile your time?
Obviously, you shouldn’t sound too intrusive. If the representative of the agency is reluctant, ask whether you can get in touch with a few of the individuals who will be performing the digital marketing for your company. If he’s fine with it, you can see for yourself!
Question 4: How do you assess the outcome of the cooperation?
Before hiring a digital marketing agency, ask your potential outsourcers about the way they assess the outcome of the cooperation. You have basically contacted them because you need some help. They have offered their help, but they must be very concrete with the results. When you have something concrete to hope for, everything is easier. You will know what you pay for, and you will be able to better predict and analyze your ROI.
You have to formulate clear and understandable expectations. Ask for specific and measurable performance indicators such as traffic, conversion rates, number of new followers/subscribers, email open rates, and so on. Whatever your company needs the most!
Question 5: What are the expected results in six months?
Considering that your collaboration should have a long-term nature, you need to understand whether the digital marketing company that you’re working with is competent enough to do a good job on a consistent basis.
Make it very clear that you want a long-term collaborator and ask them to be genuine. Let them understand that it’s important for you to count on them. If you see a hesitation, be very careful! Also if they’re truly eager to sign the papers, take it as a warning sign too. A company that is serious will definitely need time to consider whether they can meet all your criteria.
Question 6: How will we communicate?
The communication between you and the marketing agency is going to be extremely important over the course of your collaboration. You need to ask what communication ways and tools they have. For example, some companies use Skype, others prefer Facebook Workplace, and there are those that find project management software like Trello to be the most convenient.
Depending on your circumstances and needs, you can select your preferred communication channels. Just make sure it is not only the phone because in this case, you will not have backup records of your messages, which you will definitely need when misunderstandings occur. Of course, a phone should be used in urgent cases, but daily communication is better to be conducted via email or any messenger you prefer.
Question 7: When will I see the first results?
This specific question is important because it makes your potential outsourcers think and answer in a matter of a few seconds upon a very serious request. What you’re basically asking is extremely hard to figure out in a matter of seconds. It takes time and analytics. If the agency’s representative assures you of great results in as little as a few days or weeks, you should know for sure that he’s pretty unprofessional.
A digital marketing agency can never predict the first results “just like that”. Therefore, if an extremely assuring answer pops up, stay skeptic!
Takeaways
I hope you find these questions helpful in guiding you towards a successful, collaborative relationship with your next marketing agency. Remember, there are many scammers today, many unprofessional companies which collaborate with ineffective managers and employees, and ultimately many bad deals. Do your research first, ask the right questions, evaluate everything you’ve heard, and eventually hire a digital marketing agency that is truly worth your money and time.
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