Digital marketing is evolving daily. Millions of dollars are spent on advertising to get your company’s message in front of the right people at the right time. As an owner of a digital agency and consulting firm, I am uniquely qualified to offer advice to business owners on what they should be looking for while searching for a digital marketing partner.
7 Things That Must Be Addressed In Order To Maximize Marketing Budgets
1. Do You Understand My Situation?
This can be very important if your industry is specialized (such as medical) or where content is heavily regulated. While having experience in an industry can be valuable, it can also be limiting. Working in multiple industries gives the agency different challenges and a broad range of experience. Over the years, PCG Digital has had a high percentage of our client base in automotive–but we have also brought our branding and product marketing expertise to the furniture industry, among others, and now have launched Localiente to handle small to medium sized businesses.
The goal for any agency should be connecting the client’s business to their target market. While the industry may be different, think more of the product or service you sell and where your audience is.
2. Do You Work with My Competition?
This is a valuable question if you have competitors in your local market. Working for both businesses and potentially using marketing budgets to bid against themselves lends itself to unsatisfactory results. Some agencies offer exclusivity but understand there may be a cost for the agency to give up potential revenue.
Most marketing agencies will not actively be searching for your competition because they want to show great results.
3. How Do You Stay Up To Date With the Latest Strategies?
This is a key question to ask. Agencies will proudly share that their employees are Google Certified for SEO or SEM–which is great–but ask how they continue to update their skills. Digital marketing is a constantly changing field so keeping abreast of current strategies is key.
4. How Many Clients Do Your Account Managers Handle?
Any firm can dance their way around a question that directly addresses customer service. This is a good way to get a feel of what kind of service you will actually be receiving. There are a few layers to this beyond a specific number–if the account manager is also doing some of the actual work, then their account total should be lower than someone who is delegating tasks to other team members who actually do the work.
Ask the agency how their structure is set up. For our agency, PCG Digital has an account manager who oversees the strategy and then works hand in hand with specialists for each service the client is receiving. For example, a client of ours could have up to 5 people working on their account: SEO, SEM, Social Media, Content and Account manager. Every agency is a bit different so understanding this point will help you get the best results.
5. How Will You Communicate Results?
This is one of the most important questions to be addressed. What format will results be shared? How often will we discuss progress? Will everyone who works on my account be on the call, or will it just be the account manager? Ask what information will be included in the reports, and whether or not strategy will be discussed on these calls.
When specialists are on all the monthly calls, everyone hears directly from the client what is important. There is nothing lost in translation from account manager to specialist.
6. How Do I Contact You?
Too often, issues are resolved through a support ticket method. Even if you have an account manager, can you speak directly to the specialists? Is the agency available on weekends or after hours?
Marketing is not a 9-5 business. Time cycles or seasonality is important for many industries and working through a weekend or late into the day is key for success. If you can’t reach them on their cell phone, and it is important, is the agency really working for you?
7. References
Every agency has references they will share. We all have clients who love our work or who we have a better relationship with. Every agency should be willing to offer multiple client references, not just one or two.
I hope these questions help you lock in on a digital agency. If I can be of service or if you would like to discuss how PCG Digital or Localiente can help you, you can email me at glenn@pcgcompanies.com
Please join me for our Fixed Operation Virtual Boot Camp September 10th. It will be a jam packed one day event to help those who run Fixed Operation in auto dealership better market their services. Tickets on sale at https://www.brianpasch.com/fixed-ops-marketing-bootcamp/