Making the decision to hire a digital marketing agency is tough. Deciding on which digital agency to hire is even tougher. Knowing exactly what to ask your digital agency before signing with them is unfortunately, one of the hardest things in digital marketing today….
“Can you show me real results of previous campaigns?”
Not Case Studies. Not client testimonials. Not a reference. REAL LIFE DATA. Most agencies will say that this is a conflict as they don’t get permission from a client to show any results, yet clients are open to saying positive things about the campaign and will leave a review. Call them out on it!
There are so many digital marketing agencies and all of them have slightly different processes and ways of presenting data to you, but one thing is consistent – results speak for themselves. Anyone can tell you what you want to hear, but without being able to see the proof in the pudding, how can you really be sure?
“When can I expect to see results?”
This is a good one for Search Engine Optimisation or Conversion Optimisation campaigns that are often longer term strategies for business. If an agency says “I can get you ranking on page 1 of Google in less than a month” then you should have some alarm bells ringing in your ears.
Paid campaigns such as Google Ads and Social Media can see much quicker results as they are pay to click style campaigns, so it is a lot easier to predict a timeframe for results, but understanding the plan of attack and making sure your expectations align on when results can be delivered is an extremely important step in your decision making.
Make sure that you push for a proper answer with this and understand exactly when you expect to see results so that you can do your budgeting internally and plan to asses KPI’s early on in the campaign.
“Who will I be working with?”
All too often in digital marketing, you are met with a sales person up front. Doesn’t matter if they are titled “CEO” or “Business Development Manager” or “Head of client success”, because they are there to sell you into a campaign and often, they aren’t there to deliver the campaign to you afterwards.
So who will be looking after your campaign and who will be your main point of contact after you’ve signed? It is important to get a feel for who will actually be delivering your reports and providing insight into your campaign before put your signature on anything to make sure you are in the right hands.
The other important thing to identify is do you have access to the delivery experts? If you are doing a social media marketing campaign, can you speak to the head of social? Or is everything filtered through an account manager. And the questions you need to ask yourself is, does that matter to you?
A lot to think about, but make sure you are confident in WHO it is that you are speaking to about your campaign overall.
“Can you achieve my campaign KPI’s?”
You will have some campaign improvement metrics in your head that you are aiming for and addressing this from the start of the campaign allows both parties to discuss realistic timelines and assess budgets prior to a campaign commencing.
This is a good time to gauge the agencies confidence too in delivering what you are expecting and sometimes, this is the best time to make an assessment on whether they have the capabilities to deliver your campaign and if it is a good fit.
“What kind of reporting do you provide?”
Understanding the data of your campaign allows you to assess the performance of your agency and not many agencies report the same way, so understanding what their reporting structure is, how often they report and what specific elements they are reporting on your campaign is great knowledge to have when signing a proposal.
Always get an example of a report before starting with an agency, understand what some of the important areas they outline are and ensure that you are in agreement with the way that report highlights your data and is completely transparent from day one.
Asking these questions could save you from making a huge mistake, but they can also give you a lot of clarity and understanding of what your digital agency is going to deliver and how they operate in general. Do you due dilligence and make sure you are happy with your decision before making it!
We at Reform Digital invite these questions and if you would like to talk to us about an upcoming campaign, click here to find out more!
