This is part two of a four-part series of questions to ask digital marketing agencies. If you missed it, check out part one here.
Cutting Through Digital Marketing Agency Jargon
There are a LOT of acronyms in digital marketing. SEO, KPI, ROAS, PPC, LMNOP… ok, we made that last one up, but you get the point! It’s easy to get blinded by all the talk of tactics, channels, and methodologies, but keeping your cool and asking these three pointed questions will help you cut through the jargon and evaluate agencies on an apples-to-apples basis.
Questions about Tactics, Strategies, and Operations
How will you help me set goals?
Every marketing campaign needs goals. As a business owner, you may have goals you want to meet with your marketing campaign, or you might not know where to begin. A marketing agency should work with you to determine SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-based) that will move the needle for your business. Some examples of SMART goals include increasing the number of website form completions by 20% in six months or increasing the sales of a specific product by 10% in the next 90 days.
What tools do you use when building and implementing a marketing strategy?
There are countless tools available to marketers when planning and implementing a marketing strategy. With tools like Moz’s Keyword Explorer, Semrush’s Site Audit, and Google’s Keyword Planner, marketers find what works best for them. While you may not need to know the intricacies of every tool an agency is using, an agency that is open about the tools they use will likely be transparent in other aspects of the business. This ensures you get the complete picture, not just what they want you to see.
What partners do you work with to build and implement strategies?
Not every marketing agency does all elements in-house. It’s natural for agencies to focus on specific aspects of marketing that their team is suited for, while partnering with others to supplement the services they don’t offer.
Often, many agencies will partner with a photography and videography agency to ensure a high-quality product for ads and other collateral. A reputable agency will be clear about where their expertise ends and where they partner with others to provide the best results for you.
Continuing the Conversation
Digital marketing can be a daunting field, full of fancy words and confusing language. At the end of the day, the one thing that really matters is results. Are the agencies you’re vetting reaching the goals that you set out to achieve? How are they doing it? Are they being transparent about their expertise and where a particular partner takes over? If they can’t (or won’t) answer these questions, they might not be the right agency for you, even if they seem to talk the talk.
