Out of the many changes that have taken place over the past few years in the world of digital marketing, there may be none more profound than the relationship between agencies and the businesses they are partnered with.
In every passing year, there are as many new professionals, experts, and agencies as there are new digital marketing trends.
But are all agencies created equal? Absolutely not.
The strategic approach your agency applies to your specific campaign is the key to agency differentiation. And there is not enough marketing or business jargon in the world to mask the reality of a campaign that fails to meet (or exceed) expectations.
So, today we are going to provide you with five (of 10) questions (check out part 2 for the rest of the list) you need to consider (and ask) your agency (or prospective agency) to ensure you’ve found the perfect partnership for your business.
1. What Are My Business’s Top 3 to 5 Problems?
Whether you are years into a relationship with your agency or starting out fresh, you should always be able to ask this question and get a straight answer. Sure, you may get different responses for different campaign types like SEO, PPC, or paid social media advertising, but your agency must be able to identify the problems they are trying to solve.
Beyond this, these pinpointed issues should align with the obstacles that you need solved as a business owner. For example, hearing, “Well, you need more brand awareness, more ad clicks, and more conversions” is not an acceptable answer because it can apply to anything. You are looking for answers similar to the following. We will use an ecommerce SEO campaign as an example:
“We are not seeing the engagement we should be seeing on your website. While we have been successful in driving traffic, the amount of time customers are spending on your site is minimal, and we are not seeing your traffic flowing to your product pages at the rates we want. So, you are getting traffic, but we need to work on your content to drive visitors further down the funnel and convert them into sales.”
“Related to problem one, the traffic going to your product pages is not converting like your competitors’. Prospects are spending time on these pages, which is great, but the “add to carts” are relatively low. So, we need to pinpoint if this is a UX issue or perhaps a device-specific issue (mobile or desktop) that is contributing to lower conversions.”
“Further down the funnel we noticed that 75% of your customers abandon their shopping carts when they reach the shipping stage. This could be due to the limited shipping options you provide or not being transparent about shipping fees earlier in the process. So, we are considering applying a “free shipping for orders over $50” banner notification on your homepage and product pages.”
You are looking for two things from your agency: identification of granular problems (not symptoms) and steps they are taking to attack the issue. If their problems don’t seem to align with your goals, don’t be afraid to ask for clarity, which brings us to our next question.
2. Do You Know What My Goals Are?
Before you sign on the digital dotted line (and after), make sure your agency knows what your goals and pain points really are. Some agencies may try to push their solutions on you without truly understanding your core goals.
This is akin to going in for an oil change and then getting the bill for a new transmission—not exactly what you asked for, is it?
Now, your agency might offer strategies and solutions you may have never considered, which is great, but they need to be able to show you how their solutions align with your goals.
Going back to our ecommerce SEO example, if you tell your agency, “I need to increase website sales,” and they immediately reply with, “Sure, we can drive more website traffic for you.” They do not understand your goals.
Your objectives are what matter. If your agency is not using your goals as their North Star, move on and find a new marketing partner (keyword: partner).
3. Do I Still Own My Data?
Let us say this loud and clear—any agency that hides, obfuscates, or in any way limits your access (or future access) to your data, does not have your best interest at heart. And if this is the case, find a new agency. Full stop.
The art, science, and results you get from your marketing all come down to the data. Google Ads data, reporting data, CRM data, email contact data, etc. All of this data belongs to you and any restriction of this data (in our opinion) is akin to theft.
If you bought a new car only to realize that the dealership was holding a lease on the engine, not only would this be unethical, it would most likely be illegal.
So, make sure that you not only have direct access to your accounts but that you have it in writing that if you ever decide to move to a different agency all of your historical campaign data goes with you.
It is your right to retain every drop of your data from your marketing investment. If they can’t commit to full transparency here, keep searching for a partner who will.
4. Will You Report on “Process” or “Results?”
Love it or hate it, reporting is how you will know what is working and what is not. This is not unlike looking at the performance of your investment portfolio. Reports are your window into the reality of how your marketing campaigns are performing.
However, there is one key area that matters the most in your reporting—your results. As mentioned previously, these results need to be directly related to your overarching goals.
In the world of marketing, there is an abundance of metrics and acronyms, and it is important that you don’t have the big picture clouded by too many frivolous metrics.
Metrics like conversions, ROAS, CPA, and ROI are great metrics that can show the bottom of the funnel impact no matter the type of campaign. There are many other fantastic metrics for sure, but at the end of the day, they need to show the relationship between your monetary investment and profitability.
What do you not want to see in your reporting?
A superfluous recap of what is being done with nothing to show for it. So if your agency is showing how many ads they are running along with impressions and clicks—but conveniently are leaving out monetary returns—this is a red flag.
The process is crucial, and you can’t get returns without it. However, like with our car analogy, do you care how the engine processes the gasoline into energy, or do you care more about your MPG? The output is what matters.
5. Can You Provide Timelines?
How long will it take to launch my campaign? Finish my website? Reach my goals? One of the most difficult pills to swallow when it comes to marketing is that things take time. That being said, your agency should always be able to provide you with rough timelines, especially for specific projects. And you also should feel comfortable questioning anything that feels “off.”
Conversely, if you are given a range of 1-3 months to launch your Google Ads campaign, they better be able to have a breakdown of why this timeline is so vast.
All in all, you want to be provided with 3-5 days, 3-4 weeks, etc. Arbitrary end dates, like 3ish months, do not provide any clarity as to when you can expect to start seeing results.
So, if your campaigns are going to take 2 months to get off the ground, that’s fine, but you are well within your rights to know what will be happening month to month or even week to week leading up to your launch date.
What’s Your Next Move?
Questions like these will not only help you find the perfect marketing partner for your brand but can also help the agency decide if they are your best fit. Sometimes, it is not going to be a match. It’s normal. Heck, it’s like dating. There are times when business models, thought processes, or even ethics don’t line up.
Be willing to ask these questions of your current agency or possibly your new agency if you are on the hunt. Ask them, and listen closely. Soon enough you will be off to the races with a top-notch marketing partner.
If you want our team to take a look at your performance and see if there is a better strategy for you, don’t hesitate to reach out. We perform hundreds of free analyses every month spanning from website SEO and Google ads, to Amazon listings and paid social media campaigns. And yes, we answer every question.
Call us at (818) 740-4774 or email us via our contact page and be sure to tell us a bit about your business in the comment box.