Even if you\u2019re amazing at running your business, you probably can\u2019t match the marketing expertise that a good digital agency can provide. And even if you could \u2013 you almost certainly don\u2019t have time to do all your marketing yourself once you\u2019re out of the very early stages of business growth.<\/p>\n
But finding the right agency for your business is no easy task. And it\u2019s not just about the results they might have achieved for others, but developing a partnership that aligns with your goals and aspirations. Both now and in the future.<\/p>\n
Which means you need to ask the right questions before sealing the deal. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll delve deep into the 11 critical questions you must ask a digital marketing agency before you sign that contract.<\/p>\n
#1. Do you have case studies I can see?<\/h2>\n
When evaluating an agency\u2019s claims, never just take their word for it \u2013 ask to see a comprehensive portfolio<\/a> of their past work and case studies. This gives you concrete evidence of their previous achievements, and gives you a firsthand look into what it might be like to work with them. Even if you\u2019re thinking that you\u2019ll only want to work with them on a single project at first, it\u2019s worth asking to see evidence of success in different areas\u2013 ad campaigns, websites, and SEO, for example.<\/p>\n But it is important to remember this: just because they\u2019ve achieved results for another business, doesn\u2019t mean they will for you. Look for success in your industry, and with businesses who have a similar budget to you.<\/p>\n Case studies are great, but they\u2019re the agency\u2019s own perspective. A good agency should be willing to connect you with their previous clients directly too. This should give you a valuable insight into the agency’s ways of working, professionalism and how well they communicate. If you\u2019re close to engaging an agency, but you just need a little more confidence to be certain, having these conversations can be exactly what you need.<\/p>\n Digital marketing is broad and includes several services you might want to use to help you grow your business, including:<\/p>\n You might only need one of these services, or you might need all of them. Or anything in between. Not all agencies offer the same services \u2013 some specialise, and others are what most call a \u2018full service agency\u2019. This usually means they\u2019ll be able to work on any aspect of digital marketing with you.<\/p>\n At Traffic Radius, we offer both. Some of our clients come to us for just one service \u2013 often SEO<\/a>. But others need other services like web development or ad campaigns. We\u2019re flexible depending on what each business we work with needs.<\/p>\n It might be that you don\u2019t yet know what you need. A good agency should be able to help you there too \u2013 perhaps auditing your website<\/a> as a first step to see what marketing you\u2019ll benefit from most.<\/p>\n Effective digital marketing strategies are personalized and tailored. After all, your business isn\u2019t one-size-fits-all, so nor should your digital strategy.<\/p>\n Look for an agency that will take into account the distinctive goals, values, and identity of your business when they work with you.<\/p>\n They should have a process for developing an in-depth understanding of all these things, and be willing to share it with you. Ask about their onboarding process and how they work with clients in the first month of a contract.<\/p>\n The best agencies are willing to immerse themselves in your industry and your business. They\u2019ll be able to do a competitor analysis, and to work through any unique challenges that you face. It\u2019s fine if they have a particular way of working or system, but it has to be adaptable.<\/p>\n When evaluating a digital marketing agency, it’s crucial to understand how they define success and measure return on investment (ROI).<\/p>\n Look for an agency that is able to focus on achieving tangible outcomes for your business. It can of course be great to have a website that looks fantastic, to generate more traffic or to have a set of blogs that get you lots of likes and comments on social media.<\/p>\n But none of that means anything if they don\u2019t help you grow your business and increase revenue.<\/p>\n Ask them:<\/p>\n Search engine optimization (SEO)<\/a> is essential to any digital marketing strategy. If you don\u2019t have enough traffic, your growth will plateau, even if other aspects of your marketing are working well.<\/p>\n To evaluate an agency’s SEO approach, you\u2019ll need to properly understand their strategies and techniques.<\/p>\n They should be working on various different aspects, including:<\/p>\n These are difficult to get right without a good agency on your side, and the SEO landscape changes all the time, so you really need specialists working on this with you.<\/p>\n A well-executed SEO strategy will have a significant influence on your organic traffic and search engine rankings, and drive your growth for years to come. So make sure you choose an agency who knows how to get this right.<\/p>\n Google ads and Facebook ads can work incredibly well for some businesses, especially if your SEO isn\u2019t working yet, or you\u2019re offering a new product or service that you don\u2019t yet have a reputation for.<\/p>\n But they\u2019re not an easy license to print money, and a poor agency could even cost you money if they run your ads. So make sure you ask about this. Even if you\u2019re not planning to run ads now, you might in the future.<\/p>\n Ask them how they choose the right platform for you to advertise on. We offer both Facebook<\/a> and Google ads<\/a> for example, but some agencies might only offer one. We have clients who use both or only one platform \u2013 and we help them choose which is best.<\/p>\n Find out how they approach audience targeting. You need an agency that only employs advanced techniques to reach the right audience at the right time. This might change as you grow or launch new products.<\/p>\n Ask how they will allocate your ad budget \u2013 and how they\u2019ll make sure that you don\u2019t waste money on ads that aren\u2019t working. They should have a strategic approach to this.<\/p>\n Finally, explore their optimisation methods. They should have a systematic approach to continuously refine and improve the performance of your campaigns.<\/p>\n Digital marketing never stands still. Which means any good agency should have a system for keeping up with trends and new technology. Agencies should be committed to learning and development both as an agency, and for their individual staff.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not unusual to find agencies who will use SEO techniques<\/a> that worked 10 years ago, but no longer do \u2013 so it\u2019s important to be very careful. Google updates its algorithm often, and so does Facebook. An agency that doesn\u2019t keep up with these changes won\u2019t be able to provide the kind of growth you need.<\/p>\n Effective communication and clear reporting are essential to a successful agency partnership.<\/p>\n Every agency has its own way of doing things, so it\u2019s important to ask, so that you\u2019re sure their approach will suit your individual business.<\/p>\n Most agencies will give you an individual account manager, who\u2019ll be your main point of contact. Ask how many accounts they look after \u2013 if they\u2019re overworked, they won\u2019t be as available to you as you\u2019d like.<\/p>\n Plus it\u2019s crucial to uncover the agency’s overall communication strategy. Ask about the frequency of progress reports, updates, and scheduled meetings. And find out what methods of communication they like to use. This could be regular email updates, weekly conference calls, or monthly in-person meetings, for example.<\/p>\n Only you know which of these will suit you and your available time best. Maybe you like to get frequent updates and real-time communication. Or perhaps you prefer a more hands-off approach with periodic reports and meetings. You might find there\u2019s some flexibility \u2013 so by discussing it upfront, you can establish a communication framework that works best for you as well as the agency.<\/p>\n Agency fees vary wildly, and many businesses worry that they won\u2019t be able to afford them. Especially if the campaigns they run don\u2019t deliver the revenue you\u2019d hoped.<\/p>\n If your agency isn\u2019t willing to be open about costs from the beginning, they might not be for you. At Traffic Radius, we\u2019re always clear that we provide detailed quotes and we\u2019ll work on getting clients ROI as fast as possible.<\/p>\n Choosing a digital marketing agency<\/a> is an essential step in your development as a business.<\/p>\n Even if you\u2019ve used an agency before \u2013 finding the right one can be pivotal in your growth and future success. And it\u2019s important to remember that working with an agency is a partnership. You want them to share your ethos and vision, and to understand how you want and need to work.<\/p>\n Naturally, you want to be sure that they have the expertise needed to deliver results for your business. If you\u2019ve worked with agencies before who haven\u2019t provided real growth, you\u2019ll probably be extra wary. That\u2019s understandable. But remember that any agency capable of delivering for you should be able to prove it with previous results.<\/p>\n Look for an agency that is flexible and growth-minded. They should be focussed on learning and development, and able to keep up with technical changes and developments. A surprising number of agencies struggle with this.<\/p>\n You also want to know that the agency is one who you can work with day to day. Processes for communication, such as how they run calls or how often they want to have in person meetings, are important. These have to gel with you and the way you like to work.<\/p>\n We\u2019d love to be one of them. Consider this our promise that we\u2019ll answer all 11 of these questions honestly, and if we don\u2019t think we\u2019re for you, we\u2019ll say so.<\/p>\n Find out by contacting us here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A strong online presence is key to business success \u2013 even to small, local businesses. But navigating the complex world of digital marketing on your own is overwhelming. And for most businesses, there\u2019s going to come a time when using a digital marketing agency to help is essential. Even if you\u2019re amazing at running your… Continue reading 10 Essential Questions You Need to Ask Any Digital Marketing Agency Before You Work with Them<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,30],"tags":[82,84,77,81,83,79,78,80],"class_list":["post-14860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-marketing","category-marketing","tag-agency-partnership-questions","tag-digital-agency-compatibility","tag-digital-marketing-agency-checklist","tag-digital-marketing-vetting","tag-marketing-agency-evaluation","tag-marketing-agency-interview","tag-pre-hire-agency-questions","tag-selecting-digital-agencies","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14860"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18081,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14860\/revisions\/18081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trdemo.com.au\/demo-traffic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}#2. Can you let me contact some previous clients?<\/h2>\n
#3. What different services do you offer?<\/h2>\n
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#4. How will you tailor your approach to suit my business?<\/h2>\n
#5. How will I know if you\u2019re performing well?<\/h2>\n
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#6. What is your approach to SEO?<\/h2>\n
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#7.What is your approach to paid ads?<\/h2>\n
![\"What](\"https:\/\/trafficradius.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/10-Essential-Questions-You-Need-to-Ask-Any-Digital-Marketing-Agency-Before-You-Work-with-Them-3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n#8. How do you keep up with emerging trends?<\/h2>\n
#9.\u00a0 What will our partnership look like, day to day?<\/h2>\n
![\"What](\"https:\/\/trafficradius.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/10-Essential-Questions-You-Need-to-Ask-Any-Digital-Marketing-Agency-Before-You-Work-with-Them-4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n#10.What will it cost?<\/h2>\n
To summarise:<\/h2>\n
Ready to start talking to marketing agencies?<\/h2>\n