Givers gain is central to Ascent Digital’s ideology. We believe in training business owners so that they can take charge of their marketing and expand their company. We are always willing to lend a hand and offer free guidance to make business owners feel more empowered.
After working with several business owners who have been burnt by other digital marketing agencies over the years, our goal is to always be open and honest. Here are several questions to ask before signing on with a digital marketing agency and takeaways that we believe every business owner should be aware of.
Do you own the rights to your website?
Always make sure your website is open sourced. This indicates that your website was not created on a proprietary server and that you are the sole owner of the content. Assuring that you can switch hosting providers whenever you want, rather than having to develop a new site from scratch. We work with several business owners who were trapped into a digital marketing provider who held their site hostage when they sought to move their site to a cheaper hosting provider or because their customer service was slow or unresponsive. Every time, we would have to rebuild the site for the business, which is not cost effective. We believe that you should own the rights to your website, as well as any other creative material.
Is the content personalized to your business, whether it’s for a website, blog, banner, or social media post?
Many digital marketing firms will only generate content for a single industry and then reuse it across multiple businesses within that industry. We believe that every company, regardless of industry, is unique, and that all material should be customized to your company and how you want to be represented online. We don’t have a real estate material folder that we draw from whenever we get a new real estate agent. Instead, we hold kickoff meetings to get to know you, how you want to be represented, and what makes you unique so we can set you apart from the competition. Always make sure your content will be unique to you and your business before signing on with a digital marketing agency.
Do you receive regular, easy-to-understand reporting? Is there somebody from the digital marketing firm who can go over the reporting with you to make sure you understand it?
Analytics are essential for fine-tuning and optimizing your campaigns to their greatest potential. It’s how we know whether or not what we’re doing is effective. If the company you’re dealing with refuses to provide reporting or makes it difficult to comprehend, it’s a sign that they’re not being transparent with you and may be wasting your marketing budget.
Do you have a clear understanding of what the digital marketing agency is doing for you?
Over the years, we have spoken with a number of businesses that have no idea what digital marketing methods are being used on their behalf. This always perplexes me because they are paying for intangible services and have no understanding what they’re doing for them or if it is benefiting the business. Before you hand over your cash, make sure you fully comprehend the method being provided. Price comparisons and price checking are also good ways to ensure you are not being ripped off.
Finally, and perhaps most crucially, is the proposed strategy a good fit for your business?
In the past, we have come across several digital marketing salespeople who told me that the corporation they work for requires them to offer the same package to every business owner and does not allow them to customize it. Alternatively, the digital marketing agency may encourage their sales team to sell more products with a bigger profit margin, such as radio or television broadcasts. Every company is unique, and not every digital marketing strategy will work for them. To ensure that our clients get the most out of our services, we customize plans depending on their goals, needs, and budget. To accomplish this, we hold a discovery meeting with the business to learn as much as possible about them, including how they got started, what sets them apart from their competitors, and what sorts of advertising they’ve attempted in the past. Following this initial meeting, we do a thorough examination of the company’s web presence and compile a competitive analysis. Finally, we recommend a strategy that we discuss with the business and fine-tune based on their decision to proceed. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution, and your company needs a customized plan.
Our hope is that this article will instill empowerment into you and that you will take control of your marketing. If you have reporting you cannot interpret or you do not know what a digital marketing provider is doing for you, contact us and we can help you understand.
