7 Questions to Ask Your Digital Agency

How to select a digital marketing agency

Choosing a digital marketing agency partner is daunting. Use these 7 questions to help you evaluate a digital agency’s team and services.

Remember that choosing a digital marketing agency isn’t all about the agency, it’s also about your needs and your business objectives. Asking the right questions is the first step towards hiring wisely and achieving your goals.

Setting expectations:

No digital agency can predict the future, but they should be able to estimate expected results and describe their reporting processes. Digital marketing magic doesn’t happen overnight. Quality results require patience. Among the first questions to ask a digital agency is when you can expect to see results. Both parties should agree to a reasonable timeline, but remember that all business needs and goals are different.

Ask: How do you see my site improving in the next 3 months? 6 months? 2 years?

Understand their expertise:

A digital agency with certified employees can better help you achieve your goals. Look for an agency that has both agency-wide certifications and employees with individual certifications. The most reputable and valued certifying organization is Google, which provides analytics and paid search certifications.

Ask: Do the employees at your agency have qualifications or certifications?

Service and communication:

Quality digital agencies will provide a dedicated account manager who acts as a direct contact and promptly answers calls and emails. Larger agencies can stretch account managers thin, potentially allowing poor communication and bad service. Typically, having fewer accounts means more time to manage yours. When thinking about follow up questions to ask your SEO or PPC agency, try to learn what level of communication you’ll receive.

Ask: Who will be my direct contact? How often can I expect updates?

Assess agency ethics:

You need an agency who practices ethical behavior towards its clients and its operation as a whole. This can be especially important if you ever have to end your partnership. A digital agency that requires you to relinquish ownership of your accounts and hides your data from you should raise red flags.

Ask: Will I retain control of my marketing materials, data and accounts at the end of the partnership?

Investigate their reputation:

Research what others are saying about a potential agency partner through reviews, testimonials and case studies. When evaluating a potential agency partner, be sure to avoid fly-by-night operations. The best way to ensure to investigate whether an agency has a good track record with strong references and minimal complaints through websites like Clutch.

Ask: Do you have case studies, references or accreditation that speak to the quality of your work?

Visibility and rankings:

A digital agency should rank for its own keywords. Search to see if the firm ranks for digital marketing terms in its service areas. Remember, competition to make the first page of results is fierce, and small agencies can’t always beat large firms. That doesn’t make them a bad choice, so get the full picture before selecting an agency to work with.

Ask: What keywords are most important for your own site? How do you rank for them?

Set measurable goals:

Does the digital agency have measurable goals that offer your business tangible results on a timeline, accompanied by a clear plan specific to your business? A reputable agency should always start out using analytics to establish a baseline of your current traffic and then create an appropriate plan for your company and website. If they’re unable to discuss what success looks like, they may not be an agency you want to work with.

Ask: What specific, measurable goals do you envision for my site?

How to select a digital marketing agency:

Choosing an agency partner to help with your SEO, PPC (or both) is daunting.

Use these 7 questions to make the process easier. Remember that choosing a digital marketing agency isn’t all about the agency. It’s also about your needs and your business objectives. Asking the right questions is the first step towards hiring wisely and achieving your goals.