Credentials and Offerings

Identifying the services and support the digital marketing company can provide, as well as inspecting their work experience.

Can the digital marketing company demonstrate past successes and provide client testimonials?
What services can the company offer me? (E.g. web development, copy-writing, social media management, search engine optimization, etc.)

Important Insights and Company Capabilities

To better understand the resource at your disposal, distinguish matters such as their core strengths to see their relevance to your marketing success. Look at their weaknesses and whether they will severely hinder your digital marketing needs. Get familiar with their competencies and whether the digital marketing agency can be a strategic partner and provide useful insights to help you achieve your business objectives.

• What is/are the digital marketing company’s strength(s)?
• What is/are the digital marketing company’s weakness(es)?
• Is the digital marketing company capable of helping you set and achieve your digital marketing goals, or do they prefer to receive established goals and focus on achieving them?
• When it comes to your brand identity, does the digital marketing company know and understand it well? Will they help you manage it?
• Is the digital marketing company able to create realistic and effective timelines, and meet them? Do they over-promise? Under-promise?

The Team

Make sure that you know the team members relevant to your work and that you are happy with factors like their capabilities and consistent performance.

• Who is my contact person? When are they available?
• What are the forms of contact? Who is/are the backup contact(s)?
• How frequently will we meet?
• What is/are the format(s) of the meetings? (For instance, face-to-face, phone, video, or a combination.)
• Will the same creative and strategy teams be working on my account every time?

Workflow and Reporting

Clearly identify the work process, which includes issues such as who does what. It is also essential to set a monitoring process to facilitate work progress and goal achievement.

• What, if any, work will be outsourced?
• What is the reporting system & frequency of reporting?
• What does the report include?
• What are the digital marketing company’s policies and procedures regarding reiterations, such as re-writes and re-designs?
• What support does the digital marketing company expect to deliver on brief? For example, do they do research or do they need to receive ideas to implement?

Contract and Financials

Before embarking on your business partnership, you should be happy with the contract and financial agreement. Identify, and ask, all the related questions.

• What is the digital marketing company’s payment policy? (Do they prefer upfront payment, upon completion, per project, retainer?)
• When does the digital marketing company require payment? (For instance, weekly, monthly, quarterly?)
• What are the digital marketing company’s responsibilities?

Final Thoughts

Asking these questions would be a great advantage for businesses seeking a digital marketing agency to provide the best services possible; it means you are spoilt for choice. But, it also means that you need to research carefully.

You might not need to ask all of the above questions, or you might need to add more to them, or even make an entirely different list. Regardless, these questions are a good reference when shopping for your digital marketing company. They are also an indicator of the company’s work ethic and knowledge. This list is a positive opener if they take the time to address your concerns. If they do not answer your queries, then they are probably not the right fit for you.