Choosing the right digital agency or consultant to tackle your online marketing can be the best thing you ever did or end up being a costly mistake. You need to be sure your budget works hard and that the agency or freelancer has the relevant experience to help your business grow.

Take stock of your digital marketing objectives, goals, and budget, then make a list of questions to ask when meeting prospective service providers. Here are my top five questions you should be asking.

1. What’s your specialism?

   Some agencies identify as a social media agency while others claim to be content specialists. If your business goal is brand-building then a content specialist with strategic experience is a great choice. If you’re trying to build a social media presence, look for a social media agency or social media consultant as they are likely to have solid experience in building an audience from scratch.

2. Do you have any case studies?

   Unless they are a new business, your digital marketing consultant or agency should be able to provide you with examples of their work. If examples cannot be provided, ask if they can tell you about marketing campaigns they have worked on and how well they performed.

3. What’s your feedback on our current digital marketing efforts?

   Whoever you approach to take on your digital marketing, they should be able to comment on your current content and tactics. Good consultants will also be able to make comment on your strategy and approach without any prompting.

   As a bare minimum, the digital agency or freelancer you’re talking to should be able to assess what you do well along with what could be improved.

4. How many clients do you have?

   If you’re looking at using an agency, the answer to this should be “lots”. If you plan on using a freelancer or consultant, the answer should be “enough”.

   Digital marketing agencies tend to allocate more clients per head than a freelancer as they have the benefit of having full-time staff, with an account director heading up each team. A consultant will usually only take on enough clients to fill their target income, hence why they may only work a few days per week. However, part-time working does give freelancers the flexibility to take on new clients, should they want to.

5. Who will be working on the account?

   It’s a good idea to ask who will be doing the actual work. If you can’t meet the team in person, do your own research online using LinkedIn or their business website.

   Depending on how much work you put through an agency, you can expect to have a senior lead on the account with juniors doing the bulk of the work. With digital freelancers and consultants, it will likely be them who will lead on the strategy while also creating the content.

Over to you – what were your reasons for choosing a consultant or agency? Was it budget, experience, or something else?

Let me know in the comment section, below.

If you’re an SME looking for a freelance digital marketing consultant, drop me a line for a no-strings-attached chat about how I can help you to grow your online presence.