Founder & CEO of Tier 11, the “anti-ad agency.”
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Hiring an ad agency to manage your digital advertising makes a lot of sense — in theory. After all, digital marketing is an increasingly complex discipline that requires comprehensive experience, a broad range of expertise and ample resources to do right.
Advertising is also incredibly important because it addresses one of the most crucial tasks in any business: customer acquisition. No company can grow without a reliable way to acquire new customers at a profit. And the most effective way to do that today (and for the foreseeable future) is through paid digital advertising.
There’s no question that the right ad agency fills a much-needed void for any growth-oriented company. But here’s the problem: not all digital ad agencies are created equal. Some are worth their weight in gold, but others can drag you down like an anchor. So if you’re considering hiring a digital advertising agency, do your due diligence and vet them extensively. To that end, here are three questions I would recommend asking a potential agency to get a better sense of how well-equipped they are to deliver the goods for your business.
Do you look at our entire acquisition path?
Digital advertising is extremely important, but it’s still just one piece of your company’s overall strategy. And in order for your marketing to succeed as a whole, the advertising has to work in harmony with the rest of your marketing efforts.
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Unfortunately, many ad agencies either don’t recognize this fact or they just don’t care. These agencies typically prioritize vanity metrics that make themselves look good. They might generate loads of impressions and clicks, but those metrics will rarely contribute to an important business objective.
The ideal ad agency, on the other hand, will work with your team to ensure that their campaigns fit in with your larger goals. They’ll consider factors like:
• Prioritizing the most profitable customers for your business.
• Making sure your ads and creative are on-brand.
• Aligning their campaigns with your highest priorities.
In other words, a good ad agency will act like a team player who does what’s best for your business as a whole. Ideally, they will even help proactively identify the “big lever” constraints that are holding your business back from reaching its true potential.
So ask any prospective ad agency what they will do to cooperate with your larger business strategy. Ask for specifics. This question can help you weed out those agencies that operate like a hired gun, and help you find a true partner that has your best interests at heart.
Will you proactively build new creative for us?
In digital advertising, “creative” refers to the images, videos, copy and other creative assets used in the ads that will be displayed to visitors online. Needless to say, the quality and relevance of your creative is hugely important to the success of your advertising campaigns.
Here’s what many people don’t know: When it comes to creative, you need both quality and quantity. That’s because on traffic platforms like Facebook, successful ads can get “tired” quickly. In order to maintain continual success, those ads need to be constantly refreshed with new creative.
Unfortunately, many ad agencies rely on their clients (a.k.a. you) to provide these assets. If your team is already swamped, then that means your ad agency will probably keep running tired ads even when their effectiveness starts to decline. Your results will suffer as a result.
So ask any agency whether they take the initiative to build out new creative, and how often. And here’s an advanced tip: Ask if they have a process in place to ensure that their creative will resonate with your company’s avatars (your ideal customers).
Will you help improve our conversion rates?
The success of any digital ad campaign can be boiled down to two primary factors: traffic (the number of visitors who come to your website) and conversion (the percentage of those visitors who buy from you). Both are critical if your goal is to grow your business by generating new customers.
Many ad agencies focus too much on the traffic side of that equation, however, without taking any responsibility for the leads or sales their campaigns generate. Their reasoning is often that because they don’t control your website, it’s not their job to worry about what happens after the visitor clicks the ad.
A good ad agency, on the other hand, will work hand-in-hand with your team to make sure your entire marketing funnel is optimized to generate the maximum results from their traffic campaigns. These agencies will typically have conversion experts on staff who will make suggestions about ways that you can work together to achieve the best results.
Hiring an agency is a big decision and requires due diligence to find the right partner for your business needs. Take the time to review your new agency’s case studies, meet their staff and get comfortable with their process. Eventually, you’ll find the ideal ad agency for you: the digital expert that can help you break through plateaus and reach new levels of growth and profit.
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Author: Ralph Burns, Forbes Councils Member
