How to choose a digital advertising agency?

These days, more business owners and organization managers understand that a digital presence is not a luxury, but a way to develop the business and sometimes even save it during a crisis. For this purpose, a professional advertising agency is required that will provide the best return on the investment.

How do you choose the right supplier from a variety of firms and freelancers? Because we love customer journeys, we put ourselves in your shoes. We will go step by step, on the way to creating a fruitful relationship with the advertising agency that suits you best!

Table of Contents:

1. My business needs digital advertising - where to start?

2. I left her contact at the advertising office, they should get back to me. What to ask in the phone call?

3. Excellent. We set up a meeting. What to expect from the office at the meeting and what is important to ask?

4. I received quotes from several agencies. Are they fair? How to choose?

5. I chose the office and we signed a contract. What now?

6. We are a few months into the ongoing work. How to evaluate the performance?

How do you start looking for a professional digital advertising agency?

Defining a need - before looking for an office, it is important to understand what the business needs. Advertising on Facebook, advertising on Google, or followers on Instagram are not necessarily the goal but the means. The need should be defined in terms of goals ("establish a new product in the market", "penetrate a new market", "expand the customer base") and measurable or financial goals ("increase the volume of sales by 30% within a year").

This preparation is important to understand what the office is looking for and how to present to it what is required of it. If there is difficulty formulating such goals and objectives, don't worry! A good office knew how to ask the right questions and aim there. In our article on strategy formulation, you can find many ideas.

Learning lessons from a previous office - if it is necessary to replace an existing office, or if you have worked with an office in the past, it would be wise to understand what worked or did not work with it: what budgets did you work with? Where did you spot successes or problems? What is important that the new office can provide?

Defining a budget - digital advertising is a service that consists of paying the office - the people who will actually do the work, and paying the advertising budgets to the media companies - Facebook, Google, Tabula/Outbrain, and the like. You should understand how much you have to invest in order to reach the goals you have set and enjoy profits that will be returned from the investment in advertising. It is about thinking for the long term because it is possible that the first period, in which you invest in growth, will not be profitable. This way the limits of your budget will be defined in advance and it will be easier later to manage the discussion about the budget with the office.

Getting recommendations and searching the Internet - as mentioned, there are plenty of offices and you need to look for one that will serve your specific needs. You can start with recommendations from colleagues, a review of competitors (not necessarily direct) or of course a Google search. The firm does not have to have experience in your specific field, but it should know how to deal with the challenges of how you market - for example, if your business is a technology startup, a firm that specializes in B2B will help you more than a firm that specializes in B2C marketing to teenagers. Sometimes it's worth taking a look at the advertising agency "among our clients" and asking yourself: "Are these brands/businesses I want to be like?" Did you get the impression that the website is professional and that the firm has a track record of relevant actions behind it? Worth leaving details.

I left her contact at the advertising office, they should get back to me. What to ask in the phone call?

Are the firm's capabilities relevant to the need? This is the time to tell about the business, the digital assets it has, and the goals and objectives you thought about before. It is worth asking if the firm has encountered similar challenges in the past and how it solved them.

What is the pricing model? It is useful to find out at the very beginning what the pricing model is based on which the firm practices. The payment to the office usually consists of management fees (the work of the office) and the advertising budget (the money that goes to the advertising platforms themselves so that your campaigns will run). There are agencies that advocate for the separation of the two types of payments, thus clearing their interest in unnecessarily increasing management fees - they calculate separately the labor costs and the competition in the advertising market in the client will face, which instills a sense of trust between the parties. On the other hand, there are agencies that deduct the management fees from the advertising budget, and reporting to the client on the performance of the budget is extremely strict, this is a model that is often accepted with very high budgets. Other models can offer profit sharing or performance pay, but this method is not recommended for either party. For example, from a client's side, the firm may act to obtain a large number of low-quality leads, and from the firm's side, even if it succeeded in bringing profitable leads, the deal may fall in the closing phase with the client and the firm's work will not be rewarded.

Does the advertising budget available to you match the budgets the office is willing to work with? This refers to the money that is willing to invest in advertising platforms. It is entirely possible that the budget you set for yourself is unrealistic, for example when your field is too competitive, and therefore very expensive. Beyond that, there are offices that are meant to work with small budgets and there are those that are used to working with huge corporate budgets. To save everyone's time, discuss this matter in advance.

Don't expect a quote over the phone! A serious advertising agency will not give you a quote over the phone. He will do his homework, ask questions, research, and probably insist on a meeting. At the meeting, they will ask you additional questions, answer any questions you have, and offer ideas, and only then will they move to the price offer stage.

Excellent. We set up a meeting. What to expect from the office at the meeting and what is important to ask?

A professional office will arrive ready for the meeting - if you hit the bull's eye, the representatives of the office who will meet with you will demonstrate proficiency in your business, review the existing digital assets, and talk about competitors and market trends. They will demonstrate a marketing vision and already during the meeting it is appropriate that they come up with a number of insights about what is worth trying, or what to stop.

Questions and ideas - the representatives of the office will ask you to complete the missing information after conducting an initial investigation and will offer you possible courses of action. Do not shy away from too "intrusive" business questions, some of which are necessary to build an optimal advertising plan. The topics that are legitimate and even necessary to cover in the meeting:

Important information for the office:

• Short and long-term goals and concrete numerical goals.

• Financial data of the business (such as profit from each customer or type of service), to calculate the costs required for advertising and examine the feasibility of the investment.

• The methods of measuring the business and past - so that the future performance can be examined.

• Audiences you have accumulated over the years and you can work with - CRM system, customer club, newsletter subscriptions.

Information you should get to coordinate expectations and even protect yourself in the future:

What are the terms of the contract (note, not yet the price offer) - what is the method of payment, what are the working hours of the office, and is there a minimum work period. Many offices ask for a commitment for a period of six months/year, and usually rightfully so. Long-term campaigns require time - trial and error and learning the systems. A quality office will not be able to guarantee immediate results.

The work process and approval of the contents - the boundaries of the sector. Sometimes there are businesses that insist on providing the content to the office and sometimes the office is the sole producer of all published content. In any case, it is necessary to define who is the contact person on the client side and gives the "last word" to approve content and campaigns.

Follow-up reports - which reports, in which format and at what time intervals will you receive reports from the office, to know if the performance meets the defined goals.

Ownership of digital assets - the advertising account, the Facebook page and the Google ad account are yours and owned by you. You should have viewing and management privileges, and when necessary it will be possible to transfer them to other administrators. However, content and designs prepared by the firm cannot be used by other firms (unless, of course, it was agreed otherwise in the contract in advance).

Whom do they work with and what is the background of the employees in the office, what is their experience and specialization, and what services do they know how to provide.

You should be careful with promises. If an officer claims to know exactly how many leads or how much profit it can bring you, or promises you performance that is not relevant to the goals you have set, it is worth making an appointment with another office.

Personal connection - the team in front of you is indeed a service provider, but it is a partner in the mission. It is important to feel comfortable and speak the same language. Before you, hopefully, a long-term relationship, full of challenges and joys. It is recommended to choose someone you trust, someone who was available and kind to you.

I received quotes from several offices. How to choose?

A value proposition and not just a price proposition - it is important not to reject the proposition based on price alone, but to refer to its content and the value that will be obtained from it. The question that should be asked is not "is it a good price"? But "does the offer meet the needs we defined and match the profits to which the business aspires"? A good offer is not generic but matches the business objectives and the target audience and if something is not clear to you, it is time to clarify.

Advertising is an investment - advertising should be treated as a professional service (like a lawyer, accountant, or investment consultant) and as such it costs money. In order to engage in the field the people who work in it have studied and worked for many years, gaining knowledge and skill. It is true that there may be offers that do not fit the pocket of the business, but offers that are too cheap are not necessarily a bargain! If the offer is expensive or significantly cheaper than other offers, it is important to understand why and not just reject or accept it.

I chose the office and we signed a contract. What now?

The beginning of the work is a complex and busy phase - this is the time to provide the office with the graphic materials and content you have, transfer relevant audience lists, and approve the proposals that will come from the office. Collaborate! Your availability and the ability to provide what is required to start the work will affect the time frames. Hopefully, in a few weeks, when both parties understand how to work, you will reach a welcome routine.

Patience - a creative process takes time, even a skilled office needs to devote time to research, strategy formulation, and the precise wording of the publications. Beyond that, even the systems themselves need learning time. Google's recommendation, for example, is to wait about 3 weeks before concluding whether a campaign worked well enough.

We are a few months into the ongoing work. How to evaluate the performance?

The first thing you did in the process was set goals - maybe alone or maybe together with the office - but the indicators by which success is measured and the time frames in which it is measured, are already in your hand.

Results that do not meet the goals - the office is a partner and the address for discussing the situation. Let's examine together where the problem might be. Sometimes, advertising overwhelms logistical problems in the business such as poor customer service, or a faltering delivery system, and the website may offer a less good user experience than you thought. The marketing funnel is long and complex and different challenges can arise at different stages. Of course, you may "get over" the fact that the office is not as professional as you thought, that's fine and it's not a Catholic wedding (just a contract), but the previous steps in the process should minimize the chances/risks of this.

Satisfactory results - if everything goes well and the trend is positive, it may be worth increasing the advertising budget to increase the results. You may have cracked the formula and now is the time to increase the business.

If everything is fine, it is recommended to praise the office with positive feedback and a recommendation - they work hard, and they deserve it.