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 For many Chicago business owners figuring
out which of the many online advertising
consultants to hire to help you grow your business can be a challenging and confusing process.
Here are some important factors to consider that
will help you make your decision a little easier and with a whole lot more
confidence.
What Size & Types of Businesses Do The
Consultants Serve?
When it comes to consultants with
or without experience in your industry this can be a tricky point. While the mechanics of online advertising are similar for all businesses,
there can be differences, so it makes sense to hire a company that has experience with
businesses similar to yours… but only to a point.
You see, too narrow a focus can
be problematic as well. Be wary of companies with too narrow a focus because their approach may
be “run of the mill” and fail to capture the unique aspects of your business.
You do not want to look exactly like your competition does. Do
you?
Too narrow of focus can also lead
to being out of touch with broader marketing trends and this can lead to dated, sub-optimal
approaches.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) vs. Organic Search
Marketing
Certainly there is more to online
advertising than PPC and organic search marketing but they are the two largest, most well proven
online advertising tactics and firms typically specialize in one or the other.
While both can work if executed
correctly, there is an increasing body of evidence that local consumers are ignoring PPC
advertisements (See PPC vs. Organic) even while PPC prices skyrocket. Therefore you will be best served by finding an advertising consult who has
expertise leveraging the more trusted organic side of search as the back bone of your online
marketing and advertising strategy.
Turnkey System or Another Hat to
Wear
You are probably already wearing
plenty of hats in your business. Right? So the last thing you need is an online advertising
consultant that creates more work for you!
Yet unless you are careful you
may get another hat to wear, a marketing hat that is, when you bring the wrong online marketing
consultant on board. Here’s why. Many “consultants” are
great at telling you “what to do” but not so great at actually “doing” what needs to get
done.
When interviewing your potential
candidates ask them how their content creation process flows, how much work you will be doing,
how much of your time they will need and how much of the work they will do without you (or your
staff) needing to be involved.
You should only hire a consultant
who has a process in place that keeps the amount of time you need to be involved to an absolute
minimum so that you can continue to focus on running your business and taking care of
customers.
Online Advertising Experience Is Only One
Consideration
How much and how varied is the
experience of the online advertising consultant you are considering? Look for a wide experience
base in a number of industries, and company sizes and look for depth of experience as
well.
If the consultant only has
experience in one industry or only one facet of advertising or marketing (e.g. graphic design,
web programming, SEO) then you should have a low confidence level that this person has the full
experience range and resource level necessary to pull together a complete marketing
solution.
If on the other hand the
consultant has broad experience in multiple industries and related areas such as building sales
processes, strategy development and strategic marketing then you can feel highly confident that
the challenges unique to your business will be well within the consultant’s grasp and comfort
level. Also, the consultant will
understand how each piece of marketing or advertising fits into the larger strategy of obtaining
more clients and more business.
Piecemeal Tactics vs. Complete Marketing System
This final factor may be the most
important of all things to consider when choosing an online advertising consultant, so please
pay close attention.
A website, PPC advertising,
Search Engine Optimization, article marketing, email marketing and social media marketing (the
list could go on far longer!) are tactics NOT Complete Marketing
systems.
If you want a guaranteed way to
spend money without any real chance of success, then you’ll definitely want to start spending
money on these types of tactics and ignore consultants that offer proven, comprehensive
systems!
In all seriousness, insist that
the consultant you bring on board demonstrate to you exactly how their SYSTEM handles these 3
must have components:
· generating traffic
· converting traffic to customers
· creating nurturing conversations with research oriented potential
customers.
Do not settle for anything less than a complete
marketing system or you will be putting your online advertising investment at risk and maybe the
future growth of your business as well.
The other day after speaking to a group of
business owners a gentleman raised his hand and asked "If you only had $100 to spend on local
online marketing, how would you spend it?"
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