By Omer Farkash
Outsourcing decisions can be risky, particularly if they involve an overwhelming variety of choices, no unified method of scoring or measuring success and your precious, limited marketing budget.
To minimize the risk involved in taking on any new hire, you need to make sure you have all the right information (aside from the information you get from sales pitches).
To ensure you’re sufficiently in the know, we’ve gathered a list of questions designed to help you get the information you need to make the right outsourcing decisions for superior digital marketing efforts and results (and some bonus tips too)
Questions to assess their experience, with respect to your unique business requirements:
- What industry-relevant experience do you possess?
- What kinds of campaigns have you previously managed?
- What was the highest budget you have managed thus far?
- Describe some work-related success stories.
- Can you show me some examples?
Why is it important?
These questions will let you know if the candidate has what it takes to drive success in your business. A person may be extremely skilled in one area, such as project management or SEO, but if you need them for content marketing, your business requirements will not be fulfilled. The same goes for budget management and strategizing with a focus on the specific industry you market to. The more they know about and are proficient in each of these areas, the greater the chance that they’ll be a good fit for your brand - and meet your business needs.
Questions that assess the expertise they must possess to achieve your goals:
- What is your professional background with each advertisement channel?
- Do you have a Facebook and Google score?
- Which technological tools do you use?
Why is it important?
Time is money - and if you have to spend time teaching a new hire how to operate the channels and tools your business is already using, or if said hire spends hours upon hours researching and learning how to perform a task instead of performing it, your business will lose out.
Questions that assess availability to determine best-fit to your needs and style:
- Can you make yourself available to meet our marketing schedule needs?
- Are you available during our working hours?
- How many projects are you currently working on?
- What type of communication agreement (weekly/bi-weekly call) can we set up with you?
Why is it important?
A freelancer may be able to provide exactly the marketing services you seek, but if their availability is not in sync with your business’ timelines, how can your campaigns possibly make the impact you desire?
Questions that compare fee vs. media budget
- How do you set your fee? (As a percentage of the media budget/fixed?)
- Do you charge a minimum fee?
- Is your fee related to the results you generate? (Usually CPA: cost per acquisition.)
Why is it important?
One might think that marketers are creative professionals who do not need to understand the financial aspects of getting the brand’s message out, but this is not the case. In order to properly prioritize marketing activities, marketers, even freelancers, must understand how much each activity costs, and weigh said costs against the potential revenues they are expected to drive.
Questions that assess their ability to building the campaign strategy you need:
- How do you plan a campaign?
- How do you decide on each campaign’s channel distribution?
- What do you think about retargeting?
- Do you A/B test different campaign messages?
Why is it important?
A good plan is a great recipe for amazing results. By understanding how the candidate plans the marketing activities they create, you can assess whether they can complete the caliber and quality of campaigns that your business needs to make sales. Namely, if they are professional, organized and aligned with your brand’s way of thinking.
Questions regarding timelines:
- When can you start?
- In how many days can the campaign be launched?
Why is it important?
See the answer to Question #3. Getting great results from a marketer isn’t just about when they can start, when they can be finished, or how much time they can set aside to work on your brand’s campaigns. All of the above must be taken into consideration when looking to hire someone new.
Questions regarding the candidate’s needs:
- Are there any materials you need us to send to you?
- What about access to our ad accounts?
Why is it important?
A happy hire makes for a more productive, efficient and successful worker. Knowing what a candidate’s needs are can help you ensure they are happy on the job, so you’re as happy as can be with their results. What’s more, knowing your candidate’s needs is a surefire way you can help prevent confusion and technical delays once they’re on-task. And, as improper ad account management can lead to clumsy and lengthy work processes, it’s important that you make sure they know how to use the tools your company already run, such as Facebook Ads or Google Ads, in a way that will create well-organized campaigns and work structure.
Questions regarding the candidate’s needs:
- If needed, can you provide us with additional services - like video editing, creative copy, etc?
Why is it important?
While you may not need this extra information at the time of hiring the freelancer, it’s always good to know which tools are in their toolbox. That way, if a new business need arises, you can immediately know if you have someone to turn to, or if you need to start the hiring process once again.
Questions that assess reporting expectations:
- Which metrics do you track?
- Which reporting format do you use?
- What would be the frequency of the reports you generate?
- How detailed are your reports? Ad-level or campaign-level?
Why is it important?
Metrics are your key to optimized marketing processes and practices. You need to know that your hire knows how to understand the metrics collected to ensure the best possible campaign results - and create reports so you too can be in the know!
10 Questions about KPIs - clear expectations!
- Which KPIs do you think are relevant to us?
- Which KPI’s do you expect to reach?
- In what period of time?
Why is it important?
KPIs are the goals that, when achieved, drive your business forward. It is important that every member of your team understand your expectations of their work, and why you expect XYZ of them - to achieve your KPIs!
Thoroughly vetting even the most “perfectly matched” can make a big difference and save you a lot of money and energy down the road. Managing your service provider the right way will ensure all parties access their desired results and enjoy a positive working experience.
Must Haves:
- Own your own accounts - this is very important. No freelancer or agency should ever own the accounts you use to manage your campaigns.
- Transparent fees and media budgets - know where your money goes.
- Make sure you actually work with the person you meet - ensure you’re their top priority..
Mayple resolves all these - and other - issues for businesses. We make sure you own your advertising data and digital assets and get high-quality service and high-end performance over time.
Bonus tip:
If the freelancer or agency has a chance to review your past campaigns before you start working together, they will be able to assess how they can improve your performance in future campaigns.
Give them the chance to decide whether they can improve your campaign's performance or not.
Take advantage of Mayple’s free audit report and see if your campaigns can perform better, and what actions you should be taking in order to achieve better results with your media budget.
This article originally appeared on Mayple.com