It can be overwhelming trying to outsource Internet Marketing for a small or medium sized business. There is a lot of skepticism in the industry towards outsourcing online marketing efforts to a 3rd party. Let’s review if this is a good idea or not. There are some necessary elements required for a successful internet marketing plan and you should have this checklist with you while considering companies:
1- Skills: Do they have the skills and the manpower to do the job? To determine the skill level you need to see live examples of their results; can they provide you with examples of what they have done?
2- Experience: What’s their combined expertise level? Do they target a wide variety of segments such as marketing Ecommerce, Products or Services? What’s the experience of each individual in the company? Again, the only real way to assess experience level is to see real examples of work and results that require the level of experience you are seeking.
3- Project Management: Do they use a project management system and provide you with an execution plan and schedule? It’s essential in Internet Marketing to stick to the daily process of SEO and link building. Do they follow the execution schedule without excuses? This can only be ultimately assessed by interviewing existing, preferably renewing clients.
4- Expectations: Do they set the right expectations? Make sure that they do not over-promise results. Internet marketing, especially organic SEO is a tedious and long-term process and it cannot be done overnight.
5- Communication: Do they promise to pick up / return phone calls or do they insist on email correspondence? You cannot work with a company that will not pick up the phone. It gets very frustrating.
6- Reminders: Do you constantly need to remind them of their job or do they keep following up with you? You should never have to remind them to do something or follow up on them.
7- Reports & Results: Do they promise to provide you with monthly reports? Can they show you results or the increase in visibility?
8- ROI & Bottom Line: Are they speaking in terms like “ROI” and “Bottom Line”? A successful Internet Marketing Campaign is focused on client ROI as much as their own ROI.
9- References: Can they give you legitimate references? Can you confirm that these references are not bogus? Can they show you the results on these references? Be sure to interview at least 1-3 and DO NOT just ask yes or no questions. Ask essay type questions based on business stats and don’t be shy about it … this is an important business decision for you and you need to gain the peace of mind that you are hiring the real deal.
10- Full Service: Make sure that you are dealing with a full service internet marketing company and not a 1-person operation which was founded a couple of months ago.
11- Price: Internet Marketing is not cheap. A legitimate national Internet marketing campaign will cost 18K-50K for the first year. Beware of companies that charge less and claim good to excellent results.
While there are many factors that can affect your decision on choosing a 3rd party company in outsourcing internet marketing, we have listed some of the most important elements. Most important of all; make sure that their proposal to increase your business and visibility makes sense from a business perspective. Pay attention to details such as communication skills and spelling in email correspondence as these are great indications of a professional company that can deliver.
At Optimum7, we promise that we possess all necessary skills and expertise. Grab a pen and your checklist above and get to work on grading us. Let’s see what score we get. You can contact us by clicking here.
