Hiring an Online Marketer
When hiring an online marketer, you might also look for Digital Marketing experts.
Some advice on hiring an online marketer..
- When hiring an online marketer, never, ever take the first person’s quote.
- Always get a minimum of 3 detailed quotes, aim for 5 quotes with plans.
- Never be afraid to ask for a breakdown of the costs.
- Ask to see examples and proof of their work and results!
- Enquire about relevant qualifications!
- What about competing with other clients?
Get at least 3 detailed quotes:
Even if you like the first quote and you think the price is agreeable, you should still go and seek 2 more quotes for the same work. This reassures you that your initial choice was right or provides more options that others didn’t tell you about.
You will then get a spectrum of marketing strategies to which you will see the ones that are similar, with proven track records of success and the ones that just seem insane with nothing to back them up and prices that make no sense.
Our marketing services are all laid out here on our website so that you know what you are getting before you even ask us when we can start.
Detailed costings:
The ones who either cannot or will not answer #3 are the ones to walk away from. If people say “Well that’s just what it costs”.. Adios.
If your online marketing expert cannot justify their own charges or explain them then they need to be avoided. A simple breakdown of work hours + markup for business costs to achieve something is sufficient and an expert should be able to provide this.
Our rates are £75/hour for all marketing and SEO work.
Proof of their skills:
Beware of anybody that guarantees number 1 or first page results in a search engine. Nobody can guarantee first page results but they can give you examples of what should be expected.
Ask for marketing client references you can look up and speak to. Ask them to show you evidence of their results and roughly how it was achieved. But dont expect them to school you on marketing or give you a how-to guide.
To date, every single one of our marketing clients have first page search engine results for many many search terms. Not their business name.
Structured results-based payment plan:
Never ever pay huge amounts up-front. You should never pay 50% upfront. Have an incremental plan of payments vs measurable goals.
If your marketing person draws up a plan that costs £2000, you should expect to break this down into at least 4 payments, payable upon measured results or completed work.
Our digital marketing services are broken down into monthly manageable chunks.
We provide website maintenance and SEO services for our customers known as search engine optimisation.
Enquire about relevant experience and results:
It’s amazing how many self-appointed marketing experts have no experience in anything relevant and no results to show people. There are some fantastic marketing experts around who dont have qualifications but have been doing this their entire lives.
Degree’s in marketing are not essential but would you hire somebody who was sweeping roads or stacking shelves a month ago?
Competing Clients.
Ask your marketer if they are working for any of your competitors! You don’t want your marketer promoting your direct competitor! We never see any mention of competing clients on their websites.
If your marketing agency or SEO Expert claims that they specialise in your services or products then be extremely careful about paying to compete with your competition and the conflict of interest it creates.
Our SEO Services do not accept competing clients nor any conflict of interest clients.
Conclusion:
Following the above will at the very least, filter out the “wannabe’s” from the genuine Marketing experts who really know their career. Have you got any advice we can add to this? Let us know by contacting us…