Hiring an online marketing consultant can be a great move to explore new opportunities and attract more business. However, in order to get the most out of your marketing investment you need to be prepared. So before you dive into a campaign, ask yourself these five crucial questions. What are your goals? At the end of the day, you’re in business to make money, therefore anything spent on online marketing should be treated as an investment. Being focused on a positive return on an investment (ROI) is a good way to make sure your campaign is working. Tracking more specific goals is also going to be useful in achieving a positive ROI and also seeing whether your consultant is getting results. Therefore before you start any campaign, make sure you have created a list of online marketing goals and objectives. Being able to track these metrics over time gives you enormous insight and holds the online marketer accountable. Does your website stack up? There’s no point attracting a bunch of visitors if your website is not going to perform. People searching online today expect a certain level of quality, otherwise they move on. Ask yourself these questions:
- Does the website load fast?
- Does it look professional?
- Is your content useful for a visitor?
- Is there a call to action on every page?
What do you actually need? You’ve probably heard some online marketing buzzwords like SEO (search engine optimisation) and PPC (pay per click), and thought that’s the way to go. But the truth is, there are lots of ways to go about online marketing – and not all of them are going to work for you. An optimal strategy will depend on the nature of your business, your marketing budget, and how competitive the industry is online. Use web resources to read about the different channels of online marketing, and visit forums to hear professional opinions. Which consultant is reliable? With so many online marketing businesses out there, it can be very difficult to know who to hire. The first thing you can do is speak to a variety of businesses that focus on different specialties, and compare their different offerings and proposals. Another good technique is to visit a marketing forum and see if which consultants are active and which are providing good advice. Can you learn this? Most businesses are going to be constrained by budget, so a long term solution may be to learn some form of online marketing for yourself. Therefore part of your decision in hiring an online marketer should be based on their ability to teach you effectively.
