If you haven’t read part 1 of 9 questions you should ask an agency (before you hire them or if you’re thinking of a change), you can find that here! Here’s a recap of those questions:

1. HOW QUALIFIED ARE THE LEADS AND TRAFFIC YOU’RE GENERATING? WHAT METRICS ARE BEING EVALUATED TO DETERMINE QUALITY? 

2. WHAT KPIS ARE WE MEASURING, AND HOW WERE THEY DECIDED?

3. ARE MY CAMPAIGNS BEING A/B TESTED? OR ARE YOU USING RESPONSIVE/DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES?

4. What are your continuing education efforts? How do you stay top of your industry?

In most industries, you’re going to get behind if you just rely on your degree and/or past education and experience. But in no industry is that more true than marketing, especially digital marketing. At the very least, marketers should attend an annual conference in their field. But if they truly want to be predictive vs reactive marketers, they are:

• Subscribed to marketing update emails from the platforms they serve, industry leaders, and competitors of their clients. 
• Attending monthly webinars 
• Vetting potential vendors as partners who can provide value to their accounts 
• Releasing the information they learn to their clients through a newsletter or on calls 
• Setting mandatory continuing education KPIs for every team member and providing resources and time for their team to make this happen

5. Why are you the best fit for my industry in particular? 

Marketers can be good at marketing without having to understand or try the product IF the partner they are communicating with is knowledgeable. That knowledge can be passed. So, yes, a marketer can be good. But a great marketer won’t stop there. They immerse themselves in your product or service in order to best speak to your audience. So asking your agency this question deserves more than a generic response or case studies. 

6. What do you offer that I’m not taking advantage of? 

The account service team is trained to manage your currently running campaigns with efficiency and performance-based actions. They could be hesitant to suggest new opportunities for fear of coming off sales-y. You could be hesitant to mention new goals for fear of spending additional money. But it never benefits anyone to remain ignorant. This question opens up a door for your Account Services team to introduce new opportunities that you can accept or shelve for later. 

Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion coming to your inboxes and SI EQ socials soon!