Key Criteria for Choosing and Evaluating an Internet Promotion Agency
The fact that the client leads the Internet - every entrepreneur knows firsthand. The more attractive the face of online business, the higher the chances of success and the wider the development prospects. It is obvious! But how exactly do Internet promotion tools work, how effective and payback are they?
Most advertisers have a vague idea of ​​all these mechanisms, which means there is no and there can be no confidence in the positive result of the work. Doubts increase by several times when the direction of Internet development is outsourced. The mistrust is aggravated by the fact that any data can be presented in a favorable light, juggling and interpreting them in a favorable key to the contractor.
And nevertheless, how among such a variety of agencies and services offered by them to choose “their own” and be 100% sure of the effectiveness of its work and the effectiveness of the advertising campaign?
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Our belonging to the “service provider” has its advantage: we see how customers select contractors and what requirements they make. Some of them are quite controversial, and some are not taken into account at all. Therefore, we offer you our point of view.
To begin with, there are both conditional and critical criteria for selecting and evaluating an agency. By conditional, we include: certificates, places in the ratings, the number of active projects, the number of employees in the staff, work experience in a particular industry, automation.
We explain briefly and to the point.
Certification is a specific set of parameters and requirements, a “single comb”, under which all players on the market are equal. It is objective to a certain extent: major players follow the certification and regularly confirm it. But the presence of a badge on the site does not guarantee the relevance of certification (you need to check the current list of certified agencies on Yandex and Google sites) and the quality of the agency’s work (you can meet the required parameters and not work equally well with all campaigns).
Ratings - it's very cool that they are on the market in principle. But a number of questions arise about their methodology. Often they take into account such moments as the number of certified specialists, active projects, turnovers and other parameters not related to the quality of work. Sometimes information is provided by rating participants and is not checked by the organizers for accuracy. So, completely rely on the results of certification and ratings are not worth it.
The number of active projects and the presence in the client portfolio of large advertisers is also a controversial issue. First, it is unlikely that you can check their relevance and accuracy. Secondly, agencies, like any other business, mention everything in the list of clients: both current and completed projects, transactions of various sizes. You will not collect the full picture.
It is worth paying attention to whether the contractor has experience in your industry . And this will be the following conditional criterion. Not always the customer needs the services of a highly specialized agency. Expertise in a narrow industry is important if you are in a highly competitive market and you yourself are one of the key players with multi-million dollar budgets. Expert efforts are needed in the struggle for fractions of percent. In other cases, specialization does not play any role. It is important to be sure: the agency at the professional level can do what it offers. When the agency's clients are persistently interested in their industry experience, we give a simple analogy: no one asks the dentist if he can treat caries, for example, lawyers have the same dental treatment methods for everyone. An internet marketer needs to know the principles of how the tools work and have experience in order to set up an advertising campaign well. As for the medical company, and for industrial production. But for the efficiency of this is not enough. It is important to understand the details and look at the advertising campaign through the eyes of the target audience.
Often, customers are interested in automation, although rare advertisers need it critically. When choosing a contractor for most clients, the presence or absence of automation does not play a significant role. Rather, it is a tool that simplifies the life of the Internet agency itself.
Having considered the conditional criteria for choosing an Internet agency, we turn to the really important and deserving close attention from the advertiser.
Agency specialization in certain types of promotion
At first glance, it’s great when the agency is able to do everything: from creating a website to its promotion in social networks. The dream of any customer: one contract, a full range of services, it remains to be happy with the results - to consider the clients listed. In the real world, Internet agencies are rarely found, offering customers diverse services without sacrificing quality in one direction or another. We do not undertake to assert that they do not exist at all, but it is worth taking a fair share of such skepticism towards such a proposal.
A more reliable option - agencies that specialize in a certain kind of promotion. Constant testing of promotion tools as a result gives expert experience - a “plus” in the treasury of your guarantees. This is in theory, in practice you will have to evaluate the expertise of the contractor. How to do this before the start of cooperation - we understand further.
Frankly, “at a glance” it is almost impossible to objectively and fully assess the expertise. Therefore, we pay attention to the quality of communication and the comfort of interaction with the contractor.
Response rate
Mark for yourself how soon the agency will contact you in response to the first request. How constructive will be the first acquaintance? How will the manager collect information about your business and how to fix it?
Ability to answer questions. You ask - you are answered. In some cases, at once, in some cases - they take time out to study the issue. But always clearly and convincingly.
Openness and transparency of work. They write a lot about access, but the questions were, are and remain. The whole process of managing advertising campaigns can be seen in the personal offices of Yandex.Direct and Google AdWords. As a customer, you have the right to log in with guest access to any of the systems and see firsthand how things are going: how much money is left in the account, the dynamics and the number of clicks, statistics on expenses, etc. An honest and confident professionalism contractor has nothing to hide from you.
Team for the project
It is worth asking how the team is formed to work on the project. The agency works not with one and not two clients, this is a built system. The clearer it works, the more seamlessly your project fits in and your interaction with the contractor is more effective. For what you actually pay.
Analytics
Everybody is talking about the need to analyze data, but what specific actions does your future contractor mean by “analytics”? Let's give an example. Once for an interview, an employee came to us with experience in contextual advertising at an advertising agency. Of course, based on web analytics. With further questioning, it turned out: the whole skill was to take screenshots from Yandex. Metrics for reports to clients. Therefore, do not rush to mentally tick, when choosing a contractor you hear that they are engaged in analytics. Ask for a plan of action, what exactly and in what order they offer. It is also important that for you the "analyst" is a clearly perceived need, at whatever stage of the development of the project you are now. For someone, the correctly set goals in Metric, for someone, the integration of CRM into Google Analytics is part of the way to the conscious distribution of advertising budgets.
Cases
The presence of the contractor cases - one small "plus sign" in karma. Small, because we understand: cases are written about successful cases, and not about packs. In cases, you can keep silent about the difficulties and disadvantageous details, focus on the right points. But, first of all, the fact of their presence indicates that the agency is ready to present the results of its work and answer the emerging questions. And secondly, the quality and depth of case study will give a rough understanding of the approach in work.
Understanding
You hear, and you hear. In this case, you get productive communication. Together you will solve a common problem. Internet marketing is just a piece of work built into your sales model. The degree of your inclusion in the process depends on the effectiveness of the entire chain - from driving traffic to your revenue. If the agency tugs at the negotiation stage, clarifies the picture in detail, requests access, statistics, contacts of the responsible persons - this is a very correct approach. You should catch this wave and jointly build a transparent and convenient for all system of advertising and analytics.
No empty promises
Filter everything that a potential contractor tells you. A special reason to doubt if you are promised the mountains of gold. For example, they promise to raise the conversion three times, because it was such an experience. There are no guarantees that this experience will apply to you, and that it was generally and was adequately evaluated (there was 1 sale, it became 3). If you begin to promise - ask for a liability guarantee, it usually sobers. If they do not promise anything concrete at the dawn of negotiations, they are right. They have not worked with you yet, they do not know your conversion and features. Experts will not sign under any guarantees and will be right.
The agency at the entrance adequately assesses the situation, asks many questions, analyzes, proposes solutions. Argued. And understandable language for you. If they continue to behave in the same way in the future, it is highly likely that you will develop effective cooperation.
Price tag
If the services of a contractor are of value to you, the cost of services can and should be negotiated amicably. In Internet advertising there is one interesting thing: it is very difficult to bring down the price and do it at a loss to yourself. You do not have sufficient expertise to understand exactly what volume contractor “A” will do compared to contractor “B” or freelancer Vasya, whose price tag is three times less. Moreover, you do not evaluate speculatively, what result you get in each of the cases. Therefore, our advice: look at the criteria above, and negotiate the price with the one who liked the most.
Check Point
We believe that the key criterion is the focus on long-term interaction, and from both sides. How to understand the interest of the parties in long-term cooperation? The contractor pays attention to the analysis of the current situation - the customer provides data for analysis. The contractor offers strategies, action plan, solutions - the customer carefully considers and makes adjustments. The contractor justifies his actions and the proposed budget - the customer leads a constructive dialogue, does not put ultimatums and does not drive into dead-end demands.
This is how confidence is born and formed. Without it, you will not build effective communication in further work.
Most advertisers have a vague idea of ​​all these mechanisms, which means there is no and there can be no confidence in the positive result of the work. Doubts increase by several times when the direction of Internet development is outsourced. The mistrust is aggravated by the fact that any data can be presented in a favorable light, juggling and interpreting them in a favorable key to the contractor.
And nevertheless, how among such a variety of agencies and services offered by them to choose “their own” and be 100% sure of the effectiveness of its work and the effectiveness of the advertising campaign?
')
Our belonging to the “service provider” has its advantage: we see how customers select contractors and what requirements they make. Some of them are quite controversial, and some are not taken into account at all. Therefore, we offer you our point of view.
To begin with, there are both conditional and critical criteria for selecting and evaluating an agency. By conditional, we include: certificates, places in the ratings, the number of active projects, the number of employees in the staff, work experience in a particular industry, automation.
We explain briefly and to the point.
Certification is a specific set of parameters and requirements, a “single comb”, under which all players on the market are equal. It is objective to a certain extent: major players follow the certification and regularly confirm it. But the presence of a badge on the site does not guarantee the relevance of certification (you need to check the current list of certified agencies on Yandex and Google sites) and the quality of the agency’s work (you can meet the required parameters and not work equally well with all campaigns).
Ratings - it's very cool that they are on the market in principle. But a number of questions arise about their methodology. Often they take into account such moments as the number of certified specialists, active projects, turnovers and other parameters not related to the quality of work. Sometimes information is provided by rating participants and is not checked by the organizers for accuracy. So, completely rely on the results of certification and ratings are not worth it.
The number of active projects and the presence in the client portfolio of large advertisers is also a controversial issue. First, it is unlikely that you can check their relevance and accuracy. Secondly, agencies, like any other business, mention everything in the list of clients: both current and completed projects, transactions of various sizes. You will not collect the full picture.
It is worth paying attention to whether the contractor has experience in your industry . And this will be the following conditional criterion. Not always the customer needs the services of a highly specialized agency. Expertise in a narrow industry is important if you are in a highly competitive market and you yourself are one of the key players with multi-million dollar budgets. Expert efforts are needed in the struggle for fractions of percent. In other cases, specialization does not play any role. It is important to be sure: the agency at the professional level can do what it offers. When the agency's clients are persistently interested in their industry experience, we give a simple analogy: no one asks the dentist if he can treat caries, for example, lawyers have the same dental treatment methods for everyone. An internet marketer needs to know the principles of how the tools work and have experience in order to set up an advertising campaign well. As for the medical company, and for industrial production. But for the efficiency of this is not enough. It is important to understand the details and look at the advertising campaign through the eyes of the target audience.
Often, customers are interested in automation, although rare advertisers need it critically. When choosing a contractor for most clients, the presence or absence of automation does not play a significant role. Rather, it is a tool that simplifies the life of the Internet agency itself.
Having considered the conditional criteria for choosing an Internet agency, we turn to the really important and deserving close attention from the advertiser.
Agency specialization in certain types of promotion
At first glance, it’s great when the agency is able to do everything: from creating a website to its promotion in social networks. The dream of any customer: one contract, a full range of services, it remains to be happy with the results - to consider the clients listed. In the real world, Internet agencies are rarely found, offering customers diverse services without sacrificing quality in one direction or another. We do not undertake to assert that they do not exist at all, but it is worth taking a fair share of such skepticism towards such a proposal.
A more reliable option - agencies that specialize in a certain kind of promotion. Constant testing of promotion tools as a result gives expert experience - a “plus” in the treasury of your guarantees. This is in theory, in practice you will have to evaluate the expertise of the contractor. How to do this before the start of cooperation - we understand further.
Frankly, “at a glance” it is almost impossible to objectively and fully assess the expertise. Therefore, we pay attention to the quality of communication and the comfort of interaction with the contractor.
Response rate
Mark for yourself how soon the agency will contact you in response to the first request. How constructive will be the first acquaintance? How will the manager collect information about your business and how to fix it?
Ability to answer questions. You ask - you are answered. In some cases, at once, in some cases - they take time out to study the issue. But always clearly and convincingly.
Openness and transparency of work. They write a lot about access, but the questions were, are and remain. The whole process of managing advertising campaigns can be seen in the personal offices of Yandex.Direct and Google AdWords. As a customer, you have the right to log in with guest access to any of the systems and see firsthand how things are going: how much money is left in the account, the dynamics and the number of clicks, statistics on expenses, etc. An honest and confident professionalism contractor has nothing to hide from you.
Team for the project
It is worth asking how the team is formed to work on the project. The agency works not with one and not two clients, this is a built system. The clearer it works, the more seamlessly your project fits in and your interaction with the contractor is more effective. For what you actually pay.
Analytics
Everybody is talking about the need to analyze data, but what specific actions does your future contractor mean by “analytics”? Let's give an example. Once for an interview, an employee came to us with experience in contextual advertising at an advertising agency. Of course, based on web analytics. With further questioning, it turned out: the whole skill was to take screenshots from Yandex. Metrics for reports to clients. Therefore, do not rush to mentally tick, when choosing a contractor you hear that they are engaged in analytics. Ask for a plan of action, what exactly and in what order they offer. It is also important that for you the "analyst" is a clearly perceived need, at whatever stage of the development of the project you are now. For someone, the correctly set goals in Metric, for someone, the integration of CRM into Google Analytics is part of the way to the conscious distribution of advertising budgets.
Cases
The presence of the contractor cases - one small "plus sign" in karma. Small, because we understand: cases are written about successful cases, and not about packs. In cases, you can keep silent about the difficulties and disadvantageous details, focus on the right points. But, first of all, the fact of their presence indicates that the agency is ready to present the results of its work and answer the emerging questions. And secondly, the quality and depth of case study will give a rough understanding of the approach in work.
Understanding
You hear, and you hear. In this case, you get productive communication. Together you will solve a common problem. Internet marketing is just a piece of work built into your sales model. The degree of your inclusion in the process depends on the effectiveness of the entire chain - from driving traffic to your revenue. If the agency tugs at the negotiation stage, clarifies the picture in detail, requests access, statistics, contacts of the responsible persons - this is a very correct approach. You should catch this wave and jointly build a transparent and convenient for all system of advertising and analytics.
No empty promises
Filter everything that a potential contractor tells you. A special reason to doubt if you are promised the mountains of gold. For example, they promise to raise the conversion three times, because it was such an experience. There are no guarantees that this experience will apply to you, and that it was generally and was adequately evaluated (there was 1 sale, it became 3). If you begin to promise - ask for a liability guarantee, it usually sobers. If they do not promise anything concrete at the dawn of negotiations, they are right. They have not worked with you yet, they do not know your conversion and features. Experts will not sign under any guarantees and will be right.
The agency at the entrance adequately assesses the situation, asks many questions, analyzes, proposes solutions. Argued. And understandable language for you. If they continue to behave in the same way in the future, it is highly likely that you will develop effective cooperation.
Price tag
If the services of a contractor are of value to you, the cost of services can and should be negotiated amicably. In Internet advertising there is one interesting thing: it is very difficult to bring down the price and do it at a loss to yourself. You do not have sufficient expertise to understand exactly what volume contractor “A” will do compared to contractor “B” or freelancer Vasya, whose price tag is three times less. Moreover, you do not evaluate speculatively, what result you get in each of the cases. Therefore, our advice: look at the criteria above, and negotiate the price with the one who liked the most.
Check Point
We believe that the key criterion is the focus on long-term interaction, and from both sides. How to understand the interest of the parties in long-term cooperation? The contractor pays attention to the analysis of the current situation - the customer provides data for analysis. The contractor offers strategies, action plan, solutions - the customer carefully considers and makes adjustments. The contractor justifies his actions and the proposed budget - the customer leads a constructive dialogue, does not put ultimatums and does not drive into dead-end demands.
This is how confidence is born and formed. Without it, you will not build effective communication in further work.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/335948/
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