10 Perceptive Questions to Ask a Digital Marketing Consultant Before Hiring Them

So you’ve decided that the best thing for your business would be to hire a digital marketing consultant. You know that you need help managing all of the new marketing strategies and technologies of today, and you’re ready to outsource some of your work.

How do you choose who to hire?

There are some questions that you should ask potential consultants that will help make sure you’re getting the best value for your money. Read on for ten questions to ask a digital marketing consultant — and the answers you should listen for.

1. What Do You Know About My Industry?

A digital marketing consultant probably has at least some experience with a wide variety of industries. But what do they know about yours?

They don’t have to be an expert, but you also don’t want to hire someone who has no experience building a strategy for your industry. That could mean that they’ll be learning as they go, which might end up hurting the final product.

2. Do You Have Case Studies?

When you hire a full-time employee, you probably ask for references. No matter how good their resume is, it’s always great to be able to talk to someone who’s supervised their work before.

You can definitely ask for references for a digital marketing consultant, but the best thing is to ask for case studies or at least examples of their work. This will let you see what work they’ve done in the past, what the results were, and if they’re a good fit for what your business is looking for.

3. What’s Your Price?

This seems like an obvious question to ask, right? You’re clearly not going to enter into a business agreement without determining the cost first.

Asking about the price won’t just help you figure out if they’re within your budget. If their price is too low, that might be an indication of the quality of work you can expect. If it’s too high, you could be getting scammed.

You should hire a digital marketing consultant who charges a fair price. That shows that they know what they’re doing and are confident in their work.

4. How Are You Going To Optimize Content?

When you’re hiring a digital marketing consultant, the assumption is that they’re going to improve your content. After all, that’s what they’re there for, right?

Don’t just rely on assumptions, though — ask them to be specific about what their plans are. A good marketing consultant should know how to optimize your existing content, if you need to create new content, and how all of that will work together.

5. What’s Your Link Strategy?

Link building is one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization. If you don’t have any links leading back to your website, it’s going to be difficult to improve your Google search rankings.

How they plan to go about building links, though, is very important. You don’t want to work with a digital marketing consultant who is going to do things like use white text or spam links. That could lead to your website being penalized.

Make sure they have a plan that’s on the level.

 

6. Are You Familiar With Core Work?

Do they have any experience with sales? Could their experience within your industry also lead to some insights into product development?

This isn’t a requirement for a digital marketing consultant, but depending on the size of your business and how tasks are divided up, someone with that experience could end up being very useful.

If you decide that you want to expand your product offerings, for example, you know that your consultant will have enough knowledge to adapt quickly.

7. Can You Guarantee Top Rankings?

This is a bit of a trick question. The correct answer (and the only answer) is no.

There’s no way for any digital marketing consultant, no matter how good they are, to guarantee top rankings. They could do the best job possible, but in the end, it’s impossible for anyone to guarantee the top spot.

They should be honest with you about possibilities. If they say they can guarantee a top spot, they’re not a person you want to hire.

8. Can You Help Me With High-Quality Content?

Some consultants can only optimize the content that you already have available. If that’s all that you need, you don’t have to worry about it.

If you’re looking to create new content, though, be upfront about it. Not everyone is qualified to help with content creation. You should make sure that you’re hiring someone who has the experience and is ready to deliver.

9. How Will You Assess Your Campaigns?

Is that work that they’ve been doing successfully? How will they know?

It’s not enough just to create a campaign for your business. The consultant you hire should also be constantly analyzing what they’ve put into place. They should be prepared to provide updates on things like rankings and traffic so that you know they’re constantly monitoring what could be improved.

10. Can You Teach Me?

The right person for the job will be okay with eventually working themselves out of a job. That does seem a bit counterintuitive.

But the best digital marketing strategies are self-sustaining, which means that someone in your business could have to take on those responsibilities eventually. Are they going to have the skills and know-how to get the job done?

Make sure your consultant is building something that will last, but also empowering other people on your team to do the work.

Find The Right Digital Marketing Consultant For You

With these questions, you should be able to find a consultant who is perfect for you.

Ready to find someone immediately? Give Cheeky Monkey Media a try. We’re not just a web development company — we have a great marketing team who is ready to help you achieve your business goals.

Whether you’re looking for help with SEO, content marketing, social media, or more, we’re prepared to deliver.

Get in touch today to learn more and get a free quote for our services.