37 key inquiries to ask when evaluating digital advertising companies

Choosing the fitting digital advertising company associate is essential for companies aiming to drive outcomes and scale effectively. With numerous companies vying for consideration, entrepreneurs should ask the fitting questions to make sure they make your best option for his or her firm’s wants.

Though I’ve owned an company for seven years, most of my profession was spent engaged on the shopper aspect. I’ve compiled questions I might have requested once I was on the opposite aspect of the desk and in addition from questions potential purchasers ask us.

These questions can information your company choice course of, aiding in knowledgeable selections. Whereas not all are mandatory for an RFP, they’re useful for discussions with companies.

Primarily for paid search, they are often tailored for search engine marketing, paid social, retail media or different wants.

Understanding the significance of this a part of the enterprise

1. What number of whole paid search purchasers does the company have and what’s the common annual spend of their purchasers? 

• Understanding the company’s shopper base and their typical funding ranges helps gauge their expertise and the size of their operations. 

2. What proportion of the corporate’s income does paid media administration signify?

• This perception supplies useful context relating to the company’s emphasis on paid media and its significance inside its general enterprise technique. It goes hand in hand with the query above.
• Is the company simply beginning out in paid search or is it a core functionality? 

Understanding your place

3. Will your enterprise be thought of a giant, medium or little fish of their PPC division? 

• Understanding the place your enterprise stands in relation to the company’s different purchasers offers perspective on the extent of consideration and sources you’ll be able to anticipate to obtain.
• In an excellent world, you’ll match someplace within the center – essential sufficient to get correct consideration however with an company that has expertise with operating bigger accounts in order that they can assist you scale.

4. Will you personal your accounts or would they? 

• It’s essential that you just all the time retain possession of your account. That means if you happen to’re ever dissatisfied, you’ll be able to simply take your enterprise elsewhere.
• You’re hiring an company to handle in your behalf, however that doesn’t imply that you just shouldn’t personal the work.

5. What does a typical contract time period appear like? 

• Do they lock you into lengthy contracts with out an out clause? You’ll by no means understand how the connection seems till you’ve began collaborating.
• Ensure you have some flexibility in case the partnership or outcomes aren’t figuring out. If you happen to’re OK signing on for a long run with out an out clause, you might be able to get a reduction.

Account audit and optimization

6. Has the company carried out an account audit and what particular observations and areas for enchancment have been recognized? 

• This query delves into the company’s analytical capabilities and its proactive method to optimizing shopper accounts. It additionally helps guarantee they’ve a deep technical and strategic information of discovering alternatives. 
• Ensure you’re getting particular suggestions as an alternative of generalities. Many companies received’t carry out a free audit until it’s for a bigger account.
• Nonetheless, you could take into account paying for an audit as a part of your analysis course of to get a really feel for what they’ve discovered and the way they current info.

7. Based mostly on their audit findings, how a lot restructuring do they consider is critical and what’s their most popular account setup method? 

• Understanding their proposed methods for restructuring supplies perception into their experience and methodologies.
• This can even provide you with a way of whether or not they’re seemingly simply to take your current account and make commonplace optimizations or if they’re bringing new pondering to the desk.

Assessing efficiency metrics

8. What do typical experiences appear like? 

• It’s useful to see a pattern of a weekly or month-to-month report. This provides you with a way of what kind of knowledge will probably be shared with you repeatedly. 
• Do they speak about outcomes or extra vanity-type metrics? Is it the extent of reporting you’d anticipate? Does it really feel very templated or extra personalized and stuffed with wealthy info?

9. Will you have got entry to a dwell dashboard? 

• You’ll wish to know in case you have entry to efficiency knowledge (apart from logging straight into Google Analytics or Google adverts) immediately or if you happen to’ll must request experiences. 
• If you happen to can entry a dashboard, ask to see a sanitized report model. Ensure that spend and CPA or CPL (or one other efficiency metric) are proven.
• We’ve seen dashboards that report on impressions and purchasers however conceal spend so the shopper doesn’t know what’s worthwhile and what could also be inefficient.

10. What do they sometimes use to judge efficiency? GA4, platform knowledge or one other supply? 

• Every supply of knowledge has professionals and cons. Platform knowledge might be very useful as a result of it supplies the richest info, however GA4 will present a deduplicated view of the order/income. You might also wish to perceive in the event that they use different expertise like Triple Whale.

11. What attribution methodology do they sometimes use? 

• This goes hand in hand with the query above. It’s useful to get aligned so that you just’re talking the identical language. Ensure you additionally focus on the attribution window.

Anticipated outcomes, timeline and onboarding course of

12. Based mostly on their findings, how lengthy do they anticipate it should take to see improved outcomes and what are their expectations relating to efficiency positive factors? 

• Setting life like expectations for outcomes and timelines is crucial for aligning objectives and forming a wholesome partnership. Nevertheless, be somewhat weary of overly aggressive forecasts until you recognize that your program is in disarray.

13. What’s their course of and timeline for taking on an account? 

• Understanding their onboarding course of helps handle expectations and ensures a clean transition.
• For bigger packages, you’ll most likely anticipate a request for an overlap interval with the prevailing company.

14. How do they guarantee a clean transition to keep away from any drop in efficiency throughout restructures? 

• Probing into their methods for minimizing disruptions throughout transitions highlights their dedication to sustaining efficiency consistency. 
• Many companies will recommend a interval the place extra minimal modifications are made whereas they be taught the ins and outs of the account. Whereas this will likely appear lax, it might be in your safety.

Trade focus

15. Do they lean into one explicit {industry} or unfold their focus and why? 

• You’ll must resolve if you happen to favor to align with a digital advertising company specialised in your {industry} for focused experience or go for one with a broader focus for various views and potential cross-industry insights.

16. If they’ve a number of accounts in your {industry}, how do they guarantee account/shopper separation? 

• Understanding their method to sustaining shopper confidentiality and avoiding conflicts of curiosity is essential for establishing belief and transparency.

17. Which bidding methods do they like to make use of and why? 

• Every kind of account would require completely different bidding methods and the technique will change relying on how a lot knowledge is obtainable to drive selections.

For retail or ecommerce purchasers:

18. What do they see because the position of textual content adverts, procuring and Efficiency Max (PMax? What about video or different marketing campaign varieties? 

• It’s useful to grasp the company’s philosophy on every marketing campaign kind to make sure a well-rounded technique. This query addresses the company’s understanding of retail-specific promoting dynamics and its skill to maximise returns for ecommerce companies.

19. How do they navigate optimization challenges in the event that they make use of a ‘go all in on PMax’ method? 

• PMax is less complicated to run (and certain extra worthwhile for the company to handle!), however that doesn’t essentially imply it’s finest for your enterprise. 
• Do you actually wish to hand off full management to Google? Would you like for there to be extra levers to tug to drive scale or management prices when wanted?

20. You probably have a bodily presence, have they got expertise with native campaigns? 

• What’s their typical method and the way do they give thought to attributing gross sales from shops or driving foot visitors?

For B2B or service focus: 

21. Have they got expertise with RevOps and understanding the nuances between optimizing for a lead vs a professional lead and buyer?  

• Not all leads are created equally and it’s essential in B2B to search out precise changing clients.

22. Have they dealt with integrations with name monitoring or different offline knowledge sources? 

• B2B and repair companies additionally have a tendency to incorporate extra offline gross sales – captured by means of cellphone or different means – so that you’ll need a associate that understands how one can seize and leverage the fitting knowledge

Workforce construction and experience

23. What’s the normal construction of their PPC division? 

• Exploring the company’s organizational construction supplies insights into its useful resource allocation and specialization. 
• Is there one director over lots of managers? Or is it a workforce with a transparent hierarchy that’s designed to make sure every account has ample senior-level consideration?

24. How large is the general PPC workforce and what number of members are totally devoted to paid search or social administration? 

• Understanding the workforce’s composition and experience distribution informs expectations relating to the depth of expertise obtainable to help your campaigns. You might also wish to ask in the event that they use a pod construction or have a special method. 
• The rationale that workforce measurement issues is as a result of one of many causes that purchasers usually like companies is as a result of there’s a pool of people who’re consultants and might deliver extra concepts to the desk.

25. What’s the common years of paid search expertise of the people on the PPC workforce? And what’s the minimal? 

• You’ll wish to perceive if the company is utilizing skilled professionals or if there are lots of junior members of the workforce. Ideally, you don’t have a workforce that’s “studying in your dime.”

Account administration

26. What number of accounts is the lead chargeable for and what position do they play? 

• This query sheds mild on the extent of particular person consideration and involvement you’ll be able to anticipate from the company’s management.

27. Who will probably be assigned to your account and what’s every workforce member’s stage of expertise?

• Understanding the {qualifications} of the workforce members assigned to your account is essential for assessing their skill to ship outcomes. An company is simply nearly as good because the individuals in your account!

28. How usually will you be assembly with the workforce and who will probably be on calls? 

• Ensure you are clear about who will attend and at what cadence. You might have some calls with extra members of the workforce and others that embrace only a restricted set – nevertheless it’s higher to know upfront.

Day-to-day operations

29. Who handles many of the day-to-day work within the accounts and what number of accounts are they chargeable for? 

• This query supplies insights into the workload distribution and the extent of consideration your account will obtain.
• We’ve related with people up to now who’re chargeable for greater than a dozen accounts. There’s no means that particular person could have time to study your enterprise.

30. Who will probably be your major level of contact for day-to-day communications? 

• Clarifying the communication channels and first contact streamlines collaboration and ensures environment friendly drawback decision. 
• Will you be working with an account supervisor or do you have got direct entry to the individuals managing your campaigns?
• You’ll need direct entry to make sure that you aren’t enjoying the sport of phone on technique and different essential matters.

31. What’s probably the most often used technique for communication? 

• You’ll wish to discover out in case you have entry to the workforce by means of electronic mail solely or if you may as well talk by means of Slack or one other means.

Third-party involvement

32. Are any duties outsourced offshore or to 3rd events?

• Understanding the extent of third-party involvement helps consider potential dependencies and dangers related to outsourcing.
• Finally, you’re hiring the company to know who is definitely doing the work from finish to finish.

Collaboration

33. What’s their relationship like with the Google workforce? 

• Entry to Google highlights their skill to assemble knowledge shortly and might deliver potential benefits, reminiscent of beta options and {industry} insights.

34. How do they view the worth of paid search and search engine marketing (or Social) partnering and the way do they guarantee efficient communication between groups? 

• Exploring their perspective on cross-channel collaboration demonstrates their holistic method to digital advertising and their dedication to maximizing outcomes throughout channels. 
• How do they collaborate inside their company (if they’re managing a number of advertising channels for you) or with different companies (if the work is split amongst companies)?

Case research and references

35. Can they supply related case research showcasing profitable paid search campaigns? 

• Reviewing case research permits you to gauge the company’s observe document and success tales in delivering outcomes for purchasers. 
• Search for one thing that’s consultant of your enterprise, whether or not it’s large or small. That doesn’t imply that it must be in your {industry} – however there needs to be some parallels.

36. Are there reference purchasers you’ll be able to converse to about their experiences with the company? 

• Talking immediately with previous or present purchasers supplies useful firsthand insights into the company’s efficiency, communication and general shopper satisfaction. It’s uncommon that prospects ask for this and usually reserved for big accounts.

Shopper retention insights

37. When the company loses purchasers, what are the standard causes cited? 

• Understanding the elements contributing to shopper churn supplies insights into potential dangers and areas for enchancment within the company’s service supply.

Entrepreneurs could make knowledgeable selections when choosing a digital advertising associate by asking a few of these questions and diving into varied points of a potential company’s operations and experience.

You don’t essentially want to debate each one in every of these, however selecting a superb cross-section of questions can assist make sure you discover a good associate for your enterprise.