Constantly trying to pull a bait and switch from one marketing tactic to another. I even had a rather new client tell me that they finally had it with their digital marketing company because the kid who handled their account claimed that the coronavirus was the reason their traffic count was down on their website. As dumb as it sounds, she still laughed right before ditching them to come with my company, BizeeBay. Unfortunately, she had been with that company for over a year and subsequently spent just over 30,000 dollars on different services that essentially netted to a 0% ROI. The sad truth is this is not an isolated incident. I see this kind of behavior taking place all over in Austin, Texas! Being that the economy is doing so well and small to medium size businesses are growing so rapidly they are leaning on Austin marketing companies to help invest some of their hard-earned dollars. Unfortunately, many of these companies are founded by get rich quick teenagers with just enough experience to create an Instagram or TikTok page.
I am going to detail 3 things you MUST do before hiring a Austin marketing company. These are non-negotiable. You need to do this at the bare minimum so that you can protect your companies hard earned marketing budget.
- Don’t just ask for referrals; ask for case studies!
You can ask anyone for referrals, but who has the time or energy to actively reach out to those companies. First you need to call them, then you need to get the gatekeeper on the phone, then you have to continue to talk to some stranger that could just be the companies founders grandma who will say anything in the world to make you thing highly of her grandson. At the end of the day all referrals are complete BS.
A case study is something that can be verified. It is data that you should spend the time and energy to comb through to help validate a company’s legitimacy. If an Austin marketing company is pitching you to spend your hard-earned marketing dollars you should be able to show that they can produce the results they claim they can help you produce! For all you know there is some slick talking high school student who watched a YouTube video saying he can make 5k a month by “selling” you marketing services. You need proof and a case study can help provide that for you!
2. Meet the company in person! No Skype… In person!
I’m not saying that you need to take time out of your busy schedule to drive to some random office in the heart of downtown. Get that company to send over the person in charge of your account! It is a very competitive in the digital marketing space, especially in Austin. You should have no trouble getting a representative to your place of business to discuss the fine-tooth details on your newest marketing campaign. Plus, who knows, your Austin Marketing company could be some group of black hat scammers in Nigeria ready to hold your website hostage. I’m kidding, but for real who knows?
3.Read the contract! Don’t skim it over… Read it!
I would say 99% of companies that we onboard for our SEO services tell us that they would have started sooner but were locked into a contract with their previous Austin Marketing Company. If a digital marketing company says that you will be locked into a contract for longer than 3 months. I wouldn’t touch that deal with a ten-foot pole. In Austin, Texas there are many companies that do this, and I will not call any out right here but will say that they design these contracts to produce income for them regardless of the results. That means they can just keep going back to you and say well its because of the “coronavirus”. I would say I’m kidding… but no I’m not.
A valid reason for a contract to be put in place is so that a company doesn’t invest x amount of time into a project just so the customer can leave a month later without giving the marketing company ample time to produce the results. Then poof they are operating a net loss. There is a way around this that makes sense for the marketing company and the business owner. A start-up fees! Have the marketing company charge a start-up fee that consist of tangible work that can help mitigate risk on both ends. Keeps the marketing company safe from customers who take flight before the results are expected and keeps the business in a month to month contract that is dependent on results!
I am not talking bad about individual companies. If by writing this I protect just one business owner in Austin, Texas from the deceptive practices used by so many Austin Marketing companies then that is a win in my book. Digital marketing is something that is measurable unlike popular belief. Digital marketing needs to be held to a higher standard so we can get the deceptive practices away from the
industry. Take these three pieces of advice to the next marketing meeting you
have so you can take your business to the next level!
