Be Prepared: Meeting with your Digital Marketing Rep

Questions Kids Ask (For Which Parents are Completely Unprepared):

• What is an hour?
• Is today the day you will die?
• When you die, can I watch?
• Why do you say mean words when you drive?
• Are Cheetos your favorite food?
• Why did you eat all of the Cheetos?
• If I am a princess, where are all my horses?
• If people make things out of animals, can I make things out of people?

From <http://mom.me/blog/20858-31-questions-my-kid-asked-me-i-was-not-prepared/>

Although nothing can prepare you for a four-year-old, Fortune favors the prepared, as any Boy Scout in good standing is aware. While we may not be ready with the perfect rejoinder when our kids ask us things like "where does fat come from?" We can benefit from some preparatory thoughts when meeting with a digital marketing consultant for the first or second time.

Getting the most out of your initial explorations depends on how much you put into it. With a bit of work on your end beforehand everyone wins!

Here's your study guide for the big day, so pay attention and do your homework!

Paint two Pictures

No, not literally, It’s not an art class. What would really help us find the right solutions for you is:

• a detailed picture of what your business is doing now. What's your revenue? What sales and marketing practices are working or not?
• And how does that picture change in one and five years? This one can be a bit more impressionistic, but still as accurate as you can draw it.

Once we have a good image of what your goals are we can work up a digital marketing plan to get your there, working backward from the end filling in waypoints using the right metrics. From there we can easily set budgets and prioritize resources.

What's Your Diabolical Plan to Rule Your Industry?

What activities, events, tasks do you currently deploy to maintain or expand your sales? And what activities have you tried in the past that worked or not? Are you thinking about hiring more staff? Expanding a product or service line? Any or all of this will help your consultant get to their recommendations quickly.

"If it Weren't for Those Meddling Kids…"

What's standing in the way of your business goals? It's probably not Scooby Doo and the gang, but maybe it's a formidable competitor. Or lack of management buy-in, or an inefficient supply chain. List your top three to five progress-killers.

How's the Cabbage Patch?

Take a detailed look at your spending on marketing in the past. What line items are working well or not so well? Do you even know the ROI on all your expenditures? What's your CAC (cost to acquire a new customer)? It's OK if you don't know every detail, but for comparison, you may want to know a bit more about those metrics before you shop for a better digital marketing structure. You'll also need to know how you're doing after you've made some changes.

The Truth about Digital Marketing Consequences

Are your competitors using some form of inbound marketing? What will happen if you move into the future without going to inbound? What opportunities will go by the boards? What inefficiencies will continue to hold you back?

The Morning After

What big and small changes will need to occur if inbound marketing is in your future? Personnel, spending, mindset / cultural approaches to selling, even the way you interact with customers will likely change. What groundwork is needed to get ready?

Thinking through all these issues will help both you and your inbound marketing expert with the initial conversations. Honestly, we aim for a perfect fit between what we offer and what you need, so it's possible that it won't work out. Being as prepared as possible can only save time and money, so start studying!

United WebWorks Savannah GA has walked innumerable small and large businesses through the process of adopting an inbound marketing strategy. It's highly likely we can help you too! Let us know what you need by subscribing up top on the right, leaving a comment on the form below, or asking for this free Internet Marketing Assessment.