7 things to look for when hiring someone to do your marketing

So, you’ve made the big decision to hire someone to do your marketing for you. Now, you need to find that person. There’s no shortage of marketing “experts” out there, all vying for a piece of your pie. How on earth do you choose who to outsource to, then? Here are 7 things to look for when hiring someone to do your marketing, be it an agency, a freelancer or an employee.

 

 

 

7 things to look for when hiring someone to do your marketing

So, you've decided that you're ready to outsource your marketing, and now you're probably wondering who the heck to outsource it to. There's no shortage of marketing “experts” out there just waiting to take ALL your money and not really give you a whole lot in return.

Stevie Dillon did a fantastic podcast episode with the red flags to look for in a social media manager. I highly recommend you listen to that.

In this post, rather than giving you the red flags, I'm going to share a few things that you should look for in whoever you're outsourcing your marketing to – be it a freelancer, an employee, an agency, a contractor… Whatever they call themselves!

1. They tailor a strategy to your business

There are so many people out there who offer social media management without doing any strategy work beforehand. While I'm sure it's a great business model with super low barriers to entry, simply posting for you on a daily basis doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get the best results.

Let me spell it out for you: Your business marketing strategy is pretty freakin' important.

A decent social media marketer will do their research and tailor a strategy specifically to your brand. It might cost a little more, but it's so worth it. Your social media strategy should fit your brand and your budget like a snug little glove.

2. They set goals, not guarantees

Clearly defined goals are not an optional part of marketing your business. But, there's a huge difference between aiming for 100 new followers a week and guaranteeing 100 new followers a week. As a rule of thumb, if anyone guarantees you anything in the marketing world, run.

Whilst guaranteed results might sound good, your results are actually dependent on so many things that are out of your control and out of their control. A marketer who guarantees results has a perverse incentive – they have no choice but to achieve the outcome, so they'll do anything they can to achieve it. If they guaranteed you 100 new followers and didn't hit that target, it's easier for them to go and buy fake followers than it is to refund you your money.

3. They focus on more than just growing your following

Followers are cool. They're great for your ego, but at the end of the day, they're just a vanity metric. Yes, they do tie in with brand awareness to an extent, but they're not the be all and end all.

Followers are worth a whole lot of nothing if they never interact with your brand. A good social media manager should look at how your social media strategy fits into your marketing strategy. Thing like, how can your social platforms drive traffic to your website and capture leads for your business? How will social media nurture these leads and convince them to buy? And, how will you make your existing customers love you so much that they shout it from the digital rooftops?

Your social media goals should cascade from your marketing goals, which in turn should cascade from your business goals. For example, say your business goal is to increase revenue by 50% this quarter. To achieve this, your marketing goal might be to double your leads. And, how are you going to double your leads? You could try setting a goal to double the social media traffic to your landing page.

4. They report to you monthly

As business owners, it's our dream to delegate tasks and never have to deal with them again. But, social media isn't one of those tasks. A key thing to look for when outsourcing your marketing to someone is that they keep you in the loop at least once per month. It doesn't need to be a 50-page report. A simple e-mail does the job, as long as it tells you the stuff you need to know – like what's working, what isn't and what it means for your business.

5. They do things the “White Hat” way

There are plenty of nasty tactics and dodgy shortcuts out there in the social media world. From buying followers to paying for bots to automatically follow and unfollow. I know there are so many “experts” out there telling you to automate these things, but your social media manager should not be doing that.

For starters, it's against the terms of service of a lot of platforms and could get your account banned. It's also really antisocial and it has potential to damage your brand. So just don't do it.

6. They understand your brand

A lot of people with no knowledge of branding assume that branding is just how your brand looks, which is half true. I'm by no means a branding expert, but I know that it runs a whole lot deeper than just the superficial stuff.

Your brand is everything to do with your business' values, how you want people to feel when they interact with your business, how you talk to people, etc.

Your social media profiles are a crucial touchpoint for your potential clients or customers, so whoever you're hiring to represent your brand on social media needs to be well versed in your values, your story and your tone of voice. Sure, the look and feel of your brand is important too, but posting something that doesn't align with your brand values can cause a hell of a lot more damage to your brand than an off-colour image can.

7.  They aren't the cheapest option out there

You know what they say about price: you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Social media marketing is no exception to this. If you've found someone who is a great fit and they just happen to be the cheapest one out there, then that's awesome and you should hire them on the spot.

But, this is rarely the case.

Many businesses make the mistake of hiring a social media manager because they're the cheapest without any regard for how much it may cost the business long term. Don't be one of those businesses.

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