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Are You Asking Your Agency These Questions?

If you were looking to invest your money, you would not invest without first researching the investment company, the investment options, and the estimated investment growth you can anticipate seeing. Therefore, why would you trust someone to spend your hard-earned marketing budget without first researching the agency and the results you can expect.

Take a second to consider if you are asking your advertising agency these following questions to ensure you are receiving the best service possible for your monetary investment. Better yet, is your agency or marketing manager answering these questions without you asking? If not, consider who you have managing your marketing dollars. Maybe it is time to switch!

First, what are your Key Performance Indicators?

The first conversation you should have with your agency or marketing manager is what are your KPI’s? What are the key indicators that you will use to determine if your marketing campaign that you are investing money into has been a success or failure? The KPI will help your agency or marketing manager determine whether you need an impression-based campaign or conversion-based campaign.

Secondly, what type of management fee are you paying?

Lots of companies will tell you everything you need to know until you ask what their management fees are. Do you know how the agency, or your marketing manager is being paid? You are investing a determined gross amount, but do you know the net amount being placed?

With digital placement, agencies typically take their commission percentage off the gross amount and then invest or “PLACE” the net. If an agency is charging a 40% management fee, then only 60% of your investment is being placed in a digital platform. Does that 40% management fee cover the cost to build out your creative? Does it cover setting you up on the digital platform if a new account has to be created? Does it cover a monthly digital review of the campaign performance?

With traditional advertising, the media outlet (TV, Radio, Magazine, Billboard) will typically place the client’s full gross amount and then provide a discounted net amount. The difference, typically 15%, is how the agency makes a profit when overseeing a traditional campaign.

No matter if it’s digital or traditional, do you know how much you’re paying for the services being provided?

Third, what are you paying to reach 1,000 people?

CPM also known as cost per thousand, measures the cost an advertiser pays for 1,000 impressions. CPM’s can be compared across platforms and strategies and will vary by platform. Follow up this question by asking what the industry standard is for your placement. Campaigns that are targeting a more narrowed demographic will have an increased CPM verses a broadly targeted campaign.

However, if your campaign has relatively low competition and an abundant audience, are you overpaying with a high CPM? Your agency can identify areas to improve and drive down the cost of your CPM if this is a KPI of yours. Knowing the correct demographic you are trying to reach and knowing the correct platform to use is key to managing CPM’s. Third Wave Digital will review your campaigns at no charge and tell you if we think we can improve your CPM. Let Third Wave Digital utilize our historically proven industry CPM’s along with correct platform forecasting to ensure the CPM you are paying is as cost effective as possible.

Fourth, are you or your agency utilizing Google Analytics?

Can you read your Google Analytics dashboard to identify areas of concern or areas of success? Has your agency trained you on reading your GA through the App? Google Analytics is an important tool for you to utilize when monitoring several different online metrics. GA gives you an insight to everything from your campaign strategy effectiveness to what visitors are doing on your website. Find out where your website visitors are coming from and what ads they clicked to get to your site, how long they stay on your site, what pages they visit, and even where they are geographically located to ensure your marketing campaigns reach your engaged audience where they are and in the best way! Third Wave Digital wants to go beyond just managing your campaigns. We want to see you become knowledgeable in being able to read and utilize your Google Analytics!

Fifth, what are your efficiencies in media buying?

If you are placing traditional advertising, has your agency or media manager showed you Nielsen ratings? You might be paying a lower rate per spot, but what if you are only reaching 10% of the market? What if you could pay a little more but reach 40% of the market? For traditional, frequency is key! You want a person to hear your ad about 3 times. Do you know how many times the audience will hear your ad? How many people are you reaching? How much is it costing? Are you paying for more ads than you need because your frequency is too high, and you are oversaturating the market?

When it comes to billboards and magazines, what is the data telling you about where you are placed? How many times is your billboard being seen and is the information presented clearly to grab the viewer in 2 seconds or less? What is the circulation of the magazine your placed in and do you have a right hand read ad near the front of the magazine? Our Third Wave Digital team of professionals are experts in efficient media buying and are here to guide you through every step of the media buying process.

If you do not know any ONE of these answers, you need THIRD WAVE DIGITAL! Our experienced team of professionals has a proven track record of helping clients succeed and dominate the marketplace. Third Wave Digital has been in existence since 1997 and services local, regional, and national clients. We take pride in strategically investing our client’s marketing dollars in the right areas so that their brand continues to grow and reach bigger audiences.

Contact Third Wave Digital today!

posted 07/29/2021 in Third Wave News

Tags: Third Wave Digital , Agency, KPI, Marketing Dollars

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