For many people figuring out which of the many Chicago Online Advertising Consultants to hire to help you get new customers can be a difficult and time consuming process.

Here are some critical parameters to consider that will help you make your choice a little less difficult.

Consider the Markets and Company Sizes the Consultants Most Often Work With

When it comes to consultants with or without experience in your industry this can be a tricky point. While the principles of online advertising are similar for all industries and markets, there can be differences, so it makes sense to hire a company that has experience with businesses like yours … but only to a point.

You see, too narrow a focus can be problematicas well. Be wary of companies that serve only a very narrow niche because their approach may be “cookie cutter” and not let your business special qualities shine.

You do not want to look exactly like your competition does. Do you?

Too narrow of focus can also lead to being removed from broader marketing trends and this can lead to dated, less advanced approaches.

PPC or SEO?

Certainly there is more to online advertising than PPC and organic search marketing but they are the two most fundamental and proven approaches for growing local businesses andconsultants typically specialize in one or the other.

While both can deliver results when done correctly, there is an increasing body of evidence that local customers are not paying attention to PPC advertisements even while PPC prices skyrocket. Therefore you will served best by choosing an advertising consultant who has experience leveraging the more trusted organic side of search as the back bone of your online marketing and advertising strategy.

Get the Job Done or Get Advice?

You are likely already performing too many roles in your business. Right? So the last thing you need is an online advertising consultant that creates more work for you!

Yet unless you are careful you may get an additional role to play when you bring the wrong online marketing consultant on board. Here’s why. Many “consultants” are great at telling you “what to do” but not so great at actually getting things done.

When conducting interviews with your potential consultants ask them how their content creation process flows, how much work you will be doing, how much of your precious time and energy they will need and how much of the project they will do without you (or your staff) needing to be involved.

You should only hire a consultant who has a process in place that keeps the amount of effort required of you to an absolute minimum so that you can continue to focus on running your business and taking care of clients.

Experience

How much and how varied is the experience of the online advertising consultant you are considering? Look for a wide experience base in a number of industries,and company sizes and look for depth of experience as well.
If the consultant only has experience in one industryor only one facet of advertising or marketing (e.g. graphic design, web programming, SEO)then you should have a low confidence level that this person has the depth and breadth of experiences and resources necessary to pull together a complete advertising and marketing solution.

Conversely, if the consultant has experience in a variety of markets and essential core skills such as building sales processes, strategy development and strategic marketing then you can be more confident that the challenges unique to your business will be well within the consultant’s grasp and comfort level. It only makes sense that the consultant will understand how each piece of marketing or advertising fits into the larger strategy of growing profits and getting more new customers.

Tactics or Complete System?

This final factor may be the most important of all things to consider when choosing an online advertising consultant, so please pay close attention!

A website, PPC advertising, Search Engine Optimization, article marketing, email marketing and social media marketing (the list could go on far longer!) are tactics NOT Complete Marketing systems.

Cobbling a bunch of different tactics together is an easy way to give the appearance of progress while simultaneously burning invested dollars and not likely getting much in the way of results.

I urge you to have the consultant you are considering show you exactly how their SYSTEM handles these three critical pieces:

– generating traffic
– converting traffic to customers
– creating nurturing conversations with research oriented potential customers.

Do not settle for anything less than a complete marketing system or you will be putting your online advertising investment at risk and maybe the future growth of your business as well.

Author Bio: It’s far easier to prevent mistakes than correct them so you will find this free resource really helpful: “10 Things You Must Know About Local Business Marketing Before You Invest Another Dime”. You can get it here Local Online Marketing Report or get access to even more great information here: Fetch Blog

Category: Marketing
Keywords: Online Advertising Consultants,internet marketing consultants,internet advertising firm,