1. If their marketing efforts aren’t actually increasing your website traffic – the most basic of metrics – you are not on the road to market share growth. And if you don’t know, they aren’t showing you for a reason.
2. If your competition across the river is using the same marketing company, but they are treating your competition like a mistress they found on Onlyfans three months ago and giving her all the attention. That’s kind of a big deal.
3. Does your main website header note that you’re an attorney or law firm, what type of law is the page about, and where do you serve? Check Your Code: Search for “h1” in the source code to see if your agency understands elementary website development and SEO practices. If not, it’s time to graduate and move on.
4. You’ve never been exposed to your benchmarked data. How do you measure the impact of the work being done if you don’t know your benchmarks? Any reputable marketing agency wants to know where they started, and you should, too. That’s the only way to measure success. The exposure may not be pretty, but it’s something you need to see.
5. Reporting is lacking or nonexistent. Not only should your agency know your benchmarks and share that with you, but they should be able to show the impact of their work compared to where they started. At a minimum, top digital marketing metrics should be reviewed together monthly or, at a minimum, quarterly. If they are doing their jobs correctly, they should want to show you.
6. They never ask about your intake, caseload or case values. An agency committed to your success wants to know the actual impact on your business. Website traffic growth is great as an early indicator, but skilled marketers know the ultimate goal is increasing your caseload and growing your revenue. Diddy said it best – “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.”
7. They ask for permission and sign off for their every move, but never discuss the strategy. An agency that is overly concerned with your approval shows insecurity and a lack of confidence, like a middle schooler at their first sock hop. Your “sign-off” is nothing more than a CYA effort. A confident agency should discuss the strategy and intent, get your approval on the overall direction, and then make their own decisions on how to get the desired outcome.
8. They show off their Microsoft certifications using fancy PowerPoints with a lot of exclamation marks but with no real data. Data-based marketers use tools that analyze large amounts of data showcasing it in real-time using the tools vs. a fancy report version of “show and tell.” Skip the dog and pony show, and find a real digital agency using real data.
9. They can’t quickly and clearly tell you the cost of your pay-per-click campaigns vs. the management fee your agency charges – meaning the amount you pay someone like Google directly vs. what they are charging you to set up and manage the campaigns. Transparent marketers can clearly define their fees. Others will pretend it’s complicated and probably use the word “algorithm” when trying to explain it.
10. They can’t articulate their purpose when writing blogs or managing your social media. Often, some agencies will treat your online platforms as separate entities, not realizing all the different platforms are important parts of the vehicle that must work together to keep it moving. And in the right direction, of course.
