Every day I hear business owners and decision makers say things like; “Online marketing doesn’t work” or “digital marketing is too confusing and I’ve been burned too many times”.
Investing on the wrong digital marketing consultant can drain your funds and resources, and is like throwing your money in the trash can.

That’s why I decided to write this article for Small Medium Business Owners, Decision-Makers and Marketing Directors who are looking to hire freelance digital marketing specialists or agency, to build or improve their online presence and generate revenue from marketing online.

This guide will help you take the right decision and choose carefully who will manage your digital marketing, and bring you the most benefits.

Some facts about digital marketing that tell you to start marketing online immediately in 2019

• 91% of your customers use search engines frequently;
• 94% of businesses rank SEO highest with growing importance as a source of leads;
• 78% of searches done on a mobile device result in a purchase;
• 95% of businesses reported an increase in sales after designing a customer targeted website with landing pages;
• Global online sales have reached $700 billion in 2018 and still continue to grow every second;
• 83% of businesses increased their digital marketing budgets in 2018.

How Successful Businesses choose their digital marketing consultant or agency?

1. Understand Your Current Digital Marketing Strategy

Before hiring the right digital marketing consultant for your business, it’s important to understand your digital marketing strategy.

The consultation process is more effective if you have a firm grasp on your marketing strategy.

• Take note of which techniques you’re using and their effectiveness. You’ll also want an idea of the results you’re looking for.
• Know your target goals so that you can clearly let your digital marketing specialist know what they need to deliver.

2. Find a digital marketing consultant with experience in your Industry.

one of the most important things to look for while conducting your research, whether or not your marketing consultant or agency has experience in your industry.
it really makes a big difference if your digital marketing consultant has experience in your specific` industry.

3. Inbound Digital Marketing Strategy.

Ensure that you get a custom campaign that matches your specific business goals.

learn more about inbound marketing here:
https://www.hubspot.com/inbound-marketing

4. Use Multiple Streams.

Not all digital marketing consultants offer all marketing services under one roof. As such, before choosing a consultant you want to ensure your preferred consultant offers the exact digital marketing services you need.

Make sure your digital marketing consultant can deliver you results from multiple digital channels. You want to build multiple streams and have your eggs in multiple baskets instead of just one.

One stream of traffic often compliments the other and you see what’s called a “cumulative effect” which boosts your return on investment.

This is why multiple streams of traffic is so powerful for your business. And all successful businesses use to increase their profitability from internet marketing.

5. You have to think about digital marketing like an investment you are making.

The most important question is “how much do I get after investing on digital marketing?”
if the answer is not clear that you get at least “$2x” amount from your investment of “$1x”, which is 100% ROI, then it’s like throwing a $1000 from the window in hope that someone will bring it back to you with profit.
If you already have someone responsible for your digital marketing, ask them these questions about
your ROI, conversion rate, and other popular metrics. If they can’t answer any of these questions, run!!!

6. Check your statistics to render increased performance.

“I charted my course by figures, nothing but figures”

John D. Rockefeller

finally, after hiring, check if you are getting real results or not, ask your digital marketing consultant to provide you a report that shows your numbers and what has been done and compare your results.

Measure everything.