5 Wrong Questions You Have Been Asking Your Digital Marketing Agency

Every. Single. Meeting.

Honestly? We're tired of it - not because we have to answer them every single time to reassure them that our potential clients will sign a deal with us, but because these were the wrong question to ask. We can't give you the answers that you want to hear when the questions are built upon the wrong concepts and ideas.

The Wrong Question : How much budget should I allocate for my digital ads?

Instead of asking about the appropriate amount of budget for your campaign, how about thinking about the results that you want?

As an example, if you are looking to get 1M views for your video, over 100K clicks into your website or perhaps even another 250K page likes - do you think that RM5 a day for a week will be enough to reach your target?

Absolutely not.

You can, instead, give us something a little more concrete so that we can plan out the best digital campaign for you. Give us your KPI, and we can give you a rough estimation.

We want you to do this, so that the budget that we plan for you will give you the results that you want. Otherwise, if we were to just give you a budget and you go along with it - only to find that it did not match your goals, the ad budget would have been spent in vain.

The Right Question : I want to increase my Facebook page fanbase by 500 users by the end of the month. How much will I need to run an ad campaign that will help me reach this goal?

The Wrong Question : How many sales can I make from these ads?

We can run ads for you, but how responsive are your staff to inquiries? How many comments on your Facebook or Instagram page do you respond to, and how soon?

If we are directing ads to your website, how informational is your website to make the customers want to buy from you?

You can have the most beautiful graphics for your ads, and the most creative storytelling in your YouTube vide ads, but none of these ads are going to matter if you do not follow-up closely with the inquiries that come by later on.

Even the best ads are not going to get you anywhere if you do not have the right digital assets nor the close follow-ups required to help you get your sales.

The Right Question: Are there anything else that I need to do for my digital assets in order for me to maximize my ads return of investment (ROI)?

The Wrong Question: How soon can I start getting leads from my ads?

Let's take a step back. Before you run your ads and get leads, you're going to need to go through the set up process first.

You'd have your ad assets - images, videos and the like. Who are you targeting these ads to?

If you are targeting a very wide audience, you'd get your ads shown to thousands quickly, but the ads won't be relevant to most of these people. So, you'd be spending your bucks on ad impressions, but your ads are so irrelevant that no one is going to even bother looking at it.

Either that, or you will be getting low quality leads.

If you target a very niche audience who will definitely be actively seeking for your products and services, then you can expect your ads to reach to very few people. When they do though, you can probably get your conversions and your chances of closing your sales could be a lot sooner.

The Right Question: I prioritize quantity over quality (or the other way around) for my leads. How should I set up my ad campaign structure and targeting for this purpose?

The Wrong Question: From the quotation you just gave me, you calculated my ROI based on RM2.50 per click. If I get around 100 clicks, can you guarantee me that I can get at least 10 leads?

If you can guarantee us that anyone seeing your ads are going to want to buy your products or services, or if you can guarantee us that every single person who walks into your store will buy the product you're advertising - that means 100% conversion, then yes, we can guarantee you those leads.

Otherwise, that's really not happening.

The algorithms are always changing. We may promise you a cost-per-click (CPC) of RM2.50 for some of your keywords, only for them to cost a mere RM0.30 per click. It might also end up having a higher cost on the second day your ads run.

That's why ad platforms like Google and Facebook make it clear for us that it's an estimate. We can't promise you that every conversion will only cost you RM10, but we can inform you that we'll be optimizing your campaign for a lower cost-per-acquisition over time.

The Right Question: I would like to market my latest promotions from 'date' to 'date'. Do you have other marketing & promotion ideas that can help me to get more leads?

The Wrong Question: Which social media platform should I advertise on? If I target my audiences on all platforms, will I get the returns I want?

Imagine if you have a pipe that had just burst in your kitchen - where will you go to find a plumber near you who can come by immediately before the water goes everywhere around your house?

Would you go to Facebook or Twitter and search for #plumberKL? Would you go to LinkedIn and filter your searches by profession? No. You would head to Google Search like a normal person would, and call the first number that pops up. If you're lucky, you already have a plumber in your contacts and you can call them immediately too.

On the other hand, if you are selling Insta-worthy outfits, you have so many beautiful photographs that can easily grab attention and any teenage girls' impulsive shopping behavior. Why advertise with a Google Search ad saying, "Lovely outfits from Taobao at factory price" when you can showcase your images in a Facebook carousel ad or a short slideshow video as a sponsored Instagram Story?

Think of your industry, your products, and where your customers would be. That's how you can determine which platform you should be focusing on.

The Right Question: My business specializes in products / services X. Where are my customers likely to find me, and how should I reach them?

Your digital marketing team or external agencies can help you the best when you ask the right question instead of demanding a solution or an answer to the wrong ones - that's how we can tailor the best digital marketing strategies to you.

So, now that you have a better grasp of the right questions to ask, how about renewing your digital marketing strategy so that you are putting in time and effort where it truly counts?