Websites and digital marketing are major investments for any business.

The strategy, plan and team you choose can deliver great gains or great losses.

How do you know if you are making the right decision?

In this article, we discuss how business leaders can assess a website and digital marketing plan and make a positive, informed decision based on facts and logic.

Who's Plan? Who's Agenda?

When you consider any website and marketing plan, look carefully at who has written it.

First question: do they have the runs on the board?

Have they taken many businesses like yours and written and executed website and marketing strategies and plans that have delivered both short and long-term growth and return on investment?

Ask for proof and references.

There are lots of great marketers inside both businesses and agencies who can execute a solution once the road map has been set… but that’s not the same as having the big-picture skills to create a successful strategic plan and set the course for a team.

You can generally spot a plan written by marketers without strategic experience because the plan will jump to the details and the how-tos without adequate consideration of the data, landscape and opportunity.

It’s worth noting here that B2B (Business to Business) marketing is very different from B2C (Business to Consumer) marketing. Many marketers only have B2C experience.

If you are a B2B business, be wary of anyone who does not understand and have runs on the board in the B2B marketing space.

Next, do they know and understand your industry? Sector experience is super important.

Every industry has nuances, and knowing what works and what doesn’t in each space will increase the success of any marketing effort.

Next, ask yourself, have they taken the time to really know and understand your business and your growth objectives?

This is vital.

You must represent a true and honest version of your business on your website and in your marketing. Any mismatch will result in a loss of trust, poor results and a waste of cash and opportunity.

No website and marketing team can accurately represent a business they don’t fully understand.

A cookie-cutter plan with your logo pasted on the front is a big red flag.

Next, consider their agenda.

Is the person or team creating the plan interested in the success of your business as a whole?

Or are they trying to protect a smaller area of focus that benefits them?

And finally, are they across all areas of websites, digital marketing and communications?

Many marketing experts have skills in one area, such as advertising or social media, and of course, these skills are vital in the execution phase of a plan.

However, if you allow someone who is an expert in one field only to write your website strategy and marketing plan, you will end up with a lop-sided solution based on their viewpoint and knowledge, which will inevitably miss opportunity and reduce return on investment.

Skill sets and data insights

In terms of skill sets, the digital marketing strategist writing the plan must have knowledge and experience of all of the following

Websites

SEO

Content and Communications

Digital Advertising

Email Communication

Social Media Marketing

Check and make sure each element has been considered in the plan.

As part of the strategy, expect to see data the strategist has mined on all of the above.

It should be clear how that data informs the plan at every stage and give you a clear understanding of where you are at and what the opportunity is.

And finally, does that plan consider your competitors and the benchmarks they are setting in your industry?

Clearly, your digital representation needs to be at least as good as theirs to have a chance of being noticed in a noisy online marketing space.

Do you understand it and does it make sense?

And finally, do you understand the plan and does it make sense?

There are lots of digital marketing agencies that wow business leaders with bright lights and technical jargon. Their plans are full of moving graphics, video and clever design elements.

However, if you find yourself looking at lots of seemingly clever interfaces, but only understanding a fraction of what the plan says, this is another a huge red flag.

Stop and ask questions until you do understand, and make certain the logic they have used makes sense for your business.

If someone cannot explain their work in simple terms that you understand, then they don’t fully understand it themselves.

Consider also that you can chew up a lot of budget on technical interfaces that don’t actually do the hard work of creating content that drives action.

The most challenging and time-consuming part of any marketing solution is creating quality content for your website, social media, advertising, and email platforms.

If you don’t see details in the plan about the marketing content and how it will be produced, walk away and keep looking.

Meet the author

I’m Deb Croucher, a former veterinary surgeon with a passion for digital marketing.

In 2008, I permanently traded my stethoscope for websites, marketing and communications after successfully leveraging Google to power my vet business.

Diagnosis and treatment is still part of my day though!

In Brilliant Digital I identify issues, uncover opportunities and formulate strategies that lead to success and longevity.

You can read more digital marketing articles here and I love to chat so feel free to, drop me a line!