There are two kinds of sommeliers, mes amis, and I have encountered both from Paris to Lyon, Geneva to New York, and one regrettable evening in Las Vegas.
The first arrives with a theatrical flourish and begins describing limestone, black cherries, and a vineyard supposedly tended by monks who died four centuries ago. He then recommends the most expensive bottle on the list, apparently unaware that I have ordered fish.
The second asks what I intend to eat.
I have spent enough money on wine to know which man deserves to touch my glass. One performs expertise for an audience, while the other possesses it and has no need to announce the fact.
When I began investing in American businesses, I discovered marketing agencies divided along the same lines. Americans, despite their famous directness, seem remarkably fond of the reciting kind, though I am not.
The First Question Is The Test
When interviewing an agency, I pay attention to what its representatives ask before recommending anything. If the opening question concerns my advertising budget, I begin calculating how soon I can have them escorted from the premises.
A competent consultant asks what the business sells and what a customer is worth. He wants to understand margins, profitable services, seasonal fluctuations, and whether success means a purchase, an appointment, or a telephone call.
One agency once showed me a chart climbing toward the heavens without labeling either axis, as though its steepness alone should have caused me to applaud.
I asked what the numbers represented. The presenter responded with an elaborate description of brand momentum, apparently the marketing equivalent of telling a diner his wine tastes of ambition.
Anyone can purchase traffic from a search engine if there is money to spend. The difficult task is attracting people likely to become customers at a cost that leaves the business better off.
A curious researcher and a customer ready to buy are not the same person. An agency that fails to distinguish them will happily spend my money discovering the difference.
The Work Beneath The Label
Reporting comes first. Clicks and impressions may be interesting, just as a wine’s color may be attractive, but neither tells me whether the transaction was worthwhile.
Show me what was spent, how many qualified inquiries arrived, and what became of them. Sales and booked work matter more than a triumphant increase in website visitors.
Next comes ownership. The advertising accounts, analytics properties, and campaign history should belong to the business, with the agency granted the access necessary to do its work.
Some firms keep the campaign history when a client departs. This is like a restaurant confiscating my coat because I declined dessert, an arrangement that would end badly for the restaurant.
Conversion tracking is equally essential. Without dependable records of which advertisements produce inquiries and which inquiries become customers, everyone is guessing with increasingly expensive software.
Then there is the work nobody puts on a brochure. Real PPC management services involve examining the searches that triggered advertisements, excluding irrelevant terms, testing messages, reviewing bids, and ensuring each landing page delivers what the advertisement promised.
It is cellar work: checking temperatures, tending bottles, and handling the unromantic details that make the eventual glass worth drinking. No diner applauds the cellar inventory, but a neglected cellar eventually makes itself known.
Above all, I look for candor. A sommelier who tells me the costly Burgundy will be dreadful with my meal has earned another visit, and an agency that advises against an unsuitable campaign has earned my attention.
How To Lose My Business In Five Minutes
Guarantees are a splendid way to begin. Search advertising depends on competitors, customers, and platforms that change their rules with the serenity of minor dictators.
Anyone guaranteeing results before understanding these variables is confused or dishonest, and I employ neither.
Jargon is the next warning. Technical language is sometimes necessary, but when an explanation becomes more obscure each time I ask a straightforward question, I suspect the vocabulary is being used as a smoke machine.
Nor am I impressed by proposals in which every setback requires a larger budget. Perhaps more spending is justified, but first I want to know whether the existing money is being wasted on the wrong searches or the wrong customers.
Reports filled with impressions and click-through rates but silent on business outcomes are equally suspect. Imagine a wine list that describes every aroma in extravagant detail but refuses to disclose a single price.
Finally, I distrust lengthy contracts offering little accountability. There may be legitimate reasons for a reasonable commitment, but confidence in one’s work should not depend entirely upon making departure impossible.
A Proper Selection Requires Range
A thoughtful wine list does not contain only Burgundy, however much I might wish to impose that restriction upon humanity. Different meals call for different bottles, and different businesses require different approaches to finding customers.
Paid search can provide visibility quickly, provided the economics justify the expense. Search engine optimization develops organic visibility over time through useful content, technically sound websites, and pages that address what customers are seeking.
Neither is a universal solution. A new service may benefit from advertising while its organic presence grows, whereas an established business may reduce its dependence on paid clicks by improving its search visibility.
That is part of what interests me about Vizolutions. The firm specializes in SEO and is expanding its services, a promising basis for discussing how organic and paid search might complement each other rather than competing for the same budget.
The Only Recommendation Worth Hearing
I do not pretend to understand every setting buried within an advertising platform, and I see no reason why I should. I also do not know the chemistry of fermentation, yet I remain perfectly capable of distinguishing a fine Bordeaux from something suitable for cleaning drains.
My responsibility is to recognize the person who understands the work and can explain how it serves the business. The best specialists are curious before they are confident, precise without becoming theatrical, and willing to recommend less when less is what the situation requires.
So when choosing a search marketing agency, remember the sommelier who asks about dinner before reaching for the cellar key. If you want a serious conversation about your business’s search strategy, contact Vizolutions and pay close attention to the questions that follow.
As for the other sort of expert, let him keep his unlabeled graphs and his bottle of overpriced disappointment. I have already ordered the fish.
Vizolutions
+19495369766
4660 La Jolla Village Dr Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92122
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