«Social media management: 300 €.» Fine, but 300 euros for what exactly? You have been paying it for a year and you could not explain what it actually does. It is not that you do not understand marketing: it is that nobody is explaining it to you clearly. And you have every right to understand it.
Let me tell you something my trade does not like said out loud: part of the marketing world for small businesses lives off you not understanding what is being done. A tidy invoice at the end of the month, a couple of technical words, a report full of colourful charts that mean nothing, and on it goes. If you have been paying for a year and could not explain what it has brought you, this one is for you.
Let me be clear: there are excellent, honest professionals, and I work with several. That is exactly why smoke and mirrors infuriates me, because it gives us all a bad name. So here is the simplest tool for telling apart the person who helps you from the one who only bills you: five questions. You do not need to know marketing to ask them, and the answers say everything.
If they answer clearly, with data and without getting defensive, congratulations: you are in good hands, hold on to them. If you sense dodging, rushing or a «it is very technical, do not worry about that»... you already have your answer. Do worry about that.
The argument that hurts most to hear is «right, Pedro, but I do not understand marketing, that is why I delegate it». Of course you delegate it, and rightly so. But delegating is not switching off. You do not know about engines either and, when you take the car to the garage, you expect them to tell you what they did and what each thing costs. With marketing, exactly the same.
In fact, a good professional enjoys explaining it to you. Me first of all: when a client understands why we do what we do, they trust more, decide better and we both work more happily. Whoever hides the how from you is not protecting you from the complexity, they are protecting themselves from your questions.
So the second question does not overwhelm you, a shortcut: you do not need to master fifty metrics, keep just one, the one that really moves your business. Calls, bookings, quotes requested, messages. Ask them to tell you each month how that number is doing. If it goes up, the money is well spent; if it has been flat for months and nobody explains why, it is time to sit down and talk.
A good professional also tells you what did not work: «we tried this and it did not go well, so we changed it». That is gold. Whoever only tells you about wins is either very lucky or not telling you everything.
This is not about distrusting everyone or turning you into an expert. It is that your money is yours and so is your business. Asking five clear questions once a month is not being a nuisance: it is owning what you pay for, and anyone who values you as a client will be glad to answer them.
If you are looking for someone who tells you what they do, why they do it and what it is moving each month, tell us about your business and we will tell you where to start.
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