In a previous post I talked about the need to listen in order to produce an effective web marketing campaign. This goes both ways. Both the client and the SEO have to spend a good deal of time listening to the needs/requirements presented by the other.
But listening requires asking the right questions. And that also goes both ways.
While a large part of SEO is technical, a good portion of it is implementing the technical in a personal way. To do that, SEOs must have seek out details regarding:
- the business’ values
- their audience
- any hot points that help them sell
- objections the business often fights against.
But in order to get that information, specific questions must first be asked.
On the client side, having the right expectations is a significant part of whether or not the web marketing campaign is deemed successful or not. Expectations never change the facts, but when a client assumes certain things about results, that will drive their perceptions. When results don’t line up with expectations, it doesn’t matter how successful the campaign is, there will always be a sense of failure. Only because something was assumed.
This can be negated significantly if the client truly understands what their expectations should be. To do that, they should ask a number of questions, including:
- What results will I see in 4, 8, 12 months?
- How much does my budget affect results?
- How much is success depending on my input and involvement?
- When will I see a return on my investment?
These are all important questions to ask because they are all hugely relevant to the markers of what is or isn’t a success.
[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=”@StoneyD”]Failure of either web marketers or clients to ask the right questions leaves much ambiguity in the campaign.[/inlinetweet] In the absence of answers,and we ALL know what happens when you assume 😉