Is Your Marketing Partner Asking YOU Enough Questions?

The long-term relationships you form with children and their families are priceless. Years down the line, families will remember your childcare center and say, “They helped me raise my child.”

If you think of your business as your child, you should see your marketing agency the same way — as a child-rearing partner.

At Rose Marketing Solutions, we prioritize and elevate our client relationships. We love taking childcare centers from break-even to maximum profitability. Even more, we love taking marketing off our clients’ plates so they can focus on what they do best: raising children.

When we do our job well, it empowers them to do just that.

What Does Engagement Look Like?

We’re proud that our clients have been with us for an average of eight years each. We attribute that loyalty to how we begin our client relationships: by asking questions.

When speaking with a new client, we aim to discover and address their pain points. Too many agencies stop there, but we don’t like to assume we understand our client’s pain points immediately.

Instead, we want to understand the bigger picture. We ask questions about your enrollment, sales process, target audience, tour conversion rates, etc. We’ll also ask about your experiences with past agencies and how you prefer to communicate.

After we learn your pain points, we don’t implement a cookie-cutter solution. We review the results of your previous marketing efforts, listen to your needs, and tailor a custom solution, asking for your feedback throughout.

Our clients want to know how their money is being spent, and we want them to see results. That means keeping you apprised of our methods, success rates, successful and unsuccessful campaigns, and even the marketing tools we’re using.

We’re not a “set-it-and-forget-it” agency — we prefer to be adaptive and to over-communicate.

Key Indicators of an Engaged Marketing Agency

So, how can you tell whether a marketing agency is truly engaged with its clients?

Here’s the biggest indicator: A good marketing agency prepares its clients for success.

Rather than implementing a cookie-cutter Google Ads campaign a few days after your initial call, an engaged agency takes the time to prepare your team for the influx of leads their efforts will bring.

Implementing a marketing strategy without preparing staff for success is like inviting people to a party without getting the house ready. People might show up, but what will their first impression be when they arrive?

Instead, by working with the client, we better understand what decorations the house needs. We roleplay sales conversations with the front desk staff, teach everyone how to give the perfect tour, and clean up the outside and inside of the building.

That way, we can throw a party that turns interested families into enrolled ones.

Questions Engaged Agencies Ask

To prepare clients for success and tailor the perfect marketing solution, an engaged, hands-on marketing agency (us included) asks the following questions:

What Does Success Look Like for You?

This question sounds obvious, but it’s the most important one we ask.

A hands-off agency might assume your goals, but what if they’re wrong? That leads to “successful” tasks but unfulfilled goals.

Knowing your goals helps us tailor a marketing solution just for you. It’s also our opportunity to set realistic expectations. For example, if a client wants to reach their ultimate goal overnight, we can explain why success will take time or why we must reach other goals first.

What Are Your Business Stats?

An engaged agency will ask about your enrollment, online reputation (including current ratings and reviews), target audience, and tour conversion rates.

We use those statistics to determine which of our services will most impact your business, achieve your goals, and keep you within your budget and timeline.

Remember our party metaphor? Understanding your current business statistics also helps us learn how to prepare your business for our marketing efforts. For example, we’d never run an ad campaign if your Google reviews were poor — interested families would run away immediately.

Do You Use a CRM?

What does your team do with our leads? If you’re using a CRM, great. We can funnel your new leads into it. That creates even greater transparency between you and your agency.

If you’re not using a CRM, it’s harder to quantify what happens to leads and where they go.

Does Your Website Truly Reflect Your Services?

We sometimes notice that a new client’s website lacks some information. For example, it might not list what’s included in tuition, what extracurriculars you offer, what meals your kitchen serves, etc.

Families need this essential but easily overlooked information.

Before we introduce you to new families, we want to ensure that those families will get the best first impression. They need to compare you accurately to the competition, and you need to come out on top.

Your website can’t be a stumbling block for the customer. Rather, it should propel them forward in the sales process.

Does Your Social Media Reflect Your Culture?

Do existing families get the same impression from your social media as prospective families? What about current and prospective employees — do they feel the same?

Your social media must portray what it’s like to be part of your community. Is this the environment families want to put their children in? Photos of smiling, happy children always put families at ease.

Is Your Digital Footprint Consistent?

Some clients may not be aware of all the places their business shows up online. Have you checked Yelp? What about Google Maps? How about Apple Maps and your Google Business page?

Moreover, are your name, address, and phone numbers prominently displayed on those sites? If prospects can’t find your contact information, how can they learn more about your business? Are your phone number and address consistent and accurate across the web? Typos and out-of-date information deter prospects.

What Does Your Sales Process Look Like?

What will your team do with the leads we send their way? As we implement our strategy, phones may ring more than usual, and more forms may come in. Do you have a robust system that manages these new prospects?

We don’t want new leads to go untracked or lost. This will negatively affect your business and waste money.

What’s Your Biggest Limiting Factor?

Most clients have one of two limiting factors: time or money. These factors exist at opposite ends of the same spectrum. Fast changes cost money, while inexpensive changes take time.

Learning which method the client prefers is an important part of our research process.

Our Agency’s Approach to Staying Engaged With Clients

So, after we ask important questions and craft your personalized marketing strategy, how do we at Rose Marketing Solutions stay engaged with you?

While we try to execute according to our expertise, our systematic approach makes our strategies even more effective.

First, we create a feedback loop. Feedback is the spine of our business — both giving it and receiving it. After all, an informed client is a happy client.

Next, we implement our four E’s: Empathy, Educate, Evaluate, and Execute:

• Empathy means understanding where the client is and what they need.?
• Educate means working with the client on methods, results, success rate, returns, and other areas where they can improve. We don’t just “set it and forget it” — we continually educate.
• Evaluate means monitoring each service’s performance and documenting it in a custom, easy-to-use dashboard.
• Execute means moving forward with any iterations or modifications to our services.

How Can YOU Boost Marketing Partner Engagement?

What do you do if you’re unsatisfied with your marketing partner’s engagement?

First, contact them. Ask about their strategy and see if they can (or want to) educate you on their plan for your business.

Ask for reports and explanations of those reports. Are they willing to communicate with you and provide you with those resources? Who’s their primary contact? If it’s not you, ensure you’re added to the list.?

Depending on what you uncover, it may be time to search for a comprehensive agency more in tune with your needs. If you find yourself in this position, we’d love to get to know you. Reach out today.