Your business must buzz in the digital landscape. Period.
As a business owner, you can’t say no to digital marketing, especially in the post-pandemic world where lockdowns and physical restrictions have turned traditional business models upside down. More people are shopping online than ever before, and the Internet has become the first source of information and the TOUCHPOINT between business and their customers. If your business isn’t buzzing online, you are conceding space to your rivals.
Digital marketing has been going through an evolutionary cycle and we are seeing new trends in website design, marketing strategies, and more importantly ways in which customers find businesses. If you wish to stay ahead in the race, you must stay invested in digital marketing.
Should you hire a marketing agency or take the DIY route for your campaign? Why hire a marketing agency? These are questions that come to the mind of every business owner looking to leverage digital marketing. It can be a tough choice where you shall have to weigh all the pros and cons before bringing an agency on board. Let us declutter it for you and look at the reasons why hire a marketing agency and how to go about hiring one.
Why Hire a Marketing Agency?
As we have noted earlier that your business can’t do without marketing, you need to look for a professional team to help you. You need a team that can scale up your digital footprint and put it in front of your target audience. A digital marketing agency would fit into this role perfectly. Apart from generating awareness these agencies also help you grow your revenue. If you need more convincing here are some reasons you need to hire a digital marketing agency –
1. Gain Expert Knowledge
It is possible to opt for the DIY route with digital marketing. However, you will be constrained by the limitations of skills and expertise in this domain. Your in-house expert may be proficient in social media marketing, but they may lack advanced knowledge in SEO and PPC. Digital marketing is a constantly evolving space where marketers need to stay in sync with the latest trends and implement them in their campaigns. When you hire an agency, you have immediate access to expertise across different domains. They will fuel your growth and put you ahead of the competition.
2. Save Marketing Costs
One of the most popular myths is that hiring a digital marketing agency is expensive and only large businesses can run sustained campaigns. Some businesses feel hiring an in-house team can cut costs. This is far from the truth as having people under your payroll and spending on training and infrastructure isn’t practical even for mid-sized enterprises. By opting to work with an agency you will be able to bring down your marketing costs and generate more ROI for every dollar spent. Top agencies manage campaigns based on the budget and goals of their clients and offer you immense flexibility with your campaigns.
3. Keep Your Eyes Focused on Your Business
Every hour you spend on managing your digital marketing campaign is an hour you are taking away from the core responsibility of running your business. While this may have saved you costs when you were setting up the business, as your business grows you need to mind the opportunity cost. Hiring an agency helps you focus on the core areas of growing your business while an expert team takes care of the marketing campaign.
4. Have Access to Data and Latest Tools
As someone who has tried hands on digital marketing, you’d know that these campaigns are data-driven and require the use of advanced tools. Analyzing data is a specialized job and requires expertise which a professional agency brings to the table. As far as tools are concerned, it isn’t financially practical for a small business to invest in different tools used in digital marketing. Top agencies have access to the best tools and use them to run successful campaigns.
5. Find Workable Solutions
As an owner, you will have an emotional bond with your business. This can be counterproductive as these emotions can affect objectivity in decision-making. For instance, you may be focusing on a set of keywords because you believe they drive traffic to your website. Facts on the ground may be contrary and this can be an obstacle to your growth. Agencies offer you unbiased opinions and ideas and this is the easiest route to finding workable solutions to your problems. Since they work with dozens of other businesses, they have better knowledge of shortcomings in marketing campaigns and their solutions.
How To Choose the Right Marketing Agency?
Finding the right marketing agency isn’t a cakewalk. You will be overwhelmed when you come across hundreds of marketing agencies promising you the moon. Choosing the right one needs an eye for detail and scrutiny. Here are a few traits you should look for in a digital marketing agency before signing the dotted line.
- Transparency – You deserve to know where your marketing dollars are being spent. The company you hire should have a transparent billing process and offer you an all-inclusive quote on the costs and how they plan to use it.
- Expertise – You don’t want to work with different agencies for different aspects of your campaign. An ideal agency should offer you all services under the same roof including content marketing, reputation management, and web designing apart from SEO, SMM, and PPC. The bottom line is to hire a full-service agency that offers you end-to-end solutions.
- Clientele – Take a look at their clientele and client retention rates. If former clients are writing extensive negative reviews, it is a warning sign you should take seriously. However, don’t get carried away with one or two disgruntled clients as even the best agencies in the world have them by the dozens. If the majority of clients are signing praises, you should go ahead and hire them.
When Is the Right Time to Hire an Agency?
The sooner you hire a professional marketing agency, the better it is for your business. However, onboarding a marketing agency is a major decision for any business. Let us look at a few signs when you need to hire an agency –
- Your core business is suffering – If you are having to dedicate too much of your precious time to digital marketing your business is likely to suffer. Digital marketing requires dedicated efforts and active engagement with the target audience. An agency takes command of the campaign and lets you focus on your business.
- You can’t afford an in-house team – Having an in-house team involves hiring costs, training, infrastructure costs, health insurance benefits, performance bonus, etc. Most small businesses can’t afford that and hence hiring an agency is a wise business decision.
- Your campaign has stagnated – Your DIY campaign has stagnated, and you aren’t able to drive more sales towards your business. You need a fresh perspective for your campaign and an agency can infuse fresh energy and ideas to take your campaign forward.
- Your ROI has fallen – As we have said earlier the digital marketing landscape is constantly changing and strategies that worked in the past can start showing diminishing returns. To enjoy high ROI, you need an expert team that is well-versed in the latest trends in marketing.
Final Thoughts
Hiring a digital marketing agency is inevitable if you want to grow your brand organically in the competitive digital landscape. It is a key step in the right direction as you set bigger goals and have plans to keep your competition behind.
At Cyrusson we are a boutique marketing agency catering to businesses across the board. We specialize in running digital campaigns for startups, small and mid-sized businesses catering to their niche needs. Call us to set-up a free consultation meeting to discuss your growth strategies as the digital world offers you infinite possibilities.