The decision to outsource your company’s marketing efforts can be a difficult one, especially if you run a small- to medium-sized business and your budgets don’t have a lot of wiggle room. However, it’s exactly these businesses that can benefit most from outsourcing their marketing needs because they can get the vital expertise of a professional without the cost of hiring a full-time marketing resource in-house. And even if you do have a head of marketing, his or her efficiency can often be maximized by having them work hand-in-hand with an external agency.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some ways outsourcing your marketing needs can jumpstart your business today:
- Start generating new leads immediately. When you hire a reputable marketing agency, you can be confident you won’t have to manage or chase them to get results. Professional firms are used to taking initiative and getting the ball rolling. Expect to see a new lead campaign developed in the first few weeks, and then sit back and watch the momentum build within the year.
- Get the most bang for your buck. If you’re thinking of hiring an in-house marketing manager, you’re looking at a salary, benefits, perhaps an administrative staff to support marketing initiatives, plus the expensive employee recruitment process. If you hire an external agency, you only need to pay for the services you need, while still getting the expertise of a professional.
- Build a plan for your business. You might not have a marketing plan already in place. If you don’t, working with an agency that already understands your market is the best way to determine what strategies will be most effective for your business. They can sit down with you and talk to you about what works and what doesn’t for your particular industry.
- Leverage existing clients. Everyone knows that third-party endorsement is one of the most powerful ways to win new business. Let your existing customers market for you. Getting testimonials from past and current clients and developing case studies will maximize your chances of attracting new business by showing potential clients how happy your customers are. Your satisfied customers are your greatest asset, and a marketing agency will best be able to approach them for endorsements that can be used to attract and close new leads.
- Free up time to focus on your business. Doing your own marketing can distract you from your key activities, and fragment your focus, pulling it away from the core of your business. Because you do not have the expertise, you will spend too long on tasks that would be carried out more quickly and effectively by a specialist. Don’t make the mistake of thinking marketing is easy – it isn’t. It requires hard work and sustained focus to build a successful campaign. If you dip in and out, you might find your long-term success to be disappointing.
- Make your website work harder to bring you more business. Most businesses have their own websites, but in the age of the Internet, that alone is not enough. A poorly maintained site can be worse than none at all, and websites only matter if potential clients can rapidly find them via Google. Your website can be one of the most cost-effective ways to bring in new business, so you need it to be working at full efficiency. By hiring a digital marketing agency to manage your website, you won’t need to worry about updating your website, generating new content, page rank optimization, or the myriad other tasks that go into building a website that will maximize traffic and bring you new leads.
- Benefit from social media without having to manage it yourself. Social media is one of the most powerful ways of reaching new clients and building a reputation in your community. An external agency has already managed many Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ accounts, and knows exactly the right approach to get the most out of them. If possible, consider looking for a local agency that will know the ins and outs of your particular area.
No matter how good you are at what you do, your business lives and dies by its ability to reach out to potential customers and sell them on what you do. An outside marketing agency might be just what you need to kick-start your business today.
Matthew Janik is the owner of Vancouver-based Fringe Digital Marketing Agency, https://fringewebpro.com.
