Taking your business to the web and marketing across all of today’s digital channels can be a daunting process for modern business owners. It’s tempting to put the responsibility of managing Facebook, updating the website, and targeting ads onto your current staff or hiring a marketing person for your team to keep everything internal and cut costs.
However, this tends to cause a business more headaches and cost a lot more money in the long run than simply connecting with an established digital marketing team outside your business. There are several advantages to hiring a marketing firm instead of an in-house salary position. Since we have this conversation a lot in our onboarding and sales process here at Signal, we thought it would be a good time to cover these benefits in an article.
An Agency usually Costs Less than a Full Time Salary or Internal Department
Many business owners mistakenly assume that a part time or salaried internal person to run their marketing and social media accounts will cost less than hiring an outside firm. For most businesses, large or small, this just isn’t the case.
Let’s run the numbers;
A good size company will want to hire a digital marketing coordinator or expert generalist to manage design assets, marketing campaigns, social media updates, PR outreach, and any external contractors needed for SEO, web development, and conversion tracking. The average annual salary for a Digital Marketing Director who knows what he or she is doing is around $70,000. This person can’t do it all, so of course they will have the added cost of outside contractors and vendors which can average between $1500 and $3500 per month.
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Compared to even our most advanced monthly retainer for comprehensive marketing, that’s far more costly!
Let’s take the smaller business into account as well.
A retail shop or restaurant may consider hiring a part-timer for $15 per hour at 20 hours per week to stay on top of social media posts and quick graphic design for the latest promotion. Many of our specialty packages for this kind of work run equal to or less than that cost, with far better quality from our large team or seasoned pros than you’re likely to get from a part timer who is only half-invested in the success of your business.
At any level of business, an outside agency is going to be much more cost-effective than taking on the overhead of an in-house generalist or marketing team. You’ll get a whole team (an average of $300k annual salary cost, not including benefits and other employment overhead) for less than the cost of one salary. (Translation: No-Brainer)
Established Marketing Agencies Stay in Tune with the Latest Trends and Technology
Getting your marketing platforms set up and training your new staff person will take some time. There will be a learning curve as they get up to speed and, since you’re starting from scratch, you’ll have to do a lot of learning alongside this employee to maintain quality and efficiency in your management of their efforts. With an external agency, we’ve already got everything in place because we do it every day.
What full time lone wolf marketing CMO has time to research the latest Google algorithm updates or stay sharp on Facebook’s tweaks? You’ve usually got enough on your plate just orchestrating the Facebook posts your company is putting out! One of the major benefits of working with a marketing agency is that we’re tapped into these trends and emerging technologies every day, deploying tested tactics for a roster of other clients. We know what’s out there, we know what works, and we can guide you without you having to skim the tech blogs of the day.
Additionally, we already pay for a large run-down of key data and publishing tools like HootSuite, WebCEO, and Shutterstock. Things you would have another few thousand dollars per month invested in are already taken care of with an agency team who knows how to use them.
You Don’t Have to Train or Grow an Agency Team
If you take on the overhead of building your own marketing department, you’ll always be conducting individual training and performance reviews, providing ongoing direction and leadership, and of course negotiating perks and benefits. With a marketing agency, you just have a single vendor relationship to maintain.
We work with you as a partner, of course, but we don’t ask you to train or grow our staff because that’s something we’re already doing. We are constantly sourcing top talent amongst writers, designers, programmers, and analysts to make sure we have A Players in our stable. When you’re busy running your own business and looking for talent to actually perform your service or produce your product, are you going to be able to find top marketers too?
Let’s not forget that when you aren’t worried about marketing and design in your organization, your employees are more efficient at their real jobs. Sally in accounting doesn’t have to worry about getting a photo for Instagram and Bill in production isn’t trying to come up with a good article this week. Focus on what you do. We’ll do our thing. Better for everyone.
The Gold of an Outside Perspective
Lastly, one of the key benefits of partnering with a professional web team is that we see your business from the outside, the way your customers do. Oftentimes your employees will hesitate to make bold suggestions for fear of losing their jobs or creating more work for themselves. They may have their thumb closer to the heartbeat of your organization because they’re working in it every day, but an in-house generalist isn’t seeing all of the other amazing market opportunities that other companies are utilizing because they’re tuned into your business.
An outside team like ours can offer a fresh perspective on your brand, your customer relations, and your sales strategy, supported by best practice knowledge of online marketing. We serve as an extension of your team, minus the bias that comes from being under your roof.
The Bottom Line
What we find works best for most organizations is for you to have one person in your company serve as a liaison for our team. We work directly with your marketing person to establish and maintain brand standards, communication tone, and goal benchmarks. Then we use our extensive network of webheads to facilitate and execute.
A marketing partnership is about good communication between two parties who know their own skillsets well.
If you’d like to know how to better utilize your marketing dollars, have a chat with one of our account strategists. At least know all your options before you hire.