Acquiring new clients is one of the largest challenges that businesses face.
Marketing plays a significant part in attracting new clients, but many business owners struggle with deciding whether they should do the marketing themselves or get outside help.
Business owners often ask themselves, “Should I hire a marketer or marketing agency for my business?”
Here are some things to consider why you should hire a marketing agency:
- A marketing agency will modernize its strategy.
- A marketing agency will free up time to operate the business.
- A marketing agency will assist in keeping payroll costs down.
- A marketing agency is a strong investment that produces long-term results.
All businesses need a productive, well-thought-out, and executed marketing plan. While most companies understand the need for a strategic marketing plan, few comprehend what it is or how to implement one. A marketing agency will work with the business stakeholders to create and implement a successful marketing plan. This will result in lead generation for your business that can then be turned into sales, putting the business on a growth pattern.
Need a Modernized Strategy?
The rise of internet searches and the explosion of social media networks have altered the way that businesses reach target prospects and communicate how to help solve issues.
Once, outbound marketing methods (like, yellow page advertisements, commercials, or print ads) drive clients to a business’s door, modern consumers are armed with computers and mobile devices and expect real-time access to information to make buying decisions in a matter of a few keystrokes.
This means that businesses need to ensure that messages are well executed and have websites that are easily found on the internet and will convert their visitors into leads. In other words, an inbound marketing process.
To see how the inbound marketing process flows, please read my Inbound Marketing Blog here.
Who Doesn’t Want Extra Time to Run a Business
Many entrepreneurs and businesses have been ingrained with a “Do-It-Yourself” (DIY) mentality, which means to try and complete tasks without the aid of paid specialists. An individual can indeed find and gain enough knowledge to complete the above tasks.
However, the time and effort it would take for the owner to successfully carry out a modern marketing strategy would certainly impact the business.
The learning curve for anyone with little experience in marketing is staggering and would challenge an entrepreneur or business owner to create a complete and effective marketing strategy. Even if the owner devoted the time to learning the marketing elements.
With marketing technology and techniques always changing, doing it yourself is an unfeasible strategy. Business owners don’t have the time to keep up.
Yes! Let’s Keep Payroll Costs Down
Business owners lean toward hiring an employee in most instances, this has been the “go-to” process to solve an immediate need.
Additionally, business owners could have the perception that an outside agency is far more expensive than hiring in-house staff. The problem with this rationale is that most of the time, owners don’t have a true basis for comparison.
That’s because…
In many cases, business owners typically use a base salary versus an hourly rate for a marketing agency and then conclude that since the hourly rate is higher, it must be the more expensive option. This is a big mistake.
Many owners fail to take into account the true costs associated with hiring and retaining an employee. As the chart below shows, not only do you have to account for base salary, but adding in expenses such as payroll taxes, health insurance contributions, retirement plan matches, vacation, and sick days drives this figure up. The true cost of hiring an employee can be as much as 1.25 to 1.4 times the base salary. Add in other expenses (such as the cost of recruiting and training) and the total really starts to escalate quickly.