Growth in business is a blessing and a curse: a blessing to be proven talented and successful, but a curse to find yourself in need of expansion and looking for tools and resources to help you reach the next level.
Marketing is always at the crux of that dilemma, as agencies and small to medium sized businesses alike are weighing the pros and cons of trying their best to it on their own, creating a new position with a new hire, or partnering with a marketing firm. Often, the answer isn’t obvious.
While many of these factors can depend on your situation and your industry, when compared to the not-so-obvious costs of hiring and the risks of a bad hire, it’s often more financially and future-sound to partner with a marketing firm. Here’s why.
A Company Website Redesign Is a Marketing Tool
Powerful web design is about embracing and applying best practices to your business. No one knows this more than a professional firm, whose partners work year round to stay on top of trends and understand the long-term impact of new technologies.
While a little SEO tweaking can certainly be done in-house, website design is best left to the professionals who understand web design and who will take the time to understand your business. But when you pass off website design to an internal employee or the IT squad, it’s no longer the revenue and lead generating machine it could be.
Content Development Is for Specialists
Your website content is another facet that comes down to time and specialities. We've seen website content delay countless projects (literally) as company employees struggle to balance writing and their actual jobs. The time aspect isn't the worst part of doing it yourself -- the quality of the writing is. You’re successful because you’re good at your business. What are the odds that you're also a specialist in writing content that works and will reliably bring in new business?
Agencies have processes to identify your ideal prospects, get great information from your SMEs, and communicate your message in an incredibly effective way. Website copy shouldn't be an afterthought -- it should be part of your overall brand communication strategy. Put the wrong words on your website, and you risk looking disjointed or worse from a communication perspective.
A good agency has content specialists that know how to communicate effectively, and know when to use different content types to deliver the message.
A Comprehensive Internet Marketing Strategy Is Too Much for One Person
An internet marketing strategy is a finely tuned machine with many moving parts. The amount of investment required to get up to speed on (let alone master) website design and development, search engine optimization, blogging, and pay per click marketing and more is simply not reasonable for a current employee or business owner to take on.
When you partner with a professional marketing firm, every dollar you spend goes directly to managing your internet presence and bringing leads to your website -- not in training an employee, or managing a new hire with hopes of an ROI. The right marketing partner for you will have a portfolio of proven results and testimonials, and will be worth every penny.
The final call is a decision that will impact your coming year of growth and the future of your business, and of course it’s up to you. Whether you try to DIY, take on a full-time marketing specialist, or jump right in with a marketing agency, it’s vital that you set clear goals and expectations and track your ROI. After careful assessment and review, don’t be afraid to try new things until you’re getting the internet marketing results your business is capable of.
