Are you a small business who hasn’t ever outsourced your marketing? Or maybe you are a business who had a bad experience with a digital marketing agency? We understand that you can be apprehensive about taking that financial leap or taking that risk to trust again. We have been the first digital marketing agency for businesses, and we have also picked up the pieces after other agencies have left a sour taste in your mouth. So, we wanted to tell you exactly how a digital marketing agency can help your business.

Digital Marketing Agencies Can Manage All Aspects of Your Online Brand

Now, I will start this by saying that we are not a web development agency. When it comes to your website, we do not take that over. But we do work very well with the developers of your choice and we can even recommend developers that we have worked with previously.

What we as an agency can do is manage your ads across Google, Bing, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter and honestly wherever you want. If there is a platform, you are interested in that we have not used, we will do the research. We even test with our own money. Outside of paid marketing, we are also experts in SEO. So, we can improve your organic rankings on Google, increase keyword density across your site and identify technical issues holding you back.

What I am trying to say is, by choosing a digital marketing agency you can get a full service from experts in the field. Along with that, you also get access to our connections in the digital industry. This is not always something you can get from freelancers or in-house teams.

An Agency is More Cost-Effective

Sometimes cost is the biggest factor when choosing to outsource an aspect of your business. Hiring a digital marketing agency comes with management fees. That is not a secret. Although we do offer different payment options depending on the suitability of your business.  Agency management fees are likely to be around the cost of paying 1-2 employees monthly, depending on who you choose to go with and how much work you want. Plus, the cost of how much you actually want to spend on your marketing. But you are not just getting access to 1-2 people when you sign with an agency. You are getting access to a whole team of people who are experts in digital marketing.  

To hire a team in-house, who are experts in their fields would cost you more. Especially if you are actually paying them what they’re worth. As mentioned above we can cover all areas of digital marketing for your business. To do that in-house you would be looking to hire a minimum of 1 SEO expert, 1 PPC expert, 1 Paid social expert, 1 Social media management executive. That is 4 salaries to pay, based on the minimum salary for these roles full time that would be approximately £80,000 per year. That amount could quite easily cover management costs and a decent marketing budget for small-medium businesses.

In most in-house marketing departments, they also still end up working with agencies! Imagine the cost of a whole team + agency fees + marketing budget! Sometimes it is extra expense which just is not required to be successful with your digital marketing strategy.

Competitor Tracking

Not only do we do all the regular digital marketing activities mentioned above. But we also keep an eagle eye on your competitors. We look at the ads their running, what they are pushing on their website, their social engagement, their site errors. Is this something you even considered when thinking about building an in-house team?

To be ahead of competitors, you need to keep tabs on what they are doing. This is built into our digital marketing activities and informs our strategy for your business. Being able to accurately analyse this information and provide actionable insights is something that comes with experience. It is not always about undercutting the competitor, it’s about having a better call to action and better brand presence.  

We are never just running your advertising or optimising your SEO. We are constantly adapting your strategy for changes in your industry based on this kind of information. Depending on how intense your desired digital marketing strategy is, you could need more than the 4 employees mentioned above to make time for this kind of in-depth analysis. A lot of in-house teams are small, and just do not have the time capacity for it.

Custom Packages

In my first point I mentioned ALL the things we can do for you, and I have talked about it the whole way through. But the advantage of an agency is that you do not always have to be signed up for everything they can do. Maybe you just want to start with SEO or Google Ads. Then maybe you build up confidence and want to add Paid Social. Then you could maybe add organic social management.

Agencies do have minimum management fees. But if you want to build up your confidence in an agency, you can start with one area before going all in. If your business is seasonal, you can drop back advertising out of season if you wish. With an agency there is always room for adjustment. If you hire an in-house team of specialists, but then decided you cannot afford to be putting money into an area. That is someone you must fire. Nobody wants to think about their finances down turning or having to let perfectly good staff members go. But that is a possibility, where as an agency can provide much more flexibility. Although it is likely that your agency contract would have a notice period, so be aware of this and plan ahead!

The Overview

This all might sound a bit salesy. You might have been reading this, rolling your eyes, thinking about how this is another blog post just trying to sell their services. But maybe that is the point of every blog post people write?  To highlight their expertise, to show you who they are, to back up the services that they can offer. That’s the purpose of our blog and news videos.

So, I will finish by just saying this. There are pros and cons to every avenue when it comes to making choices for your business. Digital marketing is a skill, that requires training and practice. You could do that yourself, especially if you are still a small business. But I guarantee you would be better spending that time on the areas that you are an expert in. You could hire an in-house team, but do you know enough to understand the skills you are hiring for? Do you have the budget to hire multiple people to really get the skills required?

Or would you be better hiring an agency, who can provide a package to suit you. A package that can grow with your business. An agency that hires experts and makes sure they are up to date on qualifications, training, and the latest features. There is no universal right or wrong when choosing how to move forward with digital marketing for your business. But I hope this article allows you to make a more informed decision.

If you are interested in the services and payment methods we can offer, don’t hesitate to get in touch.