Why partner with a marketing company in 2020?

Society is entering a new decade, and the Internet has only become more influential since its inception.  Marketing, specifically digital marketing, plays an increasingly crucial role in business success and longevity.

Companies are facing difficulty in keeping up with the consumer demand for online interaction and information.  Additionally, consumer behaviors are constantly changing as trends shift, requiring businesses to quickly adapt or risk losing their customers or audience.

When it comes to digital marketing in 2020, it is sink or swim.  

Many companies choose to DIY (do-it-yourself), while some will hire full-time or part-time marketing employees in-house. These two options can be costly, the former in terms of opportunity cost, and the latter in terms of overall payroll cost (salary + benefits).

As more business continues to be conducted online, there is an increasing trend towards retaining an outside marketing agency to manage a company’s entire marketing process, including website development, social media, search engine optimization, graphic design, branding, and more.

Here are 8 reasons why taking on a marketing agency is advantageous to the more traditional in-house model:

1) You don’t need to on-board, train, and manage an agency.

One of the most time-consuming aspects of hiring a new employee is the process of bringing them into your company and having them understand their role. Some businesses spend months on the training process alone. Even after the onboarding is completed, you’ll still need to spend time managing the employee and ensuring they stay on task. If the employee leaves, you are back at square one, reviewing resumes of potential marketing candidates.

With an agency, it’s a contractual and performance-based relationship. There is no on-boarding, training, or managing to contend with on your end.  The marketing team won’t even take up any office space, because our management team handles our work internally.

If you are a DIYer, how many hours do you spend per week on marketing? Hiring a marketing agency frees you up to focus on opportunities that make money for your business.

2) You’ll save a lot of money.

One of the first questions business owners ask when determining the assets of an agency or an in-house team is, “What’s the price difference?” You may be surprised to hear that an agency and overtime will be much less expensive than more employees.

Here’s how:

• You won’t need to pay payroll taxes, since they are an independent contractor.
• You won’t need to pay benefits/healthcare costs.
• You won’t have to pay for any of the expensive tools that are needed to properly run and track a marketing campaign.

If you consider those costs as minor expenses, you will also want to take into account that the experience and expertise of an agency requires you to hire talented and experienced employees. Here’s the average salaries for key marketing roles:

• Marketing Manager-$120,000 per year
• Social Media Manager-$50,000 per year
• SEO Manager-$60,000 per year

3) You’ll have access to a team of experts.
The job market is prosperous at the moment. That’s great news for those looking for a job, but not-so-great news for those who are hiring. Why? Competition is fierce, and companies are willing to pay the big bucks to retain top talent. If you’re looking to hire an expert to manage your marketing campaigns, you’ll need the budget to back it up.

However, if you decide to hire an agency, you won’t just have access to one expert, you’ll have access to a team of experts. The number one benefit to hiring a marketing agency is their experience with similar campaigns. They know what works and what doesn’t, especially if they have previously worked with clients in the same industry as yours.  Marketing agencies can give you intel on a plethora of successful strategies.

4) The Agency’s Experience with Creating and Executing Marketing Strategies.

From HubSpot, “If you suddenly experience an increase in website traffic, phone calls, or new leads, do you know where they’re coming from? If not, you’re likely wasting your time on ineffective marketing strategies and squandering potential opportunities for even greater success. How are your marketing efforts contributing to website traffic, leads and customers? If you can’t answer that question, let a marketing agency answer it for you.”

5) Agencies Help Your Company Grow.

From Matrix Marketing Group, “When the economy tightens, companies tend to cut costs. Marketing is often the first to go because they are seen as a “discretionary” expense. And when times are good, marketing often gets more funding. It’s contractarian to the objective of the CEO responsibilities. But reducing and expanding the marketing budget is expensive. In the short-term, reducing or canceling marketing activities incurs cost. In the long-term, costs associated with attrition, staffing and erosion of knowledge base are more expensive. Under a traditional in-house operation, the only way you can increase the output of your marketing team is to hire more employees. Agencies already have cross-functional professionals on the core team that have been senior management with some of the top agencies, design firms or companies in the world.”

6) Outside assistance gives an outside perspective.

One of the most alarming statements that a business can say is, “We’ve always done it that way.” This phrase leads to surefire stagnation, if not complete decay. Whether it’s adopting social media as a viable strategy or rewriting website copy, having someone not so ingrained in your day-to-day can provide fresh perspective. Impartial analysis is key for company growth.

7) Agencies know the latest technologies.

Our job as a marketing agency is to stay abreast of the next big things, be they mobile apps, social networks, or distribution channels. Just two years ago, who would have thought that a disappearing photo sharing network would be the next big thing in business (Snapchat, obviously). How will you know about the greatest app since sliced bread if you’re knee deep in payroll, taxes, human resources, and distribution activities? Hire a marketing agency who can suggest new applications for digital content, lead generation, and automation.

8) There’s a dedicated team at Pearl Marketing.  

Pearl Marketing provides you with a specialized, dedicated team of three or four marketing professionals who work collectively to manage your company’s brand and marketing strategies. Having a “go-to” team of marketing professionals ensures that the project timelines and business objectives outlined in the marketing contract are met to your satisfaction.

Contact Pearl Marketing today to learn how our marketing services can help your business improve performance. Contact us at (603) 732-9070 or info@pearlmarketing.com. You can also visit us online at www.pearlmarketing.com.