Why Not Working with a Marketing Agency is Costing You Business
No matter how you look at it, running a small business is challenging. Just covering the day-to-day work of responding to orders and personnel requests can be difficult enough. Add in the responsibility of strategizing how your business can grow and bring in new customers, and suddenly marketing is in danger of falling off your never-ending to-do list. You’re not alone, though, because nearly half of small business owners say that marketing is a challenge.
Generating new leads is what keeps your company viable and growing, so there can be no argument that marketing is integral to the success of your small business. But, even if you have time to spare, managing ad budgets, creating new content, and updating your website might not be something you’re interested in. Not to mention, the rules and best practices are always changing, sometimes without warning. The nature of marketing has always been fast-paced and quickly evolving, but these days, new technologies and algorithms constantly create new digital landscapes that can take great effort to understand.
Fortunately, full-service digital marketing companies like K-Kom are here to help. But what exactly are the benefits of having a professional marketing strategy? Is hiring a digital marketing company the right fit for you? (Hint: the answer is yes!) Let’s walk through the benefits that a digital marketing agency offers.
Digital marketing agencies bring expertise
Pop quiz: Can you define SEO? PPC? Content marketing? Do you know the social media platform that is most popular with your target audience? Which of your primary demographics has the most users? How often should you send out your email newsletter? What other email marketing should you implement?
For someone juggling the demands of a small business, knowing the answers to all those questions is impossible! And the questions above just scratch the surface of digital marketing knowledge—beneath each one are many more questions about the best strategies, options for ads, creating content, and tailoring your marketing to the needs of your business. Your job is to be an expert in your field. Expecting you to also be an expert in digital marketing is overwhelming and unfair.
The job of a digital marketing agency is to have the answers to all those questions and keep up with the latest trends and changes. For example, consider SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization. To reach more customers with SEO, you have to rank on the first page of results (and ideally, very close to the top of that page) when a potential customer searches for the type of product or service you provide.
Of course, to improve your rank in search engines, you have to understand how they work. Since almost 90% of searches happen on Google, Google seems like the best place to start. But that means understanding how Google’s search algorithm actually works—an algorithm that is updated 500-600 times per year! Many are minor changes, but there are always major changes that greatly impact keyword performance.
In other words, mastering the basics of digital marketing isn’t enough. For your marketing budget to be used effectively, you have to be vigilant to change and current with the latest trends. And remember, you need to fit all this into your schedule between supply chain issues, human resource challenges, and providing excellent customer service.
Get an outside perspective on your business
No one knows your business better than you do. But sometimes, being close to something makes describing it even more difficult. You’re missing the big picture—you can’t see the forest through the trees. How many times have you found yourself trying to explain your business but getting so lost in the details you lose sight of the one-sentence elevator pitch that sums up who you are?
A digital marketing expert with distance from your business will evaluate what you offer and identify the essence of your company. After understanding what your business does, they translate that essence into an aesthetic and a brand. Should your content marketing be professional or conversational in tone? What color palettes will convey your business best in visual ads? Should video content be funny, informative, or both? The value of partnering with a digital marketing agency isn’t limited to the one-sentence pitch of your business—they work to understand the core of your business and find the best-fit marketing strategy for you.
Freeing you and your team to do what you do best
Small business owners already work very hard. A New York Enterprise Report survey found that small business owners work double the hours of their employees. So, even if you understand just how important digital marketing is for your business’s success, and are willing to take on the task, handling your marketing can undermine your ability to focus on managing and expanding your business. Running a business is all about time management and setting priorities. That means you have to delegate!
Assigning marketing responsibilities to one of your team members doesn’t make good business sense, either. Employees may not have much more free time than you do, and they certainly don’t have the marketing know-how, as many small businesses need workers to cover multiple roles. If generating new leads and expanding your customer base is such a high priority for you, shouldn’t the work be handled by a professional?
By giving you the reassurance that someone has your back and is taking care of your marketing strategy, digital marketing agencies give you and your employees more time to focus on what you do best.
Digital marketing agencies review and adapt your strategy
Say you’ve identified the essence of your business, established your brand and aesthetics, designed some marketing campaigns, and pushed the go button. That’s great! Project complete, right?
Not so fast. Launching your digital marketing campaign is a huge milestone—but now is when the real work starts. Digital marketing, like anything, requires trial and error. There are many approaches and strategies to try, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. As results come in from each round of your campaigns, the evaluation process starts anew.
Which of your efforts is leading to conversions? The best return on investment? Are you targeting the correct audience for your product? If six of your email newsletters led to the most new customers, what do those six have in common? The data from those results has to be analyzed and adjusted to eliminate what isn’t working and add more of what is working.
Many business owners struggle with how to tell whether their marketing efforts are successful. In fact, according to research, 46% of small businesses aren’t even sure their marketing efforts are working. Thanks to their expertise, a digital marketing agency will understand the metrics of success and know how to interpret campaign data.
After conducting an analysis of these metrics, the agency will advise how to adjust your strategies. They know which strategy is most likely to succeed for your company and target audience. They understand what they’re looking for in results and won’t make the rookie mistakes you might. Rather than spending time and money casting around in the dark for the best approach, start your campaign strong by partnering with a digital marketing agency.
Work smarter, not harder
Like most platitudes, “work smarter, not harder” is easier said than done. In fact, even figuring out how to work smarter can be a difficult challenge. But, when it comes to digital marketing, the easiest solution is to remember that your time is valuable and matters.
Digital marketing agencies do cost money. But so do marketing campaigns, and when you’re unknowingly pursuing an ineffective strategy, that money is wasted. Spending on campaigns strategized by people whose expertise lies elsewhere may feel easier in the moment, but it’s definitely not working smart. Investing in a digital marketing agency that will increase your chances of a successful campaign is a far better choice.
Going a step beyond the money waste of marketing ineffectively, have you ever calculated how much your time is worth? When you know the dollar value of your time, multiply that amount by the number of hours you spend struggling with marketing. This simple math equation reveals just how much you’re costing your business when you redirect hours you could be working in your zone of genius rather than struggling with marketing. The number is probably far more than you think and far less than the cost of hiring a digital marketing agency. Another platitude sums up this concept nicely: “Time is money, friend!”
Ready to work with a digital marketing agency?
Digital marketing doesn’t have to be a headache. Hiring a digital marketing agency gives you access to expert knowledge—without wasted hours of study on your own time. You’re also more efficient, gain an outside perspective on your business, create more time for yourself and your employees, and understand how to adapt your digital marketing strategy when necessary. Talk with one of our marketing experts today.
