In the early stages of growth, businesses typically try to keep their work in-house, hiring new employees to carry out specialized tasks. There are several advantages to this approach, such as being able to maintain full control over operations, and in certain cases, it can prove to be the more affordable option.
However, internalizing your company’s processes isn’t always the best approach. Marketing is one department where this is evident. Specialized firms staff a number of employees with more expertise who, in many cases, can perform better work for a lower total cost.
But how can you tell if external help is the better option? Consider the following five signs to determine whether you should keep your marketing internal or hand it to the professionals.
Overworked Staff
This is especially common among small companies that only employ a handful of marketers. The obvious solution is to hire another team member and split the workload accordingly, but this usually proves too expensive. Most employees know when their workloads are getting out of hand, so if you aren’t sure, ask them directly.
Insufficient Revenue
If you’re spending more on marketing and your revenue isn’t increasing accordingly, it may be time to seek assistance from outside. Marketing agencies typically gauge their success in terms of the return they see on their investment. This gives them an objective insight into the effectiveness of their efforts.
Running Behind Schedule
Tightening deadlines and high workloads are to be expected when running any kind of business, but if your projects and campaigns are frequently being pushed to the last minute, outsourcing some marketing expertise can help alleviate the pressure. It’s also worth noting that marketing is one area where falling behind can be quite detrimental.
This is especially true with digital marketing, as the industry is always changing and staying ahead of the curve is essential. If you don’t have time to research new strategies, your competitors will gain the upper hand. A specialized firm will be able to do that work for you, thus ensuring that you’re always utilizing the best strategies.
Thrown-Together Strategies
Effective marketing requires a significant investment of time, which goes into market research, strategy creation, testing and performance measurement. Forgoing these steps will ultimately impact your returns, as you’ll be utilizing an improvised, thrown-together strategy.
An agency has enough time to orchestrate a fully thought-out strategy, thus ensuring that your budget is put to good use. It’s worth noting the importance of hiring specialized services for specific work, be it social media, video marketing or SEO. Take a look at what this Edina SEO Company offers to get an idea of what to expect from a dedicated firm.
Disappointing Results
Perhaps the most obvious sign is if you’re disappointed in the marketing results you’ve recently been getting. In this case, you might as well try putting your marketing in the hands of an experienced firm.
Conclusion
You don’t necessarily need to choose between a fully internal and fully external solution. Hybrid strategies are becoming increasingly popular. It ultimately comes down to measuring your success and adjusting accordingly.