So you’re thinking about hiring a digital marketing agency.
What better way to help you decide than with a little pros and cons evaluation?
At the end of the day, there are both good and bad sides to working with an agency.
Let’s break them all down a little further to see if any resonate more with your business requirements…
Pros of Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency
1. A fresh perspective:
A digital marketing agency can bring a fresh perspective to your marketing strategy. They can offer new ideas and insights that you may not have considered before, and help you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and technologies.
2. Cost-effectiveness:
Hiring an agency can be more cost-effective than building an in-house marketing team. With an agency, you don't have to worry about the cost of salaries, benefits, and other overhead expenses that come with hiring full-time employees. You only pay for the services you need, when you need them. Small business owners in particular may find a much better ROI from working with an agency partner.
3. Specialised expertise:
Digital marketing agencies often have specialised expertise in specific areas of digital marketing, such as SEO, web design, email marketing or social media marketing. They have teams of professionals who are dedicated to staying on top of the latest trends and best practices in their area of expertise.
Many agencies boast multiple skill sets across different areas, meaning you can work with just one partner to fulfil various requirements like development, design and marketing, for example.
4. Access to marketing tools and technologies:
An agency may have access to marketing tools and technologies that you don't have in-house. This means they can help you optimise your campaigns and get better results, without you having to invest in expensive software or hardware.
5. Time-saving:
Agencies can free up your time to focus on other areas of your business. Instead of spending time and resources on marketing, you can focus on product development, customer service, or other areas where you excel. Or perhaps just bigger-scale marketing campaigns and projects you never get around to.
6. Less risk:
Whilst there is always some risk involved in working with an external vendor, most agencies offer early cancellation clauses in their contracts based on performance, so you can give it a go and if it doesn't work, cut ties. It's also worth considering how this can help should you need to cut costs during a downturn – it's much easier to fire an agency than it is an in-house head.
Cons of Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency
1. Communication and trust:
Working with an agency requires clear communication and trust to ensure that they understand your brand and goals. You need to be able to communicate your vision and expectations clearly, and trust that the agency will deliver the results you're looking for.
2. Limited time and attention:
Agencies may have other clients they are working with, which could mean less time and attention devoted to your business. You need to make sure that the agency you choose has the resources and bandwidth to give you the attention you deserve.
3. Limited control:
You may not have as much control over the day-to-day execution of your marketing campaigns. You need to be comfortable with relinquishing some control to the agency and trusting that they will execute your vision effectively.
4. Performance assessment:
It can be difficult to assess an agency's performance and ROI, especially if they use their own metrics and reporting. You need to establish clear performance metrics and reporting standards upfront to ensure that you can accurately measure their impact. A good marketing agency worth it's salt should be upfront about how they’re going to measure performance.
5. Choosing the wrong agency:
Choosing the wrong agency could lead to a waste of time, money, and resources. You need to do your due diligence and choose an agency that has a track record of success, understands your industry, and aligns with your brand values and goals.
Agencies work very differently and can have completely different operational processes, which might mean they’re not a good fit for your business. Ideally, you’re looking to build a long-term partnership that can grow with your business.
If you think an agency might be the right next step for your business, we'd love to talk! We've been in the business for over 25 years so we really do know what we're doing and you can know you're in safe hands.
Our core services hone in on your CRM, whether it's full implementation or consultancy to make sure it's set up correctly.
We also build responsive and engaging websites designed to generate more leads and promote your business.
And we're also a HubSpot Elite Partner, putting us in the top 0.5% of all agencies around the world, offering onboarding, implementation, automation and inbound marketing.
If any of these services are what you're looking for, book a call at a time that suits you.
