Why Successful Businesses Hire Digital Marketing Agencies
Running a business feels a bit like being every Avenger wrapped up in one person. CEO, CFO, COO, and CMO all in one ultimate superhero — Business Owner.
One little hiccup is that superhero power is limited. Eventually some skillsets need to be handed off for the company to grow. Remember, even superheroes need help.
It’s easy to think, “Why do I need to hire a marketing team? I have a team that knows this business best, and we can make time to do it ourselves.”
Valid. Hiring the right people to get to where the company is heading is an incredible accomplishment.
However, in-house marketing is expensive. A marketing writer makes $50,000 per year on average. If you add in benefits and bonuses, which typically cost about 35% of the total salary, you’re looking at $5,625 per month. That’s for one person!
Add in a Marketing Director whose average salary is $149,000/yr and you’re looking at paying about $20,000 per month. Just for those two.
On top of that, you need to manage these people. Set goals. Track metrics. Make sure they’re getting results.
Sound like a lot? It is.
But it’s not your only option. Outsourcing your marketing might be a better choice, especially if you’re in the $1 – $10 million revenue range.
These question can help you determine if you need some marketing help.
- Are marketing efforts not getting results?
- Is website traffic disappointing?
- Are lead conversions stagnant or slowly declining?
- Unsure how to measure results of marketing efforts?
- Frustrated with ads?
- Confused about where leads are coming from and how to track them?
If the answers to these questions are not a split-second “Yes,” sit with me, and let’s talk about what a digital marketing agency can do to change that.
An agency that uses story to grow your brand can help you get the results you’re after.
Storytelling Marketing: Websites That Sell
Storytelling techniques have been used to engage and interest audiences for centuries. Story-driven marketing agencies use these powerful story tools to connect with your customers.
Market research shows that marketing improves with straightforward, clear, concise content. This is what makes this approach stand out.
Great companies know their strengths and outsource their weaknesses.
1. Time is currency. Spend wisely.
Here’s the thing about time: you always need more of it!
Setting up an in-house team means taking time to train, onboard, and manage each position. Valuable time is better spent on fine-tuning the SOP’s for business and other essential tasks.
DIY marketing also uses vital company resources. Hiring individuals to form a complete marketing team takes away from hiring for other necessary positions to grow a company. And again, it takes time to manage a pulled-together marketing team, set and attend meetings for metrics, and adjust other projects to meet quarterly marketing goals.
It all takes time, energy, and focus away from the creativity and drive to run a successful company.
Hiring a digital marketing team gives companies a team that has experience working together and can jump into projects head first. It’s their specialty!
2. Sit back, relax, and make money.
There is freedom in hiring a team that asks for the necessary information and then understands how to run with it in all directions that point to REVENUE (literally, here’s your sign).
This is the brilliance and beauty of hiring a digital marketing team.
As a business owner, the hard work of starting the business pays off when the business starts working for you. Enjoy the fruits of your labor, and hand off tasks (say it with me, de-le-gate) to a team that understands the assignment — getting more leads, higher conversion rates, and paying customers!
3. Cut costs and save big.
Hiring a digital marketing team vs. hiring individuals to create a team depends on the goal.
The cost of a digital marketing team can seem high for short-term plans. Hiring individuals to create a marketing strategy can be appealing because it saves money.
Okay, fair enough. On the front end, saving money sounds like a great idea.
However, cutting recurring costs over time saves the company money long-term. Outsourcing by contracting a team weighs heavily here because benefits, health care costs, salaries, and payroll taxes are no longer on the company to bear. Not to mention the subscription fees and other necessary tools it takes to run a successful marketing campaign.
The reality is hiring a digital marketing team cuts costs in the long run.
Great companies are playing the long game, and know that some larger upfront costs bring a larger ROI than short-term shortcuts.
4. DIY marketing — a Pinterest fail.
Business Owner superheroes need to know their strengths and when to outsource their weaknesses.
YouTube is a fantastic resource to learn quick, easy-to-implement ideas. Reddit and Quora have some incredible information from real people who know what they’re talking about. Marketing books are (other than boring) often informative.
There are many resources out that lay out roadmaps for creative marketing strategies to grow your business.
However, learning the ins and outs of marketing is like walking through a labyrinth. Making it to the end is possible…it might just take a looong time.
It’s not impossible to learn marketing, implement it in a business, and grow the business. However, the risk of revenue stagnation or decline is high when attempting DIY marketing because there isn’t depth to it. Why risk stalling the growth of your company to save a few dollars when there are experts out there (we know a few!) who know exactly what to target and how to get the biggest ROI?
There are risks to take in business. Pinterest-ing your marketing strategy shouldn’t be one of them. Hire a professional digital marketing agency for guaranteed business growth!
What can a digital marketing team do for me?
5. Get outside perspective for greater reach.
Someone looking at a computer all day will eventually need glasses. It’s not just the blue light. Eyes are designed to focus on close-up AND far-away points.
Companies are incredible at laser-focusing on their brand, product, and services. This is absolutely necessary for any company to grow.
There is also a need for a broader view of the whole picture.
That’s where a digital marketing agency comes in. The team is already “outside the box”, so the “thinking outside the box” immediately kicks in for ideas such as:
- Marketing strategies
- SEO optimization for all marketing initiatives
- How and where to run ads
- Lead magnets, email sequences, and landing pages that get leads
- Google search engine optimization
…and so much more!
The laser focus of the marketing team is to increase leads, get higher conversion rates, and paying customers for your company. Sounds pretty great, don’t you think?
6. The story-driven formula gets results.
Every customer has a problem that the service or product of a company solves. That’s why people buy!
Many companies eventually fail because they unknowingly lose potential customers with confusing messaging.
Much like marketing, there is a formula for success when it comes to messaging. We use the three-act structure when writing all websites and marketing.
7. Hire the right team for the job.
Planning a birthday usually involves cake. Shopping for ingredients, the prep work, time to bake, and clean up takes hours. Buying a cake might seem more expensive, but the time and cost of making the beautiful and delicious cake adds up, too.
Hiring individuals to be part of a team that works seamlessly together is a constant cycle of hiring, training, and firing. It’s inevitable that you’ll find a squeaky wheel, and have to let them go to greener pastures.
This all costs time and money. In other words, it’s like baking a homemade cake instead of going out and buying one from the store.
The great news about hiring a digital marketing agency is they’re already a team! Sure, they might have a squeaky wheel, but they are also the ones who deal with it. This frees up your company to do what you do best — focus on your product or service.
Buy the beautiful cake. The experts know how to execute to get you exactly what you want.
8. Hire a team of experts.
Taking a Tesla to a local mechanic might work out okay, but why risk it? Instead, take it to the Tesla dealer and get a mechanic who has the training and experience to ensure the work is done properly.
Hiring a digital marketing agency grants immediate access to experienced, qualified experts who specialize in different areas of the field. From SEO and copywriting to website A/B testing, these experts know their way in and out of the marketing process like a mechanic knows a particular car.
Don’t let just anyone work on your “baby.” Whether it’s your car or your company, hire the team that gets the job done with precision because they’ve done it hundreds of times before. The knowledge, practice, and experience shows.
9. Scalable services.
Like a crab finding the right shell for its size, a business needs to hire the right people at the right time for the right position for everything to fit perfectly. At certain points of growth, you need to find a new shell.
Hiring a story-driven agency that delivers on their promises will mean needing a bigger shell for your business, BUT the company doesn’t need to worry about fitting a new team into the fold!
No need to find a new shell with the marketing agency. It’s already taken care of. The flexibility provided with hiring a team outside of the company is a breath of fresh air when the company is expanding.
Not all marketing services are created equal
10. Powerful tools for better results.
In the hands of someone who doesn’t care about cars, a Ferrari is no different than a Honda. The parts are generally the same to make both cars (if you’re a car person, just hear me out): it has doors, a hood, an engine, oil, etc. The parts to make a Ferrari, however, are specialized, upgraded, and expertly manufactured to make a car that purrs like a kitten and drives like a beast.
Then, there’s the driver. A person who doesn’t really care about cars won’t really understand the thrill of getting behind the wheel of a Ferrari, and definitely won’t drive it like a professional.
There are many marketing frameworks that work. The demands of digital marketing these days has increased the need for new approaches, and companies are racing to fill it.
When used properly, the right tools make the difference between whether your marketing is perceived like a Ferrari as opposed to a Honda.
11. SEO optimization to gain visibility.
If a tree falls in the forest but no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Websites that aren’t easily searchable are easily missable. Good SEO increases the ability of a target audience to find content through search engines. It’s a game of words, and knowing the rules is for SEO experts to decipher, keep up with, and engage in.
Hiring an SEO expert is a key element to getting better visibility on search engines and more website traffic. This means more visibility and leads if the content on the website is clear, concise and calls the customer to action.
12. If it’s not measurable, it’s not helpful.
The abstract world of marketing looks like a Jackson Pollock painting to most people. Beautiful, but at first glance, a bit of a mess.
There are marketing agencies who are not just living in that world, but continually improving on systems within it.
They are dedicated to tracking what works, understanding what doesn’t, and are constantly striving to find better answers for each individual company. Trends are easily identified in the right hands, and experts are able to pinpoint accurate values for every campaign and always look to improve the effectiveness of the strategy.
Analytics and reports are a tangible measure of the results companies get through your services. A great marketing team gives a report of findings at least once a month. During that month, the team is hard at work to identify any issues before they become problems.
13. Get a marketing strategy that works.
Having an eight-year-old strategize my workout plan probably isn’t going to get me the results I’m after. It might be really creative and fun, but the ultimate goal won’t be achieved.
To get results, hire a personal trainer. They are trained to meet you where you’re at, know your goals, and get you there (and beyond, if they’re a great trainer).
This is the value of hiring a team of experienced marketing professionals to grow your business. It’s like having a whole team of health experts working around the clock to get you to your healthiest self.
The difference is in the marketing space, you (Business Owner superhero) don’t even need to do the workout — the team lays the path AND does the work. That’s the dreamiest workout regimen I’ve ever heard of.
A story-driven marketing agency understands how to plan and implement strategy that works with a proven framework to guide the customer towards the outcomes they’re looking for. It sounds simple, but so does basketweaving. Not so simple when put into practice.
14. Increase website traffic.
Ancient artwork is beautiful, but lost to the sands of time it can remain buried until someone happens upon it.
A beautiful website is the same. It might have taken a lot of time, effort, and money to build, but if no one can see it, there is no benefit to the company or to the customer. It remains buried in the internet sand.
15. Generate more leads.
Dozens of paths to connection doesn’t mean you need to take all of them at once to get more leads. A shotgun might hit a wide area, but a sniper knows the exact target it’s aiming for.
Expert marketing teams know the specific paths that matter to your customers for the greatest results.
From website optimization to lead magnets and email marketing, every part of the marketing strategy is directed toward one thing — getting leads and making the sale.
16. Get higher conversion rates.
Getting more leads is a great way to get visibility, gather emails for campaigns, and gain trust. Some of those leads also need to convert to sales for any business to grow.
It’s like having money. Every dollar has the potential to make more money, but it must be invested or spent wisely to do that. Many rich people lose money when it is spent frivolously.
A great professional marketing agency looks at every lead and figures out how to make them a paying customer — some in the short-term, and others in the long game. More leads does not always equal more customers. Skilled marketing teams are able to look at metrics and troubleshoot landing page, ad, and social media strategies to convert leads into sales.
Be the wise investor and make sure every dollar you spend makes you more money.
17. Have consistent marketing.
The key to great marketing is consistent messaging, multiple touchpoints, and valuable content.
Bruce Lee is one of the greatest martial artists of all time. His mastery of self-discipline through consistent training and unwavering growth mindset is incredible. He said, “Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity.” And that’s what great marketing is all about.
While there is a need for short-term and long-term goals, expert marketing efforts should be able to address both for the best results.
The 6 Part Framework Every Digital Marketing Agency Should Offer
All of marketing goes back to MEMORY. Marketing must build, and reinforce, memories. Every part of the marketing strategy must fit together to create one beautiful, functional, and profitable outcome.
18. Story
“The signature of mediocrity is inconsistency.” — Jim Collins
When companies are inconsistent with their message confusion sets in, trust is lost, and customers don’t buy.
Telling a clear brand story is a proven way to have consistent messaging.
What is a clear brand story, exactly?
A brand story is the framework every company can follow, and includes a script. The script identifies:
- the problem your customer is trying to overcome
- the solution to that problem (your service or product)
- the success customers will experience when they buy
- the failure customers will experience if they don’t buy
- a clear call-to-action for customers to buy
The script becomes the brand story and makes the customer the hero of their own narrative, with your company as the guide. You’re Yoda, not Luke, in this saga.
19. Visibility
If no one sees your beautifully designed and masterfully written website, it doesn’t matter. You have to get seen.
Search engines rank websites based on a number of factors. Digital marketing agencies are experts in playing this game. Understanding how to transition to a new website, A/B testing, SEO optimized content, and so much more is essential to getting a higher rank for your website.
20. Design
Have you gone to someone’s website and thought, “Wow, I just want to scroll this page because it’s beautiful”.
Good design draws people in. It’s eye-catching, and makes me want to linger. It’s a piece of art.
There are millions of small businesses out there, and hundreds of thousands are your competitors. So when someone is comparing you to a competitor, one of the simplest ways to set yourself apart is your design.
I’ve been to many websites that are GORGEOUS. Everything about it makes me want to cry except….I have no idea what it’s trying to sell me.
This is why great design needs to also have great copywriting.
21. Connection
Just as in real life, online connection between company and customer needs to constantly be nurtured to maintain a relationship.
Every time there is a touch-point with customers, from emails to lead magnets and landing pages, there needs to be some value. The value breeds brand trust and makes your customer want to continue to engage with new information, new emails, and new offerings!
Provide customers with value, and be amazed with how much customers want to buy what you have to offer.
22. Automation
Welcome to the 21st century. The world of “there’s an app for that” and “just Google it”. Technology has also made sending individual emails the day they need to be sent a thing of the past.
Scheduling is technology’s gift to every entrepreneur.
Automated emails, lead magnet delivery, and call scheduling increases profit and grants you the freedom to spend less energy thinking about it, doing it, or tracking it.
Hiring a digital marketing agency means every part of this process is taken care of. From writing to sending, the marketing team takes care of it all to ensure the highest value is provided with the best chance of getting noticed by potential customers.
You wouldn’t climb Mount Everest without a guide.
Don’t go into marketing without the right tools, experienced team of professionals, and clear messaging.
Let story-driven marketing sell your product or service so you can make money while you sleep. Even superheroes need rest to be at their best.
