In-House Marketing Will Only Get You So Far. Here’s How Partnering With an Agency Can Take You Further.

Does this sound familiar? As a small business owner, you don’t believe you have the resources or even the need to hire a marketing agency, so instead, you decided to do the marketing yourself. At first, it was manageable, but now that the business has grown, so has the scope of your marketing strategy.

As the marketing coordinator, you’re spending a lot more time on technical tasks: maintaining the website, editing videos, writing copy, scheduling social posts and managing SEO strategy. You no longer have the bandwidth to create new marketing campaigns. In fact, you can barely keep track of the current ones.

Many business owners looking to save time and conserve resources believe keeping their marketing in-house is the way to go. But for most, in-house marketing will only carry them so far before their needs outgrow their capacity. It’s a common scenario, but one for which there is a simple solution.

The reality of DIY marketing

As a business owner, you may not have much experience with digital marketing. Fortunately, there is a wealth of free online resources to help you set goals, create an overall strategy and establish your business’s online presence.

Once you’re up and running, however, you quickly find out that there’s much more to digital marketing than filling out a Google Business Profile, using keywords, adapting a website template to your brand and posting on Facebook a couple times a week. 

Digital marketing is as much a science as an art and requires quite a bit of technical knowledge. And let’s face it, most business owners don’t have the time to learn all the technicalities of digital marketing. Even if you have a dedicated marketing coordinator working for you, you’re essentially asking them to do the job of seven people:

• Project manager
• Copywriter
• Editor
• Graphic designer
• Web developer 
• Digital strategist
• Social media manager

So the question remains: Does keeping your marketing in-house make the most financial sense? If you’re missing out on referrals, not reaching your target audience, unable to track campaign results accurately and lagging behind your competitors, then probably not.

Partnership has its benefits

You know your customers, the ins and outs of your business, your main competitors and your local community. Naturally, you can contribute a lot to your business’s marketing strategy. What you may not know is the full depth and breadth of the digital marketing landscape.

Even if you have a team member or two helping, unless they’re dedicated to all aspects of marketing full-time, you’re likely to miss more opportunities than you win. That’s where an agency can fill the gaps.

What a marketing agency can do for your bottom line

In-house marketing is valuable because it comes from such an intimate understanding of the business. However, if you or your marketing coordinator spends more time in front of a computer screen, then it’s hard to get out in front of your target audience and attract new customers. You lose the ability to leverage existing relationships effectively and nurture new ones.

Hiring a marketing agency is an investment in your business. Outsourcing the more technical aspects of digital marketing, like SEO, GEO, website maintenance, market research, social strategy and copywriting — the repetitive yet necessary tasks that ensure your marketing reaches the right audience at the right times and in the right ways — can exponentially increase results.

And because you’re using the agency’s resources rather than your own, it frees you and your marketing coordinator to focus on generating new ideas, planning events and keeping up with reviews and referrals.

Start small

As a small business or a new business, you may be wary of an outside marketing agency, and that’s a valid concern. Fortunately, there are different kinds of agencies, and there’s a good chance you can find one that shares your values and fits your needs. 

Some agencies specialize in specific industries. For example, my company, My Dental Agency, works exclusively with independently owned dental practices. Others may have a broader scope. Some agencies will be more hands-on, while others will be less so. 

It’s important to think about your requirements, how involved you want to be and how closely you want to work with the marketing agency before starting your search. 

When you partner with a marketing agency, you’re not simply paying someone to “do marketing.” You’re using your resources intelligently to create value for your business. Partnering with a marketing agency affords you the support, expertise and capacity you need to focus on relationships, ideas and growing your business. The sky’s the limit!