There are many things that contribute to the success of a business but the one I’m going to focus on here is marketing. Marketing is essential to any business. It takes time and skill to execute properly and hiring a digital agency can ensure you get the best value from your marketing budget and improve your results. Different types of agencies address different needs. Some agencies are focused on a particular area of digital, such as search (PPC, SEO etc), social media, email, web or strategy. Other agencies are full service and can manage all your marketing needs, including strategy.
But agencies though, I hear you say. Won’t they just cost me loads of money and come up with crazy ideas that don’t suit my organisation? You may have reservations, perhaps based on projects being taken out of your control, concerns about pricing, fear of “blue sky thinking sessions” and post-it-note-fuelled planning meetings eating away at your budget and time.
Fear no more, because using an agency can actually save you money and time, and I’m going to explain why.
1) Agencies are experts
Digital marketing requires expert planning and execution to make it a success. The expertise an experienced digital marketing agency offers is invaluable, ensuring the best use of budget and resources to achieve your business objectives. You may have the best internal view of your business but an agency can bring you outsider market knowledge and fresh ideas. They may be working with clients in similar situations to you, meaning they’ve been there and got the t-shirt. Now they can make sure you sidestep all the pitfalls and navigate you smoothly towards success. As experts in their field, they’ll be fluent in the latest marketing trends and keep you up to date as well.
2) Time management
Agencies are time based businesses, which means they have worked out the best ways to get work done efficiently. They can help you achieve your goals in the most timely way possible and their processes can boost your own productivity. They’re focused on helping you achieve your business objective, on time and on budget.
3) Maximise your budget
Many projects have a specific budget. Keeping this in-house can result in projects dragging on for far longer than needed, because it’s not Adam or Tom’s top priority and they have other work to focus on. Agencies will deliver your projects on time, and help you keep within budget. They can also advise you on the most cost-effective solution for what you’re trying to achieve. Many agencies offer different packages to demonstrate what can be achieved within specific budgets, and will work with you to ensure your project gets delivered to a high standard within a cost you’ve approved.
4) Dedicated support
Internal projects can often get short-changed on support or resources, even with the best intentions. You’ll find exactly the opposite with an agency. They have teams of people who are essentially dedicated to the different parts of your project. From the Account Manager ensuring smooth communication throughout, to the Project/Campaign Manager keeping everything on track, or the Creative Team, everyone will be working to achieve YOUR goals. This provides valuable peace of mind, giving you one less thing to worry about and freeing you up for other work. You’ve also got people to celebrate with when your project goes live!
5) Tools and tech
Digital marketing technology changes fast. Employing an agency means you’re not only getting access to the skills and expertise of their staff, you’re also benefitting from the latest tools and technology they use to make your projects happen. These might be design or web build related but the chances are, your in-house tech budget won’t stretch to cover them or it will take too long to get them approved and implemented internally. Agencies have them now, tested and ready to go.
6) Perspective
Don’t underestimate the value of a fresh set of eyes on your strategy. An external perspective can help invigorate your marketing activity and open your eyes to opportunities you may not have considered before. A digital agency could have the answer to a problem you’re having, or show you new ways to innovate. The combination of your insider knowledge and agency expertise will ensure you hit or exceed your goals.
7) Training
Agencies often offer training either as part of a package or separately. You could buy a particular product through an agency and get trained up on it to keep your costs down. This gives you some new tech to boost your marketing and access to the experts to teach you how to use it. Some agencies also offer training in methods of innovating such as Service Design and Design Thinking, which can help you to plan in a different way – essentially giving you the tools to create a successful new strategy.
8) Flexibility
Agencies are not just there to run big projects for you; they can also be used for the smaller day to day operations of your marketing. For example, some agencies offer monthly retainers providing a certain amount of hours a month that can be used to utilise their staff as a flexible resource. A good example of this is email campaign management. (I’m a little biased here as this is what I do, but bear with me…) Let’s say you’ve been planning an email campaign to send out in three days and you suddenly realise you have too much on your plate and wish you could palm it off to someone else. Having a monthly retainer with an agency allows you to get in touch with your agency Campaign Manager and say ‘I need to send this out by this date, here are the details, please do it for me’… and they will! What could be better?
So, next time you’re thinking ‘I wish I had some more support on this’ or ‘I wish I knew how to make this work better’, don’t just think it, get in touch with a digital agency and let them help you to make your marketing more effective. And even better, get in touch with us here at Enabler.
