Companies are always looking for the best digital marketing agencies to perform this critical task, especially since digital marketing transitioned from a potential choice to a required strategy.
Performing these services in-house is certainly achievable but if this isn’t done diligently, it can be especially detrimental to small businesses, which frequently lack the means to test a variety of possibilities at the scale of dedicated digital marketing specialists.
1. Insufficient expertise to do it in-house. You may understand your target audience better than anyone else. You may also know which marketing techniques to employ. That doesn't mean you have the expertise to carry out that strategy effectively.
2. Insufficient resources to scale it in-house. This is especially true for link building (the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own), which is a time-consuming process if done correctly.
3. Outsourcing is less expensive. The cost of digital marketing tools is frequently the main culprit. Firms typically spend 20% to 30% of their marketing budgets on technology alone.
Digital marketing allows you to engage your potential clients in a variety of ways via multiple of platforms. In no particular order, these are some important digital marketing sectors that are frequently outsourced:
1. SEO
2. Paid online advertising (Google, LinkedIn, Facebook etc.)
3. E-mail campaigns
4. Content creation
5. Social media management
1. A lack of testimonials and case studies. It's really simple. If an agency lacks testimonials or case studies, it will be difficult to determine their worth.
2. Overpromising results. If an agency says to you they can create 50 leads for you in three weeks for CHF200, you can bet they're not doing it correctly.
3. Ineffective communication. If they are slow to respond to your queries and/or their comments are ambiguous, it usually suggests they are attempting to avoid giving you a direct answer. This is probably not someone you want to work with long-term because it typically comes with a lack of transparency.
4. Inadequate knowledge of the industry. Each niche has its own set of requirements. You should frequently request examples of previous work from their niche.
1. Make sure you send all essential information, activities, and available reports and statistics to the agency so that they have good context and clearly understand your needs.
2. Define your tasks as precisely as possible. This ensures that your outsourcing partner fully understands your objectives within a specific assignment. Always record the required deliverables, examples, resources, and timeframes.
3. Keep a written and fluid record of monthly goals, KPIs and duties.
4. Agree on timelines for all tasks. If deadlines keep being missed, you may need to reassess your outsourcing partner.
5. Always pay your partners on time.
- Businesses outsource digital marketing due to a lack of resources and insufficient in-house expertise.
- You can outsource all - or any - of the digital marketing functions to an expert.
- Carefully choose your outsourcing partner by asking the difficult questions at the start.
- Maintaining a strong relationship with your partners will lead to better and more consistent results, especially long-term.