When the time comes to grow your business, ramping up your marketing efforts is a natural progression. But should you build an internal marketing department, or do you hire an external agency? This is the question that many business owners are faced with when they realise it’s time to start planning for growth.
Keeping control in-house by hiring a marketing professional might seem like the easiest option, but there are limitations to this choice. Many business small owners assume that a marketing agency is out of their grasp, but this isn’t true. In this article, we will explore the benefits and drawbacks of each so that you can make your own decision on what to do next for your business.
How do you know it’s time to increase your marketing?
There are a few signs that your marketing needs to be increased. For example, your website is not performing well; you don’t have a presence on social media; people aren’t attending events or filling out contact forms on your site. All of these may lead back to the fact that things need some external help.
It’s time to increase marketing activities.
If it comes down to hiring an external agency (or building a department internally), there are many factors to consider before choosing one over the other. Many business owners find themselves asking, “What does my budget look like?” when they’re trying to decide whether or not their company can afford this type of expense.
But what about ROI?
The truth is that while spending more on marketing could eat into your profit, it’s also the only way to increase your profit. If you invest in marketing methods that deliver a strong ROI, the marketing will pay for itself.
In-house or agency?
This decision is primarily based on your company’s revenue, marketing goals and the work that needs to be done.
If you have a high budget for marketing, your business might better suit an in-house department because it will give you greater oversight of the marketing processes.
However, if your current team doesn’t have the time to dedicate to establishing and growing a marketing team, agency support might be the way to go.
Benefits of hiring an in-house marketing team
- When you hire an in-house team, you can scale your marketing efforts at your own pace. You might hire a marketing manager to kick things off and allow them to expand their team.
- You own the systems, workflows and processes. A common problem that companies face when working with agencies is that they don’t have complete control over the workflow. And if you move agencies, there’s no guarantee that the handover will be smooth, which can damage your business.
- Your marketing team will have the benefit of being close to the business. This can make things like content marketing a lot easier, as they will have full access to the company and your team.
Benefits of hiring a marketing agency
- The benefits of outsourcing include lower overhead costs, as you won’t need to expand your office space to accommodate a new department.
- You’ll also have complete flexibility with staffing. If you have a quiet month, you won’t be stuck trying to find work for your marketing team.
- There is less of a risk that you’ll hire someone who isn’t up to the job. If you aren’t a marketing professional, it can be challenging to know what to look for in a new hire.
- You’ll have access to an incredible pool of talent when working with an agency.
- You’ll also have access to a range of marketing tools that would be incredibly expensive to buy for your own business.
- Outsourcing to an agency could make your marketing efforts easy to scale. If you choose a full-service marketing department, you can add additional services one month to the next with ease.
Benefits of the hybrid approach
Instead of thinking of marketing as an either/ or approach, you could also consider a hybrid approach. A hybrid approach might mean you have a marketing manager in the company, and they liaise with an external marketing agency. Benefits of this approach include:
- Your marketing manager has unique knowledge of your company and can steer any external agency in the right direction. They would also react quickly if necessary with a new campaign or promotional offers that might not have been planned for.
- You are still outsourcing some of your marketing work, but you enjoy the benefits of having an internal expert at managing this process and liaising with outside agencies that may offer a broader range of skills.
- Your marketing manager will understand how the parts fit together but might not have the capabilities or time to carry out the work. In this instance, the agency provides the insight and resources to achieve more than one person could manage on their own.
How to choose the right approach for your business
If you already have a marketing manager, involve them in the decision-making process. They will know if they would rather grow their team in-house or if an agency would provide better support.
A marketing agency might offer some benefits for specific campaigns or skillsets that your business needs to employ at short notice. Still, they would not be able to handle day-to-day work as effectively. For example, if you need someone monitoring your social media inboxes during office hours, this would be better handled in-house than outsourcing.
Get quotes from agencies to learn what you can expect to pay for marketing. Approach agencies of different sizes, so you get an idea of the range of possibilities out there.
Ask yourself the following questions, and the answer should soon become clear:
- What are your goals? And how can someone else help you achieve them?
- How much control do you want over the marketing plan?
- Do you have room for additional staff in your office?
- Do you expect your marketing plans to increase significantly over the next 1-5 years?
- Do you have the resources in-house to oversee a marketing team?
Need help answering these questions? I can help you make sense of your position and determine if your marketing should be handled by an agency, in-house team or both. Get in touch today for a quick chat about how I can help you grow your business.
