If you run a small or medium-sized business, you might try to handle your marketing in-house. Over the years, though, you’ve begun to wonder if you would be better off hiring a marketing company. Look at the signs that indicate it’s time to outsource your marketing.
You Don’t Have a Clear Marketing Strategy
Businesses that try to handle marketing on their own often forgo strategy. Instead, they look at marketing as a series of tasks that must be completed. They need to write blog posts and upload content to social media. They also need to run some paid ads and find ways to get links. These tasks work independently of one another and don’t support an overall vision.
You need a clear strategy for your marketing campaign to be successful. It should include goals, market research, objectives, and testing. Then it’s finally time to roll out the marketing plan. If your business lacks a marketing strategy, it’s time to hand the reins over to someone else.
You’re Constantly Running Behind
Marketing should be a well-oiled machine. You should have a schedule that you follow to the letter. If you decide to put out an offer on Monday morning, it needs to go out on Monday morning. If you want to post blogs every Tuesday, you need to do that without fail. However, if you’re handling your marketing in-house, you likely have trouble keeping deadlines. If it seems like you are constantly pushing back blog posts, special offers, and social media updates, you need outside help. That way you won’t have to worry about missing deadlines ever again.
You Aren’t Getting the Results You Want
You market your business for a reason, you want results. You want to see an increase in your sales, and if that isn’t happening, you should consider outsourcing your marketing. A professional marketing team can help you attract potential customers and then nurture leads. Professional marketers understand the importance of results and create plans based on getting those results.
You Don’t Know What Your Results Are
This is another problem that many businesses face. They simply don’t know if their marketing campaigns are getting results are not. You should have detailed analytics that explain how well your campaign is performing. If you don’t know what your ROI is, you are not making use of all the data that’s available. A marketing company can handle this important task for you. Then you will know exactly how well your campaign is performing.
You Don’t Have a Clear Message or Identity
When companies keep their marketing in-house, they often assign different tasks to different people. Judy in accounting might handle the blog posts, while Tom in customer service is tasked with social media marketing. Bob updates the website, and Christa takes care of link building.
These people work independently of one another, meaning your brand identity can get muddled in the process. When people go to your social media pages, they see one identity. It’s different on the blogs, and then there is an entirely new identity on your website. This will hurt your branding.
If you don’t have a consistent identity, consider hiring a marketing company. The company will work with you to determine brand messaging, and then ensure it is clear and consistent across all channels.
Do You Need to Outsource Your Marketing?
If you’re unhappy with your current marketing plan or think you could do better, consider outsourcing the tasks. A professional marketing team will develop a strategy and measure the results. You will also get up-to-date information about how your campaign is performing when you use a company.