When to Hire an Inbound Marketing Agency?

In today’s digital age, your business’ online presence is more crucial than ever. Knowing when to hire an Inbound marketing agency is also crucial to your overall marketing success.

Like many business owners, we think we can do it all. In fact, delegation can often feel like a crap shoot, so-to-speak. If I hand over the reigns, is it going to be done properly? Sometimes, it just seems to be the path of least resistance to do it yourself. At least you know it will be done to your standards and you’d have no one to blame but yourself if your objective didn’t hit the mark. But that’s not good managing either.

You know you can’t do it all despite your best efforts.

It used to be, of course, that the traditional marketing model offered the expertise of your outside sales person to direct your course. When to advertise, what to say, and even their graphics department handled the artwork for you. It was as simple (or not) as giving your stamp of approval on the content and writing the check. And then you’d cross your fingers and hope to see an ROI.

While many still rely on this “outbound” model of marketing their goods and services, Inbound marketing is the marketing model that produces the truly targeted leads that turn into customers. Briefly stated, engagement is the key. And it’s just not achieved using the traditional model of marketing. Therefore, in today’s digital age, you can’t afford to neglect this new brand of marketing to reach your target audience.
So, how do you know when it’s time? Well, the clock is ticking and the longer you wait, the longer it will take to begin seeing the results you desire. So, the short answer is NOW! To help you in your decision making process, here are some questions to consider:

• Do I have the time and/or manpower to handle the various facets of inbound marketing?
• Can my in-house marketing team handle the multiple & varied components to produce results? Do they even know how?
• Do I or my marketing team have a strategy in place for the start-to-finish lead conversion process?
• Can we get by winging it & doing this on our own?
• When can I expect to see results based upon my current efforts?
• And, of course, how much will this cost?

When you know the answers to these questions, you will undoubtedly be closer to your answer. To help you along, consider the benefits of outsourcing for your inbound marketing efforts.

• Inbound Marketing agencies are experts in the field. Because the driving force behind Inbound Marketing is ROI, they know how to apply the “means to an end.” Because ROI is the bottom line, for you and them, If they’re not achieving the desired results, they know how to measure and adjust to arrive at the desired outcome.
• When you outsource to the experts, a strategy will be at the top of the list to define the desired outcome and the steps to get there. We wouldn’t attempt to bake a cake without a recipe and nor should you attempt your inbound marketing efforts without a strategy.
• The cost of hiring an inbound marketing agency can be comparable to hiring a new employee, only better. When hiring an inbound marketing agency, you get the synergistic benefits of hiring a team of experts vs. someone who may be good at only one or two facets of the whole.
• Inbound marketing agencies, again, are all about consistent ROI. Whether it’s generating more traffic to your website, achieving more leads and then turning those leads into sales, it’s the consistent efforts over the long haul that will have the greatest impact to your overall growth. Your results will be contingent upon the efforts being made across ALL the platforms and thus, the time it takes will be in relation to the effort being made.

Evolution is a good thing when it comes to marketing

Remember, your marketing efforts are a part of your overall business plan that never ends. Therefore, the ability to evolve with the changing times is crucial to your success. Delegating this overall facet of your business might be one of the best decisions you’ll make in today’s rapidly changing times. Allowing the experts to assist you while the rest of us catch up could very well be what keeps you ahead of your competition.