If your entire marketing department consists of you operating as a one-man show, it can be daunting to take on all the tasks required to generate revenue. As the business continues to grow, this dynamic eventually becomes less and less efficient, and you'll need to decide if there are better ways to serve your clients.
Most small operations use in-house marketing support in the hopes of saving a few dollars. The problem with this approach is that the person leading the charge often has to wear multiple hats within the company. This isn’t ideal when trying to build a brand image. If you're deciding whether to use outside or inside marketing experts for your business, here are a few points to consider.
Benefits of Hiring an Outside Marketing Agency
There are a number of things that you should consider about hiring an outside marketing agency. Benefits of an outside hire include:
- Getting More Value: You will be able to increase the internal bandwidth of your team, as an outside marketing agency has the capabilities to implement effective strategies.
- Collaborate With the Experts: Your company is great at what you do, but an outside firm knows communication and marketing backwards and forwards. They'll be able to effectively lead your company through the entire marketing and design process.
- Get a Fresh Perspective: When your team is constantly churning out projects, the process can get myopic. Having an outside point of view can allow you to borrow strategies from other industries in unique ways.
Just as with any decision, there are also some potential fears that businesses often face when they’re considering making an outside hire. These include:
- Outside Marketing Experts Need to Be Accessible: While an outside team may not be an in-house entity, they will be highly responsive. They collaborate with you every step of the way so that everyone is always on the same page.
- Your Marketer Might Not Know Your Business as Well as You Do: Some outside agencies choose not to focus on a single industry in their marketing services. When partnering with a client, you want them to own the sector. Clients are deeply vested in their own industry -- they are the experts. However, an outside agency is a quick study and can quickly learn what’s needed when it comes to highly technical lines of work.
What Can an Outside Marketing Agency Offer to a Company?: While hiring an outside marketing agency will add an expense to your budget line, it can also provide significant value. Here is why hiring a professional marketing firm makes sense:
- You’ll work with a team of experts to get better results.
- You can save on the costs associated with hiring internal staff (i.e., full-time salaries, benefits, and training).
- You’ll be able to generate and track measurable leads.
By investing in marketing solutions, you can often get a good return on investment, while allowing your company to focus on the things that it can do best by freeing up employee time and attention.
Benefits of Internal Marketing Specialists
There are several positive aspects to hiring internal marketing specialists as well. These include:
- Company Pride: A good employee understands and supports your mission. This will be reflected in your marketing strategy.
- Internal Alignment With Other Departments: Since your employees are all under one roof, your communication channels are always open. This offers enhanced efficiency and collaboration on ideas.
- Accountability: If your internal marketing specialist is in-house, you're better able to supervise projects and jump in where necessary.
However, there are also several real drawbacks to hiring in-house marketing teams. These include:
- Added Responsibility: If you're onboarding a new hire to handle your marketing campaigns, this will require the supervision of someone else on your staff.
- Employee Burnout: Over time, as the company pushes out campaign after campaign, employees can fall into a creative rut.
- Limited Expertise: An inside marketing expert may only specialize in a couple of skills. If you want a robust marketing strategy, you will need to hire multiple people for specific areas, such as web development, graphic design, and copywriting.
Related: Is Your Marketing Department Overworked?
Making the Case to Executives That a Professional Marketing Firm Is Necessary
If you're trying to convince your boss that hiring a professional marketing firm is the right move, they should know that this doesn't have to be an either-or scenario. You can serve as the point person for the outside firm so that the company gets the best of both worlds! And if you need an exceptional marketing expert to come in and help, get in touch with Ironmark today. Our team understands the pressures you’re under and is ready and excited to help lighten the load!
