Marketing is something that can be extremely effective at generating sales and business growth if it’s done correctly. While there’s no denying that marketing is a specialized skill, it’s surprisingly common for small businesses to attempt to handle marketing internally even if they don’t have someone with marketing experience on staff.
Select Funding works with small business owners to help them get the working capital they need to pursue their business objectives. That includes providing them with the money they need to make marketing a priority. One of the most common questions we hear is about whether it’s worthwhile to hire a small business marketing agency.
Since every business is unique, here are 11 advantages and disadvantages of hiring a small business marketing agency for your company.
What Does a Small Business Marketing Agency Do?
A small business marketing agency can do a lot to help any company grow. While there are dozens of specific marketing tactics they can carry out on your behalf. We will focus on the big picture things that a good digital marketing agency can do.
Identify Marketing Opportunities
Most small business owners aren’t marketing experts, so they may lack the knowledge to recognize a good marketing opportunity when it presents itself. That’s where a small business marketing agency can help. They can easily identify the best marketing opportunities to help you pursue your business goals.
Execute Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Marketing strategy requires an understanding of how various marketing tactics can work together to achieve an objective. A good marketing agency will be able to create an overall marketing strategy for your small business, identify specific tactics to execute the strategy, and implement everything with precision to bring about the best possible results.
Measure and Analyze the Performance of Marketing Campaigns
One area where a lot of small businesses fall short is in tracking the performance of their marketing campaigns. They might know that they’ve collected a few leads or made a few sales as a result of the campaign, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they go deep enough to tweak the campaign if that should be necessary. A small business marketing agency will analyze the results of every campaign and make adjustments to make the campaign successful.
Provide Specialized Marketing Services
In addition to the things we’ve already mentioned, small business marketing agencies may also provide specialized digital marketing services. Here are some examples:
- Website development and design
- Search engine optimization
- Social media marketing
- Content marketing
- Pay-per-click advertising
- Email marketing
Since no small business can afford to ignore digital marketing and social media advertising, it makes sense to partner with an agency that offers the services you need.
What Can a Small Business Marketing Agency Do For Your Brand?
Branding is an essential element of small business marketing and can help your company create a strong and memorable online presence.
A digital marketing agency can help you solidify your brand by identifying and honing your brand’s voice and personality. Consistency is a must with any online marketing because you want your target audience to know who you are and what you do–and for the messaging you convey to be the same wherever they find you online.
On a related note, your marketing agency can help you create customer personas to make your marketing more effective than it is now. A customer persona is the embodiment of your ideal customer and should include your customer’s identifying characteristics, pain points, and desires.
Practically speaking, a good marketing consultant can also help you eliminate inconsistencies in the way your company is mentioned online by standardizing your online listings, claiming your company on review sites, and even using digital marketing solutions to monitor and reply to reviews. These things all play a role in identifying your brand.
11 Advantages and Disadvantages of Hiring a Small Business Marketing Agency
Here are some of the advantages (and potential disadvantages) of hiring a small business marketing agency for your business.
Advantages of Hiring a Small Business Marketing Agency
Let’s start with the ways that a small business marketing agency can help your business.
#1: Expert Knowledge
The first big advantage of hiring a digital marketing agency is that you’ll get access to expert knowledge about marketing strategies and tactics. Since most small business owners aren’t marketing pros, it makes sense to outsource marketing to someone who understands how to do it.
#2: Brand Identity
Having a clear and consistent brand is at the heart of effective marketing. Hiring a marketing agency can help you solidify your brand, create a commanding and consistent online presence, and identify the people who are most likely to want your products or services.
#3: Creativity
It’s the job of professional marketers to think outside the box. They have the creativity to conceptualize effective marketing campaigns that will capture the attention and imagination of the people in your target audience. They may come up with innovative content creation ideas and unique ways to convey your brand’s message.
#4: Time
A lot of small business owners think they can save money by doing everything themselves, but they’re leaving out one important factor: their time. While it’s certainly true that you could handle your own marketing, the chances are good that it will take you far longer than it would take an expert. When you hire a digital marketing agency, you’re also freeing up your time to focus on running your business and achieving your most important goals.
#5: Marketing Strategy
A lack of marketing strategy is a significant pitfall when small businesses attempt to handle marketing internally. There’s a tendency to launch campaigns without thinking about how they align with your goals and the result may be a scattershot approach that undermines your objectives. A marketing agency will look at the big picture and create an overall digital marketing strategy that aligns with your brand and makes it possible to achieve the success you deserve.
#6: Content
Content creation is a must for online marketing and it can be a time-consuming process that can eat into your ability to do other things. An experienced marketing firm will have access to seasoned professionals who can write content, design a website, or create compelling, one-of-a-kind graphics or videos. The right content can mean the difference between success and failure, so the investment makes sense.
#7: Analysis and Testing
Even if you’re doing a decent job of marketing your small business, you may be falling short when it comes to analyzing the results of your campaigns and fine-tuning them to be sure they’re delivering the results you need. Any good agency will prioritize these things, testing elements of each campaign and tracking essential metrics to measure success.
Disadvantages of Hiring a Small Business Marketing Agency
Now, let’s look at some of the potential downsides of partnering with a marketing agency to promote your small business.
#1: Cost
The first potential disadvantage of working with a marketing agency is the cost, something that looms large for a lot of small businesses. If your budget is already stretched thin, it might be difficult to justify the expense of hiring a marketing agency. We suggest getting quotes from several agencies to compare costs. You should also factor in your time–as noted above–and what you could be doing to help your business succeed if you could take marketing off your plate.
#2: Multiple Clients
When you handle marketing on your own, you’re the only client and your company has your full focus. That won’t be the case with a marketing agency, which will certainly have multiple clients whose needs they must address every day. However, you can mitigate this risk by choosing a firm where you have a dedicated contact and clear communication. After all, most marketing doesn’t require minute-to-minute monitoring to be effective.
#3: Lack of Industry Experience
Another potential downside to consider is that you may not find an affordable marketing agency that has experience in your industry or niche. It’s certainly easier to market a restaurant if you understand restaurant marketing on a deep level and the same goes for any industry. A good marketing agency will take the time to get to know your business and industry, and your money will be better spent if you hire a company that already understands your industry.
#4: Lack of Control
One of the most difficult things for small business owners to do is to give up control of any aspect of their business and that includes marketing. If you do decide to partner with an agency, you’ll need to agree to let them do what they do best. You can still have input, of course, but it’s important to understand that you’ll be ceding some control to an outside entity.
Get Working Capital to Hire a Small Business Marketing Agency
Hiring a small business marketing agency is an effective way to improve your marketing strategy and align it with your most important business goals and objectives. The 11 advantages and disadvantages we’ve listed here will help you evaluate your options and make the best decision for your small business.
Are you wondering how to pay for a small business marketing agency? Select Funding is here to help! Click here to learn about our small business financing and begin the application process today.
