Because a well designed digital marketing strategy carries the workload of an entire team, a one person marketing department will always struggle to do everything you need to promote your Fire & Security business
It is very easy to become overwhelmed. If that person is only part-time, it’s an impossible task.
Your business needs some digital marketing help!
Even if you have a full time marketing department, there may still be gaps in digital marketing expertise so working with a freelance specialist or an agency team could also be the way forward for you. It is an ideal way to expand the skills base of your marketing team
Spreading the cost by sharing the workload of digital marketing
A strategic partnership filling the technology or creative gaps in your internal marketing team might be exactly what you need. The agency can be employed in a consulting capacity, limited to creating a strategy for your team to follow.
Alternatively, your partner of choice can manage individual specialties, like SEO, blogging and content creation or Pay Per Click, to ease the burden on your existing team and get results faster. A partnership with an agency should fill the gaps and allows your marketing manager or team to concentrate their time and effort on what they do well.
Having said that, care should be exercised around social media marketing as this was the one area where local business owners surveyed by David Mihm said that they felt they could do a better job than an agency by doing it themselves. See our real life examples further down the page.
Whatever your choice, augmenting your existing team is less expensive than a full service commitment.
What are the risks of getting external help with digital marketing?
As mentioned previously, the biggest risk is choosing the wrong freelancer or digital marketing company to work with your team. That’s obvious! No matter what they are saying or how much they are charging, it doesn’t mean they offer an equivalent service or will provide long-term value.
An agency may talk a good talk. They may appear to tick all the skills boxes. But, if they are unable to pull these together into a coherent strategy or they have weaknesses – like a high turnover of staff – you won’t get the results that you expect. It is critical you consider the following three potential issues at the very least:
1. Walking the walk – Are they successfully doing for themselves the skillset that they say they will do for your company?
2. Communication and reporting – Can they show you data and reports to prove that what they do works? Will they be reporting regularly to you so you can see it working for your business? Not charts with squiggly lines referring to high level numbers that have no bearing on actual traffic, leads and customers.
3. Proof of the pudding – Do they have recommendations confirming that what they will be doing for you actually works? Not just a testimonial that says “They were great!” You need to know what they were great at and whether it resulted in a positive return on investment for that business.
The Lollipop team have delivered a high quality service and achieved excellent results. They have a lot of experience and make it count where it matters. Ultimately – business development is all about the outcomes and at Lollipop that’s what they focus on. Successfully – Tony Wilson, South East Business Boost
Buyer beware – social media marketing help in the real world
A couple of companies who have come to us for social media training have told us horror stories about the agencies they previously used for social media marketing.
One told us there was no plan on how the updates would increase website traffic or generate leads that the sales team could convert into customers. Worse still, it was haphazard and confusing because the wrong words were published with the wrong images. When confronted about the absence of a social media marketing plan, the agency told them they were not being paid enough money for strategy or an increased following! The reality was that they were just ‘putting up stuff‘.
It was a similar story with another business who discovered that an inexperienced young person was handling their social media account. Again, there was no strategy or planning and no cohesion between events that the business was running and the promotion on social media. The business was not getting the attendances they had hoped for because their target audience were not being told about the event. And the youngster handling the account didn’t have the knowledge or expertise to make this happen. Again, it was just ‘putting up stuff‘.
Ready for digital marketing help from a results-driven agency?
If you are struggling with time and technology skills, partnering with an experienced agency to take up the slack left by your in house marketing team can certainly make a huge difference.
Click here to have a chat about how we could produce an inbound strategy for your marketing team.
Still looking at the options to fill your digital marketing gap? Download our eBook that addresses the pros and cons of DIY Digital Marketing, employing a member of staff or hiring an agency full time. Click the image below.
