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5 Reasons for Your Small Business Not to Hire a Marketing Agency

Denver Marketing Firm

Coming from a large corporation background, I’m somewhat new to the agency world and, as I learn more about inbound marketing and our company’s responsibility to our clients, some key facts are becoming evident. There are many reasons why our clients choose us to manage their marketing efforts, but it is easy to also see why a small business might choose not to hire us.

You can find many online articles explaining why a small business should hire a digital marketing agency but I want to offer a different perspective so that all considerations can be put into play before choosing an agency to represent you to the world. So here are five reasons not to hire a digital marketing agency.

You Can Afford an In-House Marketing Team

According to Salary.com the average annual salary for a marketing manager in the U.S. is $129,322. That amount equals to roughly $10,800 a month; add to that monthly cost the salary for additional team members and the total monthly cost will increase exponentially.

Your Customers Do Not Use Social Media

The vast majority of sources for online leads are social media channels. If neither your current nor potential clients are using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn then digital marketing may not be an avenue worth exploring.

You Have Extra Free Time

At the beginning of a marketing campaign much time is spent creating a strategy. This process has many pieces and can be very time-consuming. If a business owner has extra time, they could use it to spend time analyzing their website, current traffic, expected goals, personas, campaign timing, content creation calendar, and the rest of the steps to create what could be a very successful inbound marketing strategy.

Your Website Gets Tons of Traffic

If your business’ website already receives tens of thousands of views on a daily basis, chances are you might not see a need for a marketing strategy. Why create a digital strategy when customers can’t seem to get enough of your website, right?

You Know How to Tell a Marketing Qualified Lead from a Non-Qualified Lead

Once a potential client arrives to your website there should be a clearly defined funnel which embarks them on a buyer’s journey to become a marketing qualified lead. If this is something which is clearly defined by your current marketing strategy then no additional work is needed from an outside source.

On the other hand, these five reasons are not always common in the world of small business marketing.

If your small business is experiencing none of the above, then it may be time to look at the arguments and potential benefits of using a digital marketing agency.

  • Most small businesses are full of experts in their industries and the time spent honing the skills needed to be considered experts should be valued and spent providing those services or products to their clients. Creating, managing, monitoring and analyzing digital marketing campaigns are items which can be much simpler to outsource to an agency that has marketing experts.
  • On average, the monthly retainer cost of hiring a digital marketing agency can range from $3,500 to $8,000 but will vary based on company size and needs. Regardless of which end of the range your business might fall, the cost savings versus an in-house marketing team (which as stated before starts at $10,800 a month) is pretty clear.
  • As of January 2014, the Pew Research Center has provided data which declares that 74% of all internet users were on social media sites. The chances that any business’ clients are not utilizing social media are very low. Social media marketing is an intricate process that should be clearly defined with the help of professionals.
  • While getting as many eyes to view your products or services sounds like a step in the right direction, this must be compared with the number of sales qualified leads. If the ratio of views to leads is greatly uneven then it is likely that the website probably needs optimization. This kind of optimization is one of the first steps that should be taken by a competent digital marketing agency.
  • One of the single most important aspects of a successful marketing campaign is the ability to seamlessly separate marketing qualified leads from those who are not. A digital marketing agency should focus a great deal of time analyzing what makes a lead qualified and assist the client in monitoring the process of nurturing those qualified leads once they are identified. 

If you are currently not experiencing any of the five reasons not to hire a digital marketing agency, then it may be time to evaluate which areas of your business you need to be focused on. This evaluation would not only be helpful prior to deciding if a digital marketing agency would be beneficial to your small business but would also help if you decide to hire one. A good place to start assessing your business is by learning how to set SMART goals

define your marketing goals