Business owners who are eager to develop their online presence are often faced with a dilemma. Should your company outsource its internet marketing?
There are many factors which you should consider. These include things like budgets and how important internet marketing is for your business strategy. Below are some advantages and disadvantages to help you decide if your company should outsource its internet marketing.
Agency
Advantages
- Multi skilled – Some digital marketers come with limited skills and knowledge. An agency is likely to have other employees or experts in different fields such as web design.
- More connections – Agency’s tend to have more connections with other companies and can help spread the word.
- Customisable plans – Working with an agency can help you define what you want to achieve each month for a set budget. For example with a small budget you could have 1 piece of content and an email campaign.
- Experience at different types of companies – Working for many different companies, agencies have knowledge of different industries. This could help create links or relationships to your products.
- Expertise – Agency’s will be more organised by having plans of action and dedicated online tools, to get going straight away.
Disadvantages
- Lack of knowledge of your company – An agency has less knowledge of your company and how you operate. This could develop overtime but they won’t have the advantage of seeing the day to day running.
- Limited quantity of work – An agency will only agree to do a set amount of work for a fixed fee.
- Response time slower – Depending on the size of the agency and how busy they are, response times for changes may take longer.
In house
Advantages
- Learn more knowledge about your brand – An employee will understand how the company works. They pick up greater knowledge of the product or service and can generate more in-depth content around it. Campaigns can appear more personal and passionate.
- Unlimited campaigns and activity (based on time) – Employees aren’t limited by the amount of content they can produce (except time and motivation). This means that they can produce as many blogs, email campaigns, videos etc.
- Fast response time – Employees will have a greater level of responsibility and can therefore make changes quickly. They can also gauge the level of importance for some tasks.
- Able to communicate with customers – Your employees will also have control over social media and with their knowledge (such as prices) can respond instantly. However agency’s would need to pass the details over to the company.
Disadvantages
- May become bored of same topics – In the past when working for companies, I’ve become bored of the product or service. There are only some many angles and spins you can put on information before you hit a wall. The quality of content may suffer and the employee may become burnt out.
- Expensive if not used efficiently – Depending on how independent the employee is, they may run out of ideas and be sat there waiting for instruction. Often when working for companies who want greater control, I’ve been sat without work due to the management style of the organisation.
Conclusion
So should my company outsource its internet marketing?I think the answer to this mainly depends on the size of your company and how much you rely on internet marketing. A larger company with a greater amount of income may afford to be able to hire someone full time. This allows the individual to fully understand the company and what it stands for, allowing them to produce more engaging content.
A small company who wishes to generate traffic online usually doesn’t have the money to employ a dedicated person. Which means an agency is a much more affordable solution, they can also quickly start gaining a presence and help boost your online performance.
If your budget is between £0 – £1200 per month then it’s wise to use it with an agency. Alternatively if you feel that your company is making greater returns online and wish to push further. It might be time to consider taking on a full time employee.
If your company wishes to outsource its internet marketing, Pug Mug Marketing can help you. Call us on 0121 285 2266 or email us hello@pugmugmarketing.com
Kevin has been involved in Digital Marketing for over 10 years. He’s worked with a variety of small businesses from telecommunications companies to skirting board manufacturers.
Working in small businesses has led him to develop various skills from graphic design to web design and search engine optimisation.
Along with his degree in Business Management and his digital marketing experience he formed Pug Mug Marketing in 2017.
After growing many small businesses, he believes he has the experience to help grow yours.