When it comes to the very important task of online marketing, there’s more than just one way to go about it. With your options being so varied, however, sometimes it’s hard to know who’s the best to handle the job and where you should go in order to get the best possible results for your business. In house marketing vs agency is a constant debate that business owners have to struggle with. Weighing the pros and cons are important when making your choice, and knowing what each of them have to offer is crucial to making sure that you’re getting what you need.
Which is why I’ve compiled that list for you! Below, I’ll get into the nitty gritty details of what each can offer you. What does hiring in house do for you that an online marketing agency can’t match with, and vice versa? Though each of them can lead you to success in the field by gaining sufficient traffic and leads, there are subtle differences in the way things work, and leading through each of them will put you one step closer to getting the results you’ve been waiting for. So, which is better in the case of in house marketing vs agency? Let’s get started!
In House Marketing vs Agency and The CLICK Technique: “K” For “Keep Going”
Before we get into the details of in house marketing vs agency, however, we have to talk about The CLICK Technique! A five day crash course that I’ve invented, The CLICK Technique is here to help you with your traffic and leads. If you find yourself and your website stuck with nowhere to go, then The CLICK Technique is just what you need. Each letter in the word “CLICK” stands for another step in the process of online marketing that’ll lead you to success—I can guarantee it!
For the case of in house marketing vs agency, we’ll be focusing on the last letter of the word CLICK—“K”, which stands for “keep going”. Once you’ve established yourself as a strong business and you’ve set yourself up with prospects and opportunities, you have to keep pushing forward in order to find that success. It doesn’t happen overnight, and having a strong dose of patience will do both yourself and your company wonders in terms of achieving your traffic and leads.
In house marketing vs agency works under the same premise: online marketing is an extremely important step in maintaining your business and your brand, and having the confidence in whatever method you choose involves you to simply keep going in the face of possible defeat. Online marketing is a huge test—making sure that you’re reaching all the demographics you’re looking for while doing it efficiently and perfectly is a try and succeed process, and with the ideology to just keep going when things don’t pan out perfectly, you’ll find the success you’ve signed on for.
In House Marketing vs Agency: The Pros and Cons and What To Ask
Now that we know about the hard work that goes into online marketing, we can get into the differences between in house marketing vs agency. While a team of people who are specialists in their job seems like a choice that anyone would take, there’s a lot more that goes into the process than one might think. Making sure you’ve covered all your bases and are sitting in the best possible position is important when it comes to a decision like this—and that’s what we’re here to help you with.
The Pros Of In House Marketing
In house marketing is something that a lot of people would prefer to do over hiring out to an agency. The pros of in house marketing vs agency are easy to consider; for instance, the product or company expertise is more than enough reason to consider keeping it local. When you hire an agency, a new company comes on, and they have to spend time getting to know and understand your business. While it seems menial in the long run, the process can take some time to effectively create funnels, especially without feedback from people. After all, people who have other jobs in the company don’t exactly want to spend time explaining the company to the marketing team instead of doing their actual job.
With an inside employee, you have someone who can effectively talk to other employees, be completely immersed in your company, and understand what your customers want and what’s going on. An online marketing team can do that as well, of course; it just takes time, and it’ll never be to the amount that an in house employee will have. Just another reason to consider in house marketing vs agency.
On top of that, they have an easier access to the company’s culture. When hiring an agency, most of the time they’ll require that the company provide photos of the business. However, popular social media marketing platforms like Facebook and Instagram are more personal than most, giving the employee that already works there the upper hand when creating and curating that content.
In the case of in house marketing vs agency, sometimes hiring an agency can feel like you’ve thrown the ball over the fence and are hoping that traffic and leads will come through. However, with an in house employee, you can see what they’re doing, you’re talking back and forth, they’re on your team, they’re at weekly meetings, and they’re really integrated into the team. You feel like you have control over such an important part of your business, and that matters when you’re trying to push forward.
The Pros of Hiring An Agency
Now, we’ve talked about in house marketing, but what can an agency offer that in house marketing cannot? For starters, hiring an agency is lower cost than in house marketing. Of the team that you’re hiring, you’re getting a lot of professionals that specialize in what they’re doing. For example, the team at Traffic and Leads involves One Click Lindsey, a marketing strategist, an SEO specialist, a PPC leader, a Facebook marketing expert, and so many people in charge of copywriting and design. With such a well-staffed team working on your marketing, you’ll never have to wait on anything, nor will you have to wonder how it’s going to be created. When it comes to in house marketing vs agency, this is something to truly keep in mind.
With all those exceptionally qualified people who are tirelessly working in their field, it’s hard to think that there’s just one person on your staff that could know all of this information, let alone know it and understand it enough to make a viable funnel and online marketing work. Honestly, it’s really hard to find that one person—and if you do find them, you have to start thinking about the financial aspect. What will this cost your company if you’re hiring in house? You have salary to consider, along with other expenses, such as hiring and recruitment costs, performance reviews, benefits, and others. It’s hard to say, but sometimes, the cost of having employees doesn’t always weigh out, and the cost of having them is higher than the amount of productivity going out.
Something that truly sets an agency apart in the case of in house marketing vs agency, as well, is diversifying your marketing. When you hire a team, your marketing is completely diversified, and to find someone who’s genuine excellent at all of those skills are hard to find, hard to keep, and really expensive. Trusting a team of people to handle it for you is the best option, and will make sure that you’re getting a well rounded online marketing campaign, as opposed to something coming from a singular output.
What To Ask Potential Agencies
As an addendum to the conversation of in house marketing vs agency, we’ve compiled a list of things you should always keep in mind when considering an agency and a collection of questions you shouldn’t be afraid of asking. Making sure you’re getting what you’re paying for is extremely important, and whether you hire in house or hire out, that information is nothing something to skip over.
When considering an agency, the first thing you should be asking is, what is your process? What can you expect in the first month? The second month? When can you expect the traffic and leads to come in? Knowing how they plan to operate their business with you is extremely important, and fundamental in the upcoming months of building traffic and leads.
Second, you want to know who is on their team and who will be working the account. Getting to know who’s going to be in charge of your account during this time is important, and asking who you’re working with to see if you can possibly meet them to see if you’ll mix well is a wonderful idea.
After those are answered, you’ll want to know what their process for communication with clients is and what sort of analytics they plan on tracking. Communication is key when it comes to working with clients, and when you’re trying to execute such an important thing for your business, you want to make sure you’re staying in touch as much as possible. Online marketing in and of itself is a long game. It’s like planting a garden. You’ll plant the seeds months before you start seeing the results. Analytics should be tracking more than just traffic; you want things like conversions, engagements, and click through ranks. It’s how you’ll be able to know where you’re actually improving and what you should be watching to keep the progress as constant as possible.
Looking forward, you’ll also want to get into the details of financials—what’s included with their fee and what costs extra? Specifically, when you sign up for a marketing agency, you want to ask “what’s the ad spend, what’s the expectation of ad spend, and is that included in the fee?”. More often than not, the ‘gotcha’ is in the ad spend, and you’ll want to have a conversation if you’re going to be running paid traffic (which you probably will be) about what the expectation of ad spend is. When planning to work with an agency as well, you’ll want to see successful examples of their work, whether it be through talking to previous customers or looking up reviews of the company yourself. You might be surprised at how many people will report on unprofessional tactics you could easily avoid. Be aware!
In House Marketing vs Agency: Getting You The Best Results
Overall, online marketing is a big test. If we knew how to get them traffic and leads on the first try, we’d be much wealthier than we are now! As online marketers, we have to do a lot of testing, including filling out the demographic and determining what they’re going to respond to. Regardless of if you choose in house marketing vs agency, the process just takes time. As long as whoever you’re working with is keeping in constant contact with you, you should be able to take a back seat and relax while the team goes to work.
You need to plant seeds within first few months before you start reaping what you sow. Keep that in mind when considering in house marketing vs agency. And either way, be patient with them and trust the process. If you ask them any of the questions listed and you’re ready to take online marketing seriously, you need to put your trust in the company and let them do their work. Remember, just because you don’t see results right away doesn’t mean the process isn’t working. The team is constantly working to make it perfect, and they won’t give up until you’ve gotten what you’re looking for.