You are ready to amp up your digital marketing strategy, but now you have to choose a team. What are the pros and cons to hiring a full service digital marketing agency? Finding the right team depends on what you are looking for when outsourcing your digital marketing.
Here are some things you will want to watch out for.
The Cons of Hiring a Full Service Digital Marketing Agency
An agency can offer an entire range of marketing support, from strategy to implementation and reporting. Here are some potential disadvantages you may face when working with a full service digital marketing agency.
Navigating the Learning Curve
The agency may not be able to nail down your voice on the first attempt or they might not be completely aligned with your vision. All clients and companies are very different in their preferences and approach. In order to have a great relationship with your agency, you may have to do a bit of back and forth at first.
Be prepared for a period of onboarding and don’t just assume an agency will automatically know what you want. The best relationships are usually developed over time. A great full service digital marketing agency is going to start pinpointing what you need as a company and be able to form a better fit over time.
Understanding Communication Requirements
Part of the relationship building with an agency is going to require great communication on both ends. You will have to communicate what you need or want to achieve. The agency will have to communicate what they are doing, what trends they see happening and how things are playing out.
This may require a little more work than clients expect when looking to outsource marketing. If you want a truly robust digital marketing strategy in place, you will need to be involved with okaying decisions and providing feedback.
Finding Professionals You Trust
When you entrust part or all of your marketing to a company, you have to be able to trust them to do it well. Sometimes businesses try to save money by hiring a sole specialist or low-cost marketing expert. You often get what you pay for. You need to choose professionals who won’t harm your brand image or set you back in both time and money with a failed strategy.
And, in some cases, the professionals you meet at the agency during the consultation aren’t the ones you will really work with on a regular basis. It can be a huge hassle if you choose the wrong agency and have to start over later.
Choosing a top digital marketing agency with professionals you trust is a key part of this process. Make sure you are meeting the rep who will really handle your account and you know who you will be working with if that contact is out sick or leaves the company.
Finding the Right Size
People who say size don’t matter aren’t being honest. One size definitely does not fit all. Too big and you could be ignored with a sluggish company that isn’t responsive when you need to make a sudden pivot. Too small and there could be gaps in skill sets with professionals trying to wear too many hats.
You want to find an agency that will focus on your business, but you also need to find a team of skilled professionals who are able to do all aspects of your marketing exceedingly well.
Lacking Industry Knowledge
A great agency may lack key knowledge in your respective industry. This might mean they struggle with the lingo and miss key details about what you do because they don’t understand the importance. It might mean they have a hard time creating messaging that appeals to your target customers.
You can search for an agency that clearly has experience in your industry and understands important things, like compliance. You can also find a great marketing agency that will throw itself into learning your industry and understanding your needs. This could require some training, but it also might mean they bring fewer assumptions to the table.
The Pros to Hiring a Full Service Digital Marketing Agency
There are a lot of benefits to hiring an agency that can handle all aspects of your marketing plan. Here are the benefits you can take advantage of with the right agency at your side.
One Touchpoint
There is a huge disadvantage if you are trying to work with multiple professionals and wrangle them all together to fit into a cohesive marketing strategy. If you don’t have an in-house team, you are going to end up with a rag-tag bunch of contracted employees and need someone to pull the different pieces together. With a full service digital marketing agency, you can have a sole touchpoint who does all that wrangling and organizing for you.
Multiple Pros
The full service digital marketing agency is able to take the work off your plate and provide an expert approach that should provide more effective results. You get multiple professionals who are skilled at various parts of marketing under one roof.
A full service digital marketing agency is going to offer media strategy, execution across search, social, and programmatic, creative development and many other services from professionals who are well-versed in their respective areas. Because they are professionals in these areas, they should be more knowledgeable and effective than you would be if you did the marketing yourself.
Cost-Effective
You get the power of a team without paying the individual salaries to have one in-house. You will end up paying more than if you did it yourself, but you will save a lot of time with professionals who are going to have a bigger impact on your audience. Not only will you save on a team, but your ROI should be high with the right full service digital marketing agency.
Choosing the Right Digital Marketing Agency
There are potential pitfalls and benefits in any choice you consider. The Digilant team has experience working with a variety of industries helping them improve their marketing with our one-stop, full service agency. Contact us today and let’s talk about what our team could do for you.