In order to grow your brand in today’s increasingly competitive world, having an effective and thorough marketing strategy is more important than ever. Partnering with an external agency to work with your in-house team has often helped organizations looking to scale fast.
Here are a few benefits that you can avail yourself by partnering with an external agency.
Benefits of Partnering with an External Agency
1. Fills expertise gaps
Your in-house team might have a few marketing experts across functions such as social media or designers, but you need multiple other skill sets such as web developer, marketing campaign experts, content writers, SEO professionals etc. Will you be able to leverage all of these experts 100 %? The answer is NO. At the same time, an external agency will have access to a team of designers, writers, web developers, and strategists, all with a wide range of specialist skills and expertise..
This allows you to fill expertise gaps within your marketing team, making the company more productive and efficient without hiring a dozen new full-time employees.
2. Improves operational efficiency
The in-house marketing team is generally occupied in non-value add tasks. They need to on an ongoing basis manage the day-to-day operations, ensure that the marketing campaigns are running smoothly, and keep up with industry trends. If they have an agency partner, it can be a huge help.
Agencies are experts in their industry. They also bring in new ideas and innovations that the company may have yet to consider. This is best for companies looking to grow their business or make changes in their strategy.
3. Bring Fresh Perspective
Your team might know your product the best, but familiarity can cause complacency. With a fresh pair of eyes comes fresh ideas. External agencies like us live and breathe marketing and brand building. Our daily job includes working for different clients, coming up with new ideas, pushing the boundaries, and seeking new ways to approach things to ensure your brand reaches its full potential.
4. Cost-effective and less long-term commitment
Having an agency is more cost-effective because it is cheaper than hiring a whole in-house team, but it still provides the expertise needed for content creation, digital strategy, and web development. Plus, agencies can offer more services with one-on-one attention as opposed to large teams of employees. The sweet spot could be having 1-2 employees with a deep understanding of your brand and a highly skilled agency for doing all the tasks with their expertise.
Also, agencies work on different models, which gives you much more flexibility; depending on your work and how you want to work, you can opt to work on a retainer basis or on a project-by-project basis, so we are there as and when you need us. This implies that you won’t have to worry about hiring a full-time employee and trying to fill their days when the work is less or during slow periods.
Working with experienced professionals can help your organization target an even broader and more relevant audience, eventually increasing your ROI. Thus, combining an agency with your in-house team gives you the best of both worlds and a greater edge over your competition.
What Makes a Perfect Agency Match?
Working with an agency is a great strategy to boost your marketing efforts but does that necessarily mean that it will benefit your organization as well? Nowadays, there are numerous options to choose from: hiring a freelancer, a full-time employee, or an agency. To understand what’s best for you, the first step is to identify whether your business challenge can be solved by hiring an agency.
Here are a few reasons why an agency might be the best choice for your organization:
- Sales are stagnant
- You want to hire a complete team but lack the budget
- You have a small team and need fresh ideas
- You need to speed up the process and need more resources
The list can go on and on. Once you identify why you need an agency, finding the right one becomes much easier. Let’s find out:
How Do You Choose the Best Marketing Agency for Your Business?
1. Go through different agencies’ portfolio
Once you have clarity on what exactly you want the agency to do, you can start your search in that particular direction. For example, if you want help in email marketing and you hire an agency whose USP is social media marketing, then it won’t be as beneficial for you as it could be.
2. Check if they are a cultural fit or clash
Do you get along? If yes, what are your mutual goals? Does the marketing agency respect your current brand voice/tone, and will they take your assets into consideration when they create promotional collaterals? Do their ideologies align with yours?
Eventually, your approach to work can differ, but your working style and goals need to be on the same page. No matter how highly recommended the agency is, you need to identify if you can work together or not.
3. Figure out how to work collaboratively
You need to decide what precisely the marketing agency will need to do. For instance, if you have great video editors and graphic designers in your in-house team, then you can probably use the agency’s expertise in email marketing. This way, you can work collaboratively and help your brand to achieve its marketing goals.
4. Pricing
One of the biggest challenges when it comes to hiring any vendor is pricing. Do your research and get an idea of prices for the services you need. You can find an agency with multiple price ranges, you need to see the financial cost with the expected RoI A word of advice: Pricing shouldn’t be the only deciding factor unless you are getting a very mundane task.
Conclusion
Every organization’s needs are different, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Not every organization needs an outside agency. Nor should every organization build an in-house marketing team. Sometimes you have the money but need more time to develop a resource internally, or you have less number of skilled employees and want variety. There could be numerous factors affecting your decision. So, be objective and do a proper analysis. Evaluate where you currently stand and what are your future needs to figure out the best possible solution and make the right investment decision.
