When does it make sense to work with an agency?
All cards on the table - I work for an inbound marketing agency, Orange Pegs. That said, we're not always the right choice. Sometimes it makes more sense to hire a consultant, delegate the work internally, or go a completely different route altogether.
I'll be publishing an article about the cons of working with an inbound marketing agency shortly, so you can see that not everybody fits the mould.
But here are all of the positive things you can expect when engaging an inbound agency.
After the pros, I'm actually going to add a couple of reasons that could go either way on the issue as well. If you have others you'd like to add, DM me!
PROS
We work off of a tested formula
You hire an inbound marketing agency because you have specific objectives you want to reach. We know we can help you hit your objectives following a tested methodology that is proven to work. Here's a little more about the formula, so you can see what I'm talking about.
We make data-driven decisions
Historically, marketing has been quite subjective with regards to measuring success. But because we're operating in a digital world, we're able to gather data that tells us, in black and white, what's working and what needs improvement.
We can do ALL of the heavy lifting
Many of you understand the benefits of inbound marketing and even have a sound understanding of the formula itself. The challenge for you is in execution. WHO is going to create the SEO and big picture strategies? WHO is going to write the blogs, develop the content downloads, send the emails, analyze the data, and make decisions on how to proceed?
We will. All of it. You can also participate, and we can make it easy for you and your team to do so.
New to inbound? Check out this free guide to getting started to see what it's all about:
This ain't our first rodeo
... not with inbound, not with inbound for staffing agencies or software companies or professional services or even e-commerce.
But it's likely yours.
For those of you thinking about doing it on your own, be aware that there is a learning curve involved... not just in the methodology itself, but how you communicate, collaborate, delegate responsibilities, and plan ahead. And there's DEFINITELY a difference between industries.
I'll be the first to admit that our early years were full of experiments in this regard, and there were plenty of failures.
- Communication is key. But it's not just the back and forth; it's the centralization of communication. Where and how its stored. This is important for staying organized, succession planning, and meeting deadlines.
- Collaboration requires strong communication. It also requires the proper tools (such as Trello for white-boarding new ideas).
- Delegating responsibilities is more than just saying, "tag, you're it." It requires finding the proper skill-sets and extreme organization. We use Basecamp3 to assign tasks to individuals, and help our project leads stay on top of timely delivery. And our talent is extremely talented in their respective deliverables.
- Planning ahead keeps us from falling behind. It also forces us to get analytical, and set up experiments to ensure we're executing properly. There was a time when we wrote and published blog posts on the fly and our content offers were planned just before executing. However, this created problems when our clients fell behind or somebody was sick. It also made it impossible to take our time and choose the best possible offers.
- Today, we're always a month ahead in our blogs, a week or two ahead in our general social media curation, and we start planning our next content offer before the last is published.
We have an easy to follow delivery system
There is a lot of planning that goes into what we do. There are also a TON of moving parts. Since this isn't our first rodeo, we know the pitfalls of non-communication, and we know how important it is to detail out every step of the planning and delivery process.
This is a tremendous help to our clients when they participate with content creation. It's also important for our own succession planning.
We OWN lead generation and create sales predictability
Every month you can expect a certain number of leads to come through based on our formula. This makes it easier for you to forecast, and easier for your salespeople to plan their days and weeks.
Our deliverable is easy for sales to take advantage of
We don't make it difficult for sales to plug into the inbound program. In fact, we dedicate part of our service specifically to collaborating with sales to accomplish the following:
- Provide insights on how to leverage the content we develop
- Receive feedback about the content
- Brainstorm on new content ideas
- Dissect leads to determine quality and hand-off points
- Ensure we are not stepping on each other's toes
- Create crystal clear accountability between teams
We live and breathe inbound marketing (what is it?)
This is what we do. Just like you spend every day building your staffing agency or software company... Growing businesses using the inbound methodology is our jam, and it's all we do every single day.
We have a "hive" mentality
Sharing is caring with inbound, particularly here at Orange Pegs. We face challenges together, share success stories, and none of us are operating in silos. Even our Digital Marketers on Demand (DMoD), our digital marketing staffing service, is part of our hive.
You don't have to hire anybody
When you hire an agency, you don't have to deal with all of that messy paperwork, nor do you have to worry about dealing with training, firing, or succession planning.
You get a bigger bang for the buck & don't need a "unicorn"
Let's say you go the route of hiring somebody to do this job. You're going to have to fill a LOT of different skill-sets, which I'll break down for you, and I'll even categorize them based on how WE typically delegate, so you can get an idea of how many people are involved on any single project:
Dedicated members:
- PROJECT LEAD:
- Strategy development - big picture, tactical, etc
- Project management - organize, delegate, hold accountable
- Client interaction - interact with you/management
- Development oversight - quality control, vendor management
- A/B testing/growth hacking
- Reporting
- CONTENT CREATOR:
- Blogging
- Social media (although sometimes done by a SM specialist)
- Offer creation
- Email copy
- Website copy
- Landing pages
- ADS MANAGEMENT
- Adwords
- Youtube
- PROOFREADER
Specialists (need by need basis)
- Graphics design, logos, etc
- Web developer
- Webinar specialist
Read why an inbound agency can be simpler and more cost effective than a contractor.
"Unicorns" are those amazingly talented people that can do ALL of the above and do it all well. But they aren't cheap, can burn out quickly, lose interest or get bored, and no matter how strong they are in some areas, they still have their weaknesses.
They also require an all-or-nothing investment, so if there is turnover, you have to start from scratch again. Read more about the different types of marketing consultants here.
At the end of the day, a full-time hire for a unicorn could cost you well over $10,000/month. Putting together a team of consultants could cost you the same or more, and then you have to deal with all of the other issues mentioned in this article (learning curve, delivery process, finding the right formula, finding talent you can trust, etc).
Learn more about how inbound marketing agencies price their business.
CONCLUSION:
Executing inbound marketing isn't as simple as flipping a switch. What we do is immersive, complex, and fitting of both short term and long term goals. It's possible that what you need at this point in time is actually a marketing consultant that can provide a number of deliverables such as slide decks, marketing collateral, AS WELL AS an entry-level inbound program.
If a full-scale inbound program is the step you want to take, I suggest taking a serious look at working with an inbound marketing agency
