Every business needs marketing, but not every business is able to staff and retain a full-time marketing team. Some will hire a marketing manager or coordinator, who will then need a team around them. Even large companies that do have their own marketing departments often turn to outsourcing.
All roads eventually lead to a marketing agency—for implementation and/or strategic positioning. An agency can bring unparalleled value to your brand messaging and the big picture that is your business, most notably by:
1. Providing Specialized Services
In a survey by The Creative Group, 71 percent of in-house creative and marketing managers said they found it challenging to find talent in key areas of digital marketing, such as content creation, digital strategy, search engine optimization, social media management and digital strategy.
That means it’s extremely difficult to attract, recruit and retain individuals with these skillsets, much less a marketing manager who can do all of the above while also supporting sales, reporting to higher-ups and putting out the Monday morning fires. The alternatives are to hire per diem specialists who fill these needs or hire a marketing agency that already has these specialists on hand. The per diem approach involves the painful process of hiring multiple freelancers. The agency approach offers a plug-and-go capability, with an account manager overseeing production and handling communications. An agency provides one point of contact for all your specialized needs.
2. Getting Ahead
Technology is changing the role of the marketer by the minute. According to the World Economic Forum, 65 percent of children today will have careers that don’t even exist yet!
Job titles such as content strategist, data scientist, motion graphics specialist, social media manager, online marketing manager and user experience designer have all arisen over the last few years. We can only imagine what’s to come.
At Netwave, we’ve seen a growing number of clients come to us for help with their social media. Internally, they can’t keep up with the emerging platforms, most effective techniques, and an overall strategy that builds engagement. On the technical side, IT departments are asking us to build sophisticated employee intranets because they don’t have the staff to take on the project internally.
3. Staying Consistent
What’s more challenging than adapting to the latest digital tools and technologies in real time? Maintaining the message, you want to convey across every inch of the web while you’re at it.
Netwave’s social media team alone, for example, consists of four people:
- An account manager who sets objectives.
- A content writer who develops individual posts and overall messaging.
- A graphic artist who provides photography, appropriate imagery and branded graphics.
- A social media manager who publishes the posts and creates engagement to continually build a following.
Few small to mid-sized businesses can afford the luxury of these four specialists, nor the time to coordinate their efforts. Most importantly, the messages are consistent across all channels. The content can be extended across social media, email marketing, blog posts and digital advertising.
4. Moving Forward
The beauty in constant change is that it breeds endless possibilities. Whether you’re a business owner looking to invest in marketing for the first time, a marketing manager with the green light to hire the agency of your choice or a corporation in need of a team to supplement in-house staff, an agency can turn your ideas into tangible results—and offer a few of their own recommendations, too.
See the many ways Netwave can help your company keep up with the pace of marketing and technology. Click here to learn more about our services.
