The digital marketing landscape may always be in a state of constant flux with technology changing all the time, but the one thing that never changes is the need for leads to fill company’s sales funnels. And a lot of these leads come from digital marketing efforts.
Many companies find themselves trying to do it all, but when it comes to filling the sales pipeline it might be most beneficial to place the process of collecting leads through digital efforts in the hands of the most capable. If that’s in-house, great! However, the complex world of digital marketing is often more cost effective to partner with a third-party expert.
Focus on what your business does best.
As marketing professional Erik Huberman said quite well, “When launching a business, it’s critical to do what you are good at; sticking with your core competency is an absolute must.” So, before deciding whether to partner with the experts you need to understand your company and its capabilities.
If you’re fantastic at creating a product, but not so good at taking it to market, then that should be your main focus and you should let the experts handle creating the demand to drive sales.
The reality of in-house marketing efforts.
A lot of companies have limited resources in the way of marketing, with interns or a very small team responsible for driving all channels including email, paid search, search engine optimization (SEO), content creation, social media presence, etc. While most of these channels are relatively easy to setup, not everyone understand how to drive results or there are simply too many to manage efficiently and effectively for a small team.
Marketing is not cheap and is often one of the first budgets to get cut when costs need to decrease. The general rule of thumb suggests between 6-20 percent of total revenue for most businesses’ marketing budget. This includes all paid advertisements, all of the necessary tools, and the salaries of the staff members if you choose to keep your efforts in-house.
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Inbound marketing is all about creating new leads for your business. If you opt for in-house, full-time digital marketing staff, it’s going to entail a significant investment of both time and money.
Stay on top of changing trends.
Financial concerns aside, the digital marketing industry is changing all the time. Frankly, the task of planning and carrying out your marketing efforts may be so time-consuming that it makes it near-impossible to stay up to date with every new strategy and trend that comes along.
Third-party partners dedicate their entire business to making sure they are aware of the latest trends in digital marketing, so the burden of doing so does not fall to their client. They are often flexible and have the ability to pivot based on new technology or the latest best practice.
A blended strategy.
Perhaps you’re not ready to relinquish complete control of your digital marketing efforts. There is always the option of taking a blended approach and only partnering with the experts for tasks you feel the least comfortable managing like SEO which can be rather complex.
Timing is everything.
After assessing your in-house capabilities, if you find the need to seek out a partnership it’s best to bring them in early. They will be able to help you in the planning stage to help you best utilize your budget to help you avoid gaps and keep new leads coming into your sales funnel.