Four reasons why you should use an external marketing partner

By Jacqui Gage-Brown, Jun 6 2021

Many new business owners wear multiple hats, taking care of everything from people to operations to finance and marketing. But as most business owners know, there comes a point where being Director of Everything is on longer sustainable. To keep up growth, extra resource – and hands – are needed.

A question commonly asked is, should we hire an in-house marketer, or work with an external marketing agency?

Well, there are benefits to both recruiting your own marketing resource or partnering with a marketing agency.  It takes careful consideration to decide which will help your business achieve its growth goals efficiently.

1. Return on investment

There is no doubt hiring someone to sit inhouse has its benefits, the biggest being the marketer is available to you all day, every day. But is this cost effective? Unless each interaction is purposeful, with a clear ROI, you can’t be sure you’re getting value for money.

It’s not only the full-time salary, but also the overheads that come from having bums on seats, as well as services you may still need to outsource (graphic design, web development etc.). Marketing partners often offer a better ROI. Operating as an extension of your business, it simply comes down to the efficiency that expertise, diversity of capability and accountability provides.

2. Contingency plans

It pays to look at your contingency resource when weighing up whether an internal or external marketer is right for your business. Unfortunately, campaigns and deadlines don’t stop for unexpected events such as sickness. If you hire an internal marketer, do you have a way to make sure time-sensitive work carries on when they’re not there to do it?

Marketing agencies have multiple resources which can be drawn on to deliver work seamlessly and efficiently.

3. Generalist vs expert

How many hats does your inhouse marketer wear? Are they a project manager, content writer, strategist, graphic designer, digital advertiser, social media manager, photographer, videographer and media manager? A lot of businesses, big or small, expect their inhouse marketer to be savvy in all aspects of marketing and communications – amounting to a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ situation.  Sure, you might get lucky and hit the multitalented, multi-software-operator jackpot, but it’s more likely you’ll still need to engage external resources for specialist skills such a design, web development and photography.

This is where hiring a marketing partner makes business sense. Marketing agencies bring together a diverse set of skills, and each part of a project is completed by an expert in that area, from campaign strategy through to design and copywriting. One phone call will connect you with many talents, rather than finding and maintaining relationships with multiple suppliers.

4. Flexibility and focus

Because you know your marketing partner has experts on the job, you can focus on what matters – your business growth! As a business owner, it doesn’t make sense for you to worry about updating print collateral, building a Facebook advertising campaign or maintaining your on-page SEO so you rank first on Google.

HGB proves the process works

Just like Colonel Sanders, we too have a secret recipe at HGB! The main ingredients are our purpose – to create a meaningful experience – and our values – think, feel, do. Using these we take clients on a journey to unlock their own DNA to achieve their business goals. Knowing your DNA is so important for business growth. We’ve partnered with clients of all shapes and sizes and helped them to achieve their growth goals.

There are many benefits of teaming up with a marketing partner! Just think – an entire team of experts with a whole artillery of skills driving on your specific business goals. We are a digital marketing agency based in Hamilton. Pop in for a coffee, and let’s chat.

Because we come across this scenario so often, we’ve republished and updated this article!