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Tags – Outsourcing Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is (rightfully) one of the least trusted industries. 

Traditionally, businesses focused on their core service or product and outsourced everything else. This is because the whole point of outsourcing is to leave the specifics to people that can perform them better.

For example, Next outsources its security to an agency with trained and well-managed security personnel. On a more relevant side, Slack, which is a software company, outsourced its web design and app development and hugely benefited from it. 

Sadly, this is not the case for marketing and technical development anymore. 

The Bad Experiences

Businesses have been stung many times by digital agencies, achieving questionable returns. 

As a result, companies now look to develop in house technical teams, and hurting their development. 

Just last week, Harmeet of Axies Digital was listening to a presentation by a Scrum Master at Dunelm, describing how their tech team manages processes for software they create. This makes little sense because Dunelm is a furnishing company and should not have full time staff developing software and working exclusively on the tech side. They should be spending far less for the same, if not better results.

But, there is a simple reason for why businesses are doing this.

The Short Cuts Mentality in Digital Marketing

Unfortunately, Digital Agencies are the worst for taking short cuts or charging at any opportunity to make a quick pound. 

But, because marketing is a long-term game, you need a team who have a long-term vision. 

A successful collaboration forms when the goal becomes the same. 

Only long-term businesses can see that creating partnerships will be beneficial for both parties to grow and survive. 

And, when digital agencies create retainer monthly contracts, the creative team must act as though its their own business. That is the mentality at Axies Digital.

In any case, here is our complete guide to outsourcing digital marketing and why to do it.

Outsourcing is Still a Challenge

Business owners view their business as their baby that requires full attention 24/7.

Thus, making the decision to outsource is a difficult one – requiring a certain convincing even when it is clearly beneficial for your business.

But, the state of services provision has been changing recently and the need for an effective digital presence means that you should consider outsourcing digital marketing, while keeping a few considerations in mind.

THE RISE OF GOOGLE

Making yourself known to search engines has never been more important.

But, the majority of searches on Google only look at the first 2 pages.

Thus, it is important to invest time and the right resources into ensuring you are able to connect with your customers digitally and cement a base on page 1.

WHERE TO START

In order to enhance your digital presence, you may decide to hire a couple of employees and begin a marketing department.

But, are you able to attract the quality for your budget? Or, is it even plausible to hire employees for a full time job that requires a directed effort?

All you need to do in digital marketing is begin with social media and then extend to a full website with excellent content. Improving the quality of your website and providing relevant content is just a logical extension then.

But, the thing with social media and a website is, you do not need to post continuously.

WHAT TO POST

Your focus on social media and your website should be on quality rather than quantity. And, once you have established a foundation, you can push forward with more content and even consider boosting it through ads options.

So, hiring full time employees is a bit redundant in the case of digital marketing. The job can be done with a monthly retainer, which, in most cases, costs less than an employee.

If you still need more reasons to outsource your marketing, we will give them to you here:

1. THE RIGHT EXPERIENCE IS KEY

Understanding digital marketing, similar to running a business, is a learning curve.

There will always be problems that occur and things do not always progress as you expect them to.

But, by outsourcing digital marketing, you gain access to people who have worked with businesses and are able to create strategies that work.

Digital marketing agencies work with a wide range of businesses and are able to create a plan that suits you.

And if something goes wrong, they have the resources to get it fixed for you.

2. KNOWING WHERE TO CONCENTRATE

Running a business is a life-absorbing job. Now, imagine adding to your team.

Hiring an employee to work on digital marketing for your business will be more costly. You will have to create a plan, train them, and give them detailed instructions.

On the other hand, with an agency, they’ve been there and have done it.

By hiring the right agency, you minimise the effects of a learning curve to the bare minimum – if not eliminate completely.

Based on your industry, you may need to provide some input on the process. But, this will be limited to a minimal effort on your behalf.

3. IT’S ALL ABOUT UNDERSTANDING THE MARKET

Keeping up to date with the latest trends is important as everything in the digital world moves rapidly.

Therefore, having access to the latest technology can be vital in ensuring you are up to scratch and stand out from competitors.

You should expect a good digital marketing agency to know these trends and act accordingly.

(Don’t expect this level of service from a full time employee. You are paying their salary anyways and not everyone is willing to look deeper into their job).

4. DON’T JUST DO THINGS – KEEP A TAB ON IT

What is worse than hiring people to do marketing and training them?

Doing it yourself. (And, then complaining that it doesn’t work for you).

I will suggest learning a thing or two here and there to understand what is happening. But, do not try to be a Jack of all trades.

Digital marketing can take up a lot of time and needs monitoring regularly. By outsourcing digital marketing, you are able to focus your time on other areas of the business – areas that keep your business operating.

A true leader knows what and when to delegate.

BUT, HOW DO YOU KNOW IF A DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY IS GOOD?

Finding the right agency for you is not always easy!

We hear horror stories all the time regarding digital agencies under-performing. (Some of the agencies do not do anything to be honest. Underperformance starts sounding better in some cases).

However, finding the right agency can hugely impact your business and help you connect with your customers if done properly.

Here are a few tips to help you find an agency that works for you. (We are assuming you already searched them on Google).

1. BUILD A RELATIONSHIP – MAYBE START SMALL

Take the time to meet the team and view the culture of the digital marketing agency you have chosen.

Understand their work ethic and make sure that the agency’s goals are aligned with yours.

This way, you’ll learn more about who they are and they will come to understand your business better too.

If you are still unsure at this point, start with a small job. Such tests work in almost all sectors.

2. FAMILIARISE YOURSELF WITH THEIR EXPERIENCE

Before making the decision on hiring a digital marketing agency, make sure that they can deliver.

This does not mean that they should have done exactly what you need. Learnings are always translatable.

Simply, view some of their case studies and talk to clients they have worked with, if possible.

It’s important to know what went right. But, you must also understand what went wrong and how the agency deals with issues and problems that arise.

Maybe go forward and check the performance of the agency digitally themselves. For example, an SEO agency should be ranking it’s own business on Google. And, a social media agency should have a healthy following socially themselves.

3. DON’T BE EXCITED BY A DINOSAUR – IT DOESN’T END WELL

Take a look into the resources of the digital marketing agency. Check what equipment and technology they are using.

This will give you a clear idea of the quality of their production.

Digital marketing is one area where being experienced is not necessarily good. Believe it or not, most of it is young people’s game.

You want to join the next generation of great businesses – you need a digital marketing agency that is on the same path.

TIME TO ACT

Digital Marketing can be a game changer.

Businesses today depend on being viewed digitally, with 55% of  consumers shop more online now than they did last year (2017 to 2018) and shopping on average 6 times per month.

So, the numbers keep going up.

This is time for you to join the race before it’s too late.

ABOUT AXIES DIGITAL

Axies Digital is a digital marketing agency in Leicester that rose to the top in less than 4 months, since it’s conception in June 2018. (Just Google “Digital Marketing Agency Leicester” and view it yourself).

As of August 2019, we have extended our success to Birmingham and London with similar results. Just Google “Digital Marketing Agency Birmingham” and “Digital Marketing Agency London”. We are on page 1 for both terms, with a far higher competition than Leicester.

We stand out by focusing on Digital Psychology – aimed at targeting the appropriate customers for our partners. If you would like to know what Digital Psychology is, please read about it here.

Our headline offer is SEO. Well, our own results are an indication of our expertise in the area. However, you may want to look further into our SEO case studies, available here.

If you have any queries or if you would like to discuss your digital marketing needs, please use one of the options below to get in touch. We look forward to working with you.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]