For small businesses and startups, marketing isn’t always a priority at first. While you’re still at the honeymoon stage of operating a business, that doesn’t mean you should just set marketing aside, especially if you’re already growing at a fast rate. It’s understandable to have your reservations to hire a digital marketing agency to help you build your brand, but you will actually reach a point where you need to outsource your marketing efforts to someone more experienced and skilled in that regard. The following are just some of the signs your company needs to hire a digital marketing expert.
1. Lack of Skill and Expertise in Marketing
When starting a business, you’re not expected to know everything there is about marketing your products. You may be good at the day-to-day operations of your business, but the marketing and advertising side of things may be entirely new to you. That’s why you need someone with the right skillset and expertise in the field of marketing to help you reach more of your customers. At the very least, you need a person or a firm that has expertise in the following aspects to help you market your business:
- Social Media Management
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Graphic Design
- Metric Analysis
- Web Design and Development
2. You Don’t Plan Ahead
Marketing isn’t just some new project you start and end after a few months, then have another go again once you have the budget for it. It involves a lot of planning and strategizing, looking at market trends and how your competitors make their move. You need to think ahead and plan your actions and the rest of your campaign if you want it to succeed. Thinking short-term can result in failure and a lack of successful content. If you don’t have any plans to create content or increase engagement in your website and social media accounts, you need help from a professional in the field.
3. Sales are Sluggish
For any new business, your sales numbers aren’t as reliable as they are at this stage. You may be experiencing a sudden surge of customers for a few weeks or months, and it will eventually die down. This is because whatever “marketing” you did during the launch of your business may have already run its course, resulting in low traffic numbers and sluggish sales. When this happens, it may be time to sit down with a marketing agency and look at how you can bring those sales numbers back up. There’s also the possibility that the change in seasons or the market trends are shifting; that’s why you’re experiencing a lot fewer sales than before. Again, these are things that a marketer can tell you and help you, so you better consider hiring one.
4. Results Aren’t Being Measured
Marketing is all about results. Those strategies and tools used by digital marketing agencies only become effective when you actively measure the results. You can then tweak your campaign to make it even more effective and last even longer. However, if you’re only measuring sales, expenses, and your cash flow instead of also measuring your social engagement and website analytics, then any marketing campaign you initiate will be useless. You need to partner with an agency that can take you through the process and measure the metrics to see how your efforts drive great results.
Conclusion
Hiring a third-party marketing firm is a big step for any new business. But it ultimately pays huge dividends when the timing is right and once the ball starts rolling. Consider these signs and start looking into hiring a firm you can trust.
Gsignr is a digital marketing agency helping businesses bring their unique ideas to life. Whether you need web design services, local SEO, or reputation management, our team can help you build your brand through our customized marketing solutions. Partner with us today, and let’s start taking your business to the next level!
