As a business owner, one of the most critical decisions you must make is whether to keep your marketing efforts concentrated in-house or outsource them to a different company. If you’ve made the decision to work with an inbound marketing agency, here’s how to make the most of your time and money.
Figure out Who’s Doing the Work
Before you begin working alongside your new marketing partner, determine just how much marketing work you want them to do. Maybe you feel more comfortable keeping your social media managed by an in-house employee. Maybe you never want to lift a finger in promoting your company again, so you’d rather outsource everything. Either way, the right inbound marketing agency will do whatever it takes to meet your goals.
Strategizing with an Inbound Marketing Agency
If you’re working with an inbound marketing expert, they’ll tell you that implementing a strategy is absolutely vital. When developing a marketing strategy, an agency will, of course, want your input, particularly on the following:
- Buyer personas: It helps to have an idea of who your ideal customers are. A marketing company can work with you to fully develop rough sketches of your desired customers into buyer personas, which will make building a content strategy much easier.
- Types of content: Content is a huge part of your inbound strategy. However, content comes in many shapes, sizes and flavors. With all the different types of content out there, it helps to work with the inbound marketing agency you’ve hired to determine which kinds to focus on creating.
Know the Agency’s Full Capabilities
While you may have hired an agency to do handle one narrow marketing measure for your business, understanding all of their skills can really benefit you. For example, if an agency has helped your company with SEO, they now have an understanding of your brand. When it’s time for a website redesign, the same agency that managed your SEO may be the perfect candidate.
Keep in Touch Regularly and Communicate Clearly
The real benefit of in-house marketing is the convenient avenue of communication between the marketing team and the rest of the business. If you’re running a business, you may not be available for phone calls or seated at your computer the whole day. It’s likely that the amount of time you can spend speaking to agency representatives is limited, so it’s important to be clear.
Gather your thoughts before phone calls, be thorough in emails and come to meetings prepared with as much information as possible. When you and your agency are both well-prepared, everyone wins!
Trust the Agency
The employees at the agency you’re working with weren’t hired for no reason. They were hired because they’re great at what they do. While your input as the client is absolutely necessary and welcome, it’s also important that you allow the agency to use their creativity to conjure up some inbound magic. Mutual trust and communication result in excellent working relationships, and even better marketing campaigns.
Remember, using an inbound marketing company is not free. Working closely alongside the agency will benefit you.
