Your advertising and marketing isn’t going to get done by itself, but before you hire dedicated staff for the job, you should consider how much more cost-effective hiring an outside agency could be.
Start with Salaries
Depending on your company’s size, it typically takes several people to manage all of the necessary marketing and advertising efforts. And, big surprise, those people cost money -- take these average salaries* for instance:
- Marketing Manager $81,000
- Social Media Manager $55,000
- SEO Manager $84,000
Add in a writer and designer, and you’re easily adding another $100K, not to mention salaries for a dedicated web development team.
While some creative costs can be trimmed by using freelancers, retaining the same freelance team available throughout the year can be problematic. There is value to having a dedicated team with intimate knowledge of your brand available to respond to those inevitable rush jobs at a moment’s notice.
Hiring a professional marketing agency (depending on the services you need) would cost around $5,000 - $10,000 per month for a full staff. When you do the math, you can see how quickly your savings could be in the tens of thousands a year, or more.
Payrolling with the Punches
As if salaries weren’t enough of a gut punch, there’s no dodging the associated costs of taxes, training, and healthcare costs, as well as vacation and sick time. On-boarding and training also suck time away from other salaried employees, which also impacts your bottom line.
The High Costs of Hi-Tech
All of your salaried employees will likely need laptops to work on -- laptops loaded with software that need constant maintenance, upgrades and updating, none of which comes cheap. So, by hiring an agency, you can easily pocket another $1-$2K per in-house employee in tech expenses.
Going to Market
In addition to salary-related savings, having a dedicated third-party marketing team can also boost your profits, whether on general marketing, specialized services or even single campaigns.
An agency’s marketing team can focus on getting you leads, which ensures you get results. They also know the best way to allocate your budget to get you maximum ROI. This helps you save time and money, while you concentrate on growing your business with your own expertise in your own industry.
When you need help with PPC campaigns, email lists, social media, and blogs (and you will), it's practically impossible to create all this content with one in-house employee. Outsourcing allows your company to tackle these important marketing tactics at the same time. A full-service agency can do all of these in unison, with a consistent voice and message, and often for much less than salaried employees.
Do What You Do Best
Having an agency could save you from staffing more people than you need and paying for the associated costs of having in-house employees. Working with an agency is all about having clear expectations and setting the right goals so you get the best results for your business. Fact is, having an agency should enable you to do what you do best: run your business.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
*Based on average salaries listed on glassdoor.com as of March, 2019