Not getting results from your marketing efforts? It’s time to hire a marketing agency.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around to hear it, does it even make a sound?

Some argue yes, others no, but it hardly matters because we never knew the tree existed. The same goes for your business—if you’re not seeing significant traffic, then it doesn’t matter how effective your business model is. All your potential customers are in another forest, listening to some other business’ tree fall—a tree they now know and care about.

For a business to thrive, it needs a steady stream of customers. And in the digital age, where an online presence is a necessity, it’s not enough to shout into the void and hope someone’s listening. Your business needs a calculated, personalized, and data-driven approach.

In other words, it’s time to hire a marketing agency.

A growing number of businesses—large and small—are enlisting a digital marketing agency to help them create and implement a long-term plan geared toward conversions.

But what does a marketing agency do, exactly?

Listen closely as we break down the changing landscape of advertising, the vital function of digital marketing strategies, and the benefits of outsourcing these integral services.

Traditional Advertising Is Long Gone

The mere fact that you’re reading this on a smartphone, tablet, or computer is proof enough that technology has revolutionized the way we consume content and interact with companies.

Old-school advertising and outbound marketing methods no longer resonate with consumers, especially younger demographics. In fact, a McCarthy Group study found that 84% of 18- to 34- year-olds don’t trust traditional advertising strategies and mediums.

Knowing this, brands must actively respond to this shift in consumer behavior by engaging their customers where they already are: digital platforms. As Forbes notes:

“Changing your marketing strategy may not be easy, but it is necessary in order to better target millennials.  It is crucial to build a community around your brand… millennials don’t want to be talked at. They are used to having control over the information at their fingertips in their day to day lives, and their interactions with brands online is no different.”

And if that’s how millennials feel, just imagine what Gen Z-ers are thinking. As the digital generation becomes a more prominent demographic, your online presence scales in importance.

Enter the marketing agency—a group of experts who have their finger on the pulse of the digital world. They understand the current trends and how to utilize every marketing strategy available to drive conversions, build community, and engage customers in a meaningful way.

What Does a Marketing Agency Do?

Think of a marketing agency as the head coach of a football team. They lead the team and determine an overall strategy, with oversight into every individual channel, each with a distinct purpose and approach. A coach has offensive and defensive coordinators to manage—a marketing agency has social media, paid ads, SEO, email campaigns, and more.

When you work with a digital marketing agency, you gain access to a team of experts—both big-picture thinkers and dedicated specialists—that understand what works and what doesn’t.

The right marketing team will provide you with resources to get the most value out of every marketing channel available, including:

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Creative branding
• Social media marketing
• Influencer marketing
• Paid ads
• Custom content and production
• Email and ECRM management
• Web and app development
• Media and public relations
• Tracking and analytics

Each marketing channel can be individually successful.

However, when designed, implemented, and optimized in tandem, they create a highly lucrative marketing ecosystem that attracts consumers across demographics and platforms.

Oftentimes, businesses lack the knowledge, time, and resources to focus on a comprehensive marketing strategy. This is where a marketing agency is especially important.

After all, a football team can’t win with just a quarterback.

Why It’s Time to Hire a Marketing Agency

Hiring an ad agency is a savvy business strategy, no matter where you are in your growth cycle. Here are a few reasons companies don’t just hire a marketer, they employ a full-service agency:

For A Fresh Perspective

When sales are stagnating or websites are failing to convert, the most important question to answer is why. When you’re too close to the problem, that’s also the hardest question.

A marketing agency is an expert team looking from the outside in, providing that much-needed perspective that can identify inhibiting gaps, spotlight avenues of opportunity, and remedy areas that need optimizing.

An unbiased and talented marketing team can quickly “plug in” and perform a comprehensive audit to better understand your brand, objectives, and audience. Armed with that knowledge, they can then design a tailor-made and optimized marketing strategy that yields better efficacy.

A Quick Note on Experience

It’s likely that a marketing agency has worked in your industry, with your channels, and with other brands like yours. Given their exposure, an agency will have a wealth of experience to draw from.

Hard lessons a business might soon learn can be mitigated by a single pivot. Channels that are unlikely to convert can be addressed prior to soaking up a portion of the budget. And proven strategies can be customized to fit a brand’s objectives and value propositions.

The bottom line: Marketing agencies can help a company avoid costly mistakes by scant more than having made them before.

To Create Economies of Scale

In the early stages of a business’s growth cycle, it’s normal for entrepreneurs to wear multiple hats. With limited budgets and resources, a business owner may need to transition from CEO to accountant to marketing director on any given day.

At a certain point, however, this becomes untenable.

If you want to scale proactively, you need to hire specialists trained for and completely focused on one area of the business.

In all likelihood, your leadership team has neither the time nor inclination to handle every single task. But by hiring experts, you create economies of scale that save your business money and allow you to focus on what you do best.

To Keep Payroll Costs Low

Internal marketing teams are quickly fading in the rearview mirror, right alongside Yellow Pages, telemarketers, and direct mail flyers. The modern business landscape has demonstrated that outsourcing these services is a more cost-effective strategy.

Remember, when hiring an employee, you’re not only signing up to pay their base salary. You’re also taking on necessary but often costly expenses, including:

• Hiring
• Onboarding
• Training
• Benefits
• Turnover

And that’s just one internal hire—you need an entire team to run your marketing department effectively. Outsourcing this task to a group of experts who can mobilize, align with your brand, and then customize a strategy bespoke to your business reduces costs.

For Continuous Improvement

Working with a marketing agency is almost guaranteed to create results. That’s because companies wouldn’t pay these outsourced teams if they weren’t seeing a return on their investment. They must have a proven track record of helping clients, and they’ll leverage both analytics and novel tactics to ensure that your marketing campaign doesn’t stagnate.

And, as Entrepreneur notes, you can count on ongoing optimization because “Your digital marketing agency needs to constantly prove ROI by delivering on proposed end goals—or you might cancel your retainer! They’re genuinely interested in, and committed to, continually optimizing your strategy for best results.”

Just as your website requires constant optimization, so too does your overall marketing strategy.

Defero – Moving the Needle Forward

To gain an advantage in a digital world, you need a proven marketing strategy that aligns with your brand and converts at will. If you haven’t joined the revolution yet, it’s well past time to hire a marketing agency—one that goes above and beyond to drive results.

Here at Defero, we’re a dynamic group of forward-thinking leaders, strategists, writers, and artists committed to the ongoing advancement of your company through personalized marketing strategies proven to work.

So, think it’s time to hire a marketing agency? Let’s chat further about our team and how we can take your business to the next level.