DIY is a great concept, but sometimes home remodeling is better left to the experts. The same principle applies to inbound marketing. Let’s face it, if you’re not a marketer by profession, you’ve probably got better things to do anyway. So why would you spend time trying to market while you neglect the actual running of your business?
Here are some very good reasons why you shouldn’t, and ways to recognize when it’s time to hire an inbound marketing agency to do the work for you.
Reason #1: The Landscape’s Constantly Changing
When search engine optimization (SEO) first hit the scene, it was much simpler than it is these days. Since then, HubSpot coined the term inbound marketing, content became king and between Google’s Panda, Penguin and now Hummingbird algorithm updates, SEO has been completely upended.
With this constantly-changing landscape it’s difficult to keep up-to-date on what’s in and what’s not, unless you’re following it on a daily basis. One slip could leave you exposed and result in search engine penalization. It isn’t worth it to try and manage the process yourself, unless you’re an expert or one in the making.
Reason #2: There’s a Fine Line between Content and SEO
Inbound marketing, content marketing and SEO fit together in a synergistic relationship, and practitioners walk a fine line between them. If you aren’t sure where the line is, you better off not trying to walk it alone. Regardless whether you believe inbound and content are the same thing or not, they both have an enormous role to play in the success of your online presence and getting it wrong could be detrimental. By improving your online content, you’ll improve your sales results and your business performance.
Reason #3: Time on Social Media is of the Essence
It’s difficult enough to find time for everything you have to do in a typical business day, right? It leaves you little opportunity to post on your social media profiles, engage with your followers and comment on the postings of others. And yet these are some of the most vital aspects of inbound marketing; it’s how you build up your audience, develop your credibility, nurture your prospects and share your content marketing.
According to Forbes magazine, you need to spend 32 hours a week to manage a single social networking profile properly. It’s like leaving your store closed on a business day—how do your clients get hold of you, if you aren’t in? By hiring an agency to do the work on your behalf, you’ll double your impact with half the effort.
Reason #4: The Daily Blog Topic Grind is Hell
Even the most prolific bloggers sometimes struggle to come up with topic ideas. In fact, two out of five marketers say that finding new content material is their biggest challenge. For newbies it can be impossible, but an inbound marketing agency has experienced people who know how to comb through the multitude of options to find blog topics.
The agency staff will prepare an editorial calendar that works with important dates, seasons and current affairs, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the wide range of subject matter that can be tapped for your blog content.
Don’t resort to writing the same old same old every second week; get help now, before it’s too late.
Reason #5: Your Competitors are Winning the Race
If you aren’t watching your competition closely, you won’t know when they start winning the race until it’s too late to do anything about it. Competitive analysis is critical to keep track of what they’re up to, and if it’s yet another function that you:
don’t have time for
don’t have experience in, or
don’t know what to do with the intelligence once you have it
then hiring an inbound marketing agency is the answer. Agency experts know how to follow your competitors, determine what they are doing and why and focus on keeping you ahead at all times.
Reason #6: Your eNewsletters are Boo-oo-ring
No, your readers aren’t interested in reading about your staff’s holiday party. Neither do they want to see your latest ad over and over again. Or are you sending so few email newsletters that recipients unsubscribe because they’ve forgotten who you are, it’s been so long?
Maintaining a healthy email database, segmenting your lists, keeping them updated and sending the right kind of information out regularly is challenging. An inbound marketing agency has processes in place to automate many of these tasks, and employees who are experts in email marketing.
Hiring an inbound marketing agency will also give you access to experts in content, marketing analytics and keyword research. Don’t wait until your strategy is dead in the water to get it the help it needs.
*Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
