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DIGITAL MARKETING TEAM V.S IN-HOUSE TEAM V.S FREELANCER
One of the toughest decisions when growing a business is what type of marketer is going to be the best for scaling your business. Do you recruit a marketing team in-house, do you find a cheap but experienced freelancer, or should you hire a marketing agency that has experience and all the tools necessary?
This tough question has been asked in every business looking to scale. You know great marketing is vital for your company to be able to scale. What should you do?
WHAT TO CONSIDER
#1: A team focused on ROI. ROI on the money spent is the most important part of many growing businesses. When you hire any marketer you want to know that you will get your money back plus some. If you feel unsure about any of the marketers you talk to and they don’t seem confident in their skills walk away. Finding and hiring the right marketer for your business is key to success.
#2: Communication. Are you a busy owner who feels comfortable letting someone run their expertise and contact you twice a month? Or are you a person who likes to see and hear about what’s going on at all times. You want updates multiple times a week. Outsourcing digital marketing can sometimes lead to a lack of communication (sometimes), but an in-house team can be easily accessible and more communicative.
#3: Excitement about your brand and product. The team or person marketing your product has got to love what it has to offer. Their enthusiasm will help them come up with better ideas and overall run a better campaign. Before hiring a team or person ask them the following question, “Why would you choose my product/service to market. What do you like about it?” This will help you hire the right person and find someone right for your business.
#4: Listen to your vision/goals. Having someone do your marketing is tough when you hired someone who doesn’t listen or take notes well. The person doing your marketing has to understand the core values of your business and also the vision/goals for the business. They are required to ask questions to get deep into information about your business. This will help that person/team value what you are doing and also form the right strategies to get your business to the goals.
WHY HIRE A DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY?
For the cost of one single marketer, you have access to a team of experienced experts who all specialize in specific areas of marketing. For example, when you hire a PPC agency you get an expert, account manager, their tools, and a team coming up with new ideas to hit a higher ROI. A digital marketing agency will also have the tools, people, and strategies to help your business succeed. Most likely an agency has come across a business similar to you and they know what to do and also what not to do.
DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY PRICING
If I were to throw out a number I would say the average you should expect to pay is at least $1000 a month for any service. Many digital marketing agencies offer a wide variety of services which leads to different types of pricing. Generally, they will be more expensive than your average freelancer and depending on the experience of an In-House employee can be a little more cost-effective. The price ranges widely differ from service to service, but work on a monthly retainer.
WHY HIRE A FREELANCE DIGITAL MARKETER?
In my experience, freelance digital marketers can be a great alternative when your business isn’t producing enough cash or cash flow to hire or outsource marketing to the team. This is the most cost-effective route for any business on a tight budget now. The main issue with freelancers is that it is tough to find an experienced one who charges fairly and has everything you need. To avoid being burned by a bad freelancer look at sites like Upwork and Fiverr to find highly rated freelancers that have got good reviews and can get a good understanding of your business to help your business scale.
FREELANCE MARKETER PRICING
Freelance marketers tend to be the least costly of the three choices. This leads to less overhead, training costs, and tools used. Also, you may run into many in-experienced freelance marketers that picked up the skill shortly before getting in contact with them. This isn’t always the case though. You can find freelancers who will get the job done exactly how you wanted them too. I would look at paying freelancers 20-50% less than a digital marketing team. For example, if a digital marketing team quotes you at $1000 a month to run a PPC campaign then an average freelancer will charge you $500-800 a month.
WHY HIRE A IN-HOUSE TEAM OF MARKETERS?
With an In-House marketing staff, you have consistent communication and updates. You are able to see how much time they are putting in and get updates as frequently as you would like. To ensure their skills are cutting-edge you want to invest in training your employees. At a digital marketing agency, they are responsible for training their employees at no additional cost to you. The issue with hiring an In-House team is it is usually more costly. Keep in mind before hiring an In-House team if one expert is removed there will be a gap that could affect your business until you find a replacement.
In-House is usually more costly but has benefits that are harder to find when using an agency/freelancer. When employees work from the office they are more familiar with the brand which leads to increased communication, and potentially more enthusiasm about the product/service. Not to say it is not possible to find a team that feels this way about your business because it is very well possible.
IN-HOUSE TEAM PRICING
You are responsible for paying for their salary, benefits, vacations, sick days, and office space. The below chart includes only the salary for each of these experts:
CONCLUSION
There are a lot of options to consider when planning to scale your business. Marketing is a key element to scaling any business and it is important you pick the right people to help you do that. An overview of this article:
- Digital Marketing Agency: Includes a team of experts, a monthly retainer for their services, and all the tools they need and you need to get the ROI you’re looking for. You are paying the price of one person for a team of specialists whose only focus is getting you the results you want.
- Freelance Marketer: A person who is starting out or experienced that charges less than an Agency and an In-House team. This person usually runs alone, has the bare minimum of tools needed, but can get the job done right when you find the right person.
- In-House Team: This can yield a high return. This is more for medium-sized to large businesses. The cost is usually the highest of the three. The business will be responsible for paying salaries, vacations, training, benefits, etc. The benefits include increased communication, increased brand familiarity, and more likely to have enthusiasm about the work completed.
If you have any questions or want to talk with Kyle Waters directly feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and tell me what brought you!
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Max Conversion is a PPC agency located in St. Louis MO. Want to talk with a Max Conversion specialist and see what digital marketing your business can utilize to scale quicker? Contact a Max-Conversion Expert to get great advice for an affordable rate.
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