How to make sure you get the most from your investment in an inbound marketing agency by putting the right pieces in place in-house.
So, you’re a marketing pro. You have a gung-ho team of sales reps who know how to close the deal, yet you know something’s missing. Are you living up to your potential? Are they?
Sometimes real power is found in admitting that you need help. Marketing may be your field of expertise, but inbound marketing is a specialized field that requires a different skillset than more traditional approaches. Is it time to bring in the pros at an effective inbound marketing agency in order to see a real increase in your ROI? These five steps you and your team can take will ensure that your investment in an outside agency will get you the results you want.
1. Commit
A big reason some companies first cracks at inbound marketing fail is a lack of commitment. It’s not enough to just put a toe in the water. Dabbling does no good. In order to turn around your strategy, you have to get your whole organization on board, from corporate leadership down to your sales reps. This is where an effective inbound marketing agency is key: they can help orchestrate the whole operation so you can focus on your existing marketing strategy while benefitting from a comprehensive inbound solution.
2. Lay the Foundation
You may not be ready to bring in the pros at an agency if you haven’t laid a solid foundation with SEO. An inbound marketing team can only get so far if their efforts aren’t backed up by a strategic SEO approach to which your whole marketing department is committed. Take this step before calling in the pros at an agency, or any headway you gain may be doomed to fail when Google pushes you to the fifth or sixth page in search results because your SEO strategy is lacking.
3. Define the Objective
If you define ROI purely in monetary terms, you may be missing a key piece of the puzzle. While an effective inbound marketing agency can absolutely up your monetary ROI over the long term, there is another investment to consider: industry authority. The multifaceted approach of intuitive inbound marketing means you can elevate your brand’s status in the industry and become known as an authority in your field through the use of shareable resources on social media and eBook or whitepaper downloads. These are worthwhile investments with as much potential to boost your brand as financial gains, so don’t overlook their value.
4. Have Patience
You already know from your own marketing experience that investments of time, talent, and treasure in the present can benefit your agency over time. Don’t expect an overnight explosion from your new inbound marketing strategy. The pros at an effective inbound marketing agency know that it takes time to see results, but they will come. Expect to invest a minimum of 1000 days and stay the course; changing directions requires both patience and commitment.
5. Know Their Toolkit
An outsourced inbound marketing team has knowledge and expertise you may lack, but do you know where they’re getting their insights? Ask your inbound marketing agency about their intended strategy and expect clear answers and a defined list of objectives. The pros know what types of tools are most useful and may combine the resources of various platforms such as WordPress, MailChimp, HootSuite, and others. The most effective inbound marketing agencies know how to pull out the big guns: full-service programs like HubSpot that combine the strengths of many other platforms into one streamlined resource. So ask your inbound marketing agency about their strategy to see how they plan to get the greatest return on your inbound marketing investment.
CONCLUSION
So you’re ready to bring in the pros. That’s a great first step. Your marketing budget is limited, and inbound marketing is only one piece of the pie. To make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck when you bring in an inbound marketing agency, consider the five points above. This way, you’ll ensure inbound marketing is operating effectively so that you can focus on your other tasks and make sure you see the sales numbers, conversion rates, and return on investment that makes it all worthwhile.
