Digital marketing has quickly become critical to every small business’s marketing plan. This is especially true for firms with limited marketing expenditure that require a high return on investment (ROI).
Although most business owners recognise the value of a professional, dependable website and social media presence, they frequently lack an understanding of the foundations or subtleties of digital marketing – and are wary of outsourcing their digital marketing needs to an outside team.
What is digital marketing?
The phrase “digital marketing” refers to all forms of internet marketing. The most obvious example of digital marketing is a company’s website, but it truly applies to any digital channel or approaches used to advertise a business, product, or service:
- Website
- Search engine optimisation (SEO)
- Content marketing
- Social media
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
- Email campaigns
- Blogs
- Online brochures
- Online retail
This is a partial list. Simply put, digital marketing is how you engage with your target audience online and how they experience and interact with your business on digital devices such as PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and game consoles.
It also necessitates a particular set of skills.
SEO, for example, refers to a set of methods, techniques, and tactics used to improve the number of visits to a website by achieving a high ranking (i.e., at the top of page one) in search engine results (e.g., Google, Bing, or Yahoo).
The higher a website ranks in the search results, the more “visible” it is and the more likely a person would visit that site.
SEO is split into three categories: on-page SEO (the content on your website); off-page SEO (backlinks to relevant and trustworthy sites); and technical SEO (the backend of your website, such as how your pages are coded to enhance your site’s loading speed).
SEO considers a variety of factors, including:
- Crawlability allows search engines to reach and index the material on your website.
- Exciting content (written directly for your target audience, keeping in mind what is important to them)
- Keyword optimisation (ensuring that the material prioritises the ‘keywords’ that your audience users use while browsing the internet in search engines)
- An excellent user experience, including rapid loading times, ease of navigation, and ‘mobile friendliness’ (i.e., easily viewed on a mobile device)
- This is not an easy task, and small companies should hire an SEO specialist to do an ‘SEO audit’ of their website to verify that it is optimised and accessible.
Pay-per-click (PPC) is another area that needs careful planning and execution. PPC increases traffic to your website by paying a publisher for each click on your ad.
Google Advertisements are one of the most prevalent kinds of PPC, although other PPC channels include Facebook and LinkedIn ads (among others).
All forms of digital marketing described above need time, thought and a certain level of talent. If you don’t have the time (or lack the knowledge) to perform it effectively, you may want to consider outsourcing.
Why outsource digital marketing?
Companies opt to outsource digital marketing efforts for a variety of reasons. Many tiny firms need more resources to hire in-house marketing staff. Others may employ a marketing manager who needs to gain essential digital marketing abilities.
Others may have a strong marketing team in place but require the assistance of a third party for a specific task (e.g., the design and development of an optimised website). Alternatively, a firm may need to do something new to advance its business.
Outsourcing digital media is frequently a purely financial option for many small businesses. To put it another way, is it worthwhile? Here are five reasons why you should outsource digital marketing.
1. Expertise
Instead of hiring an in-house digital marketing manager, outsourcing your digital marketing will provide you access to a complete team of specialists. This includes the following:
- An account manager with a deep understanding of the digital world
- A website developer with SEO (search engine optimisation) experience to keep your website updated and always optimised
- An experienced copywriter with an SEO background (including blogs and content creation)
- A graphic designer for all your design needs (website, logos, ads, infographics, and more)
- A video specialist (creating share-worthy Facebook videos or Instagram stories)
- A social media manager (community manager) to look after your pages, including content curation and engagements
- An online PR specialist who can develop relationships with micro and macro influencers
- A digital ad specialist who understands the ins and outs of PPC and Google Analytics
We’ve previously established that digital marketing is a specialised subject. It is, however, a fast-paced game. The benefit of outsourcing your digital marketing is that a digital agency will have access to the newest technology and stay up to date with the latest trends or developments in digital marketing.
Google and Facebook, for example, update their ad purchasing platforms and products so frequently that you must be flexible, adaptable, and technologically aware.
This is only sometimes simple, especially if you have other obligations, such as keeping an eye on your firm’s day-to-day operations.
A monthly retainer (suited to your goals and budget) will give you access to a professional team of individuals for a fraction of the cost of a permanent employee. Furthermore, this takes us to the next point.
2. Efficiency
An excellent digital team will be highly efficient. They can deliver on a brief fast and efficiently because they are dedicated to your urgent digital marketing demands.
In-house teams frequently have a heavy workload in addition to other duties and stressors, whereas freelance or remote teams can respond quickly.
This results in a faster turnaround time — without the expense of salary, benefits, or sick leave. A remote staff is available when you need them and only charges you for hours spent, making it a powerful and efficient tool.
3. Engagement
If you’re just getting started with digital marketing outsourcing, social media is a beautiful place to start. Your social media accounts must be current, up-to-date, and responsive to be effective.
Search Engine Journal examines current social media trends. It concludes that now more than ever, businesses must take the time to understand their customers and how they interact with their brand on each social media platform and then engage with them at the right time, in the right tone, and with the suitable medium.
In other words, interactions outperform broadcasts.
However, social media interactions take time and need near-instant answers to comments, complaints, and questions.
You can ensure dynamic social media content and interaction by outsourcing your social media to a digital team — without the stress and strain of doing it yourself.
4. Strategy development
Selecting a digital marketing partner that can do more than just authoring and graphic design is critical. Despite the importance of these talents, you should outsource digital marketing to a team with strategic capabilities.
A digital agency or team will have an objective, “big picture” viewpoint, will provide a fresh perspective, and will be able to develop a long-term strategy to help your business thrive online.
5. Tracking and analysis
Businesses frequently need to measure and analyse their digital spending and activity. This is due to a need for both time and competence.
A reputable digital marketing partner will be able to track and analyse your activity and spending and report on your return on investment (ROI). This process includes tracking rival activity, detecting gaps, and recognising opportunities.
