I’ve been running a small business for over a decade. When I started, I had no idea what “digital marketing” meant, or how to do it. The good news is that today you don’t need to know either—or maybe even want to! But the bad news is that you’ll still need someone with experience who can help you navigate the world of digital marketing if you want to grow your business. If this describes you and your company then read on.
Calculate how much you need to spend on digital marketing.
The first step to understanding whether or not you can afford a digital marketing company is to calculate how much you need to spend on digital marketing. There are several ways of doing this.
First, estimate how much money your business will make per month if you do nothing at all and leave it up to chance. This is your baseline revenue (or loss).
Next, add up how much revenue you would make if every single person who clicked on one of those ads converted into a paying customer.
Finally, subtract this figure from the baseline value; this is the number that represents what exactly happens when people click on those ads—how much additional revenue they bring in for each click. This number is called “return on investment” or ROI and can be calculated as follows:
Revenue – (Cost/Lead) = ROI
What do you want from a digital agency?
Before you start looking for a digital marketing agency, it’s important to have a clear idea of what you want from them.
What do you want from the company? Do they need to be experts at everything? Or can they just manage your social media accounts and write blog posts with regularity?
What are the goals that you want to achieve with their help? And what is your budget for achieving these goals?
How much time do you have in which to accomplish this goal (usually measured in months)?
Are there any other factors that might affect how quickly or slowly you can implement your digital strategy (i.e., other projects or deadlines).
Should you use a freelance agency or an established agency?
Let’s talk about the pros and cons of each type of agency.
Freelance agencies are cheaper because they don’t have the overhead that an established company has. They can also be more flexible in their work hours, as they don’t have any set office hours. If you want to work with a freelance agency but keep them accountable for projects by publishing weekly reports for instance, then this might be your best bet.
On the downside though, there are less checks and balances in place when working with a freelancer; there’s no accountability or structure when it comes to following through on tasks if things go wrong—which is something that will happen from time to time. If you’re not careful when working with freelancers and don’t have someone checking up on them regularly (like an account manager), then it could end up costing you more money than originally planned!
How experienced do they need to be?
There is a lot that can be said about the importance of experience, but let’s keep it simple: experience doesn’t matter. This might sound like a contradiction, but hear me out.
Experience is important because it shows that an agency has been able to grow and retain clients, which are both important things. But even if an agency has no track record whatsoever—a fully green team with zero clients or projects under its belt—you should still consider hiring them (assuming they have good references).
It’s probably cheaper than you think.
Let’s say, for example, that your current marketing strategy is to have a few dozen billboards placed around your city. You pay £100 per month for each billboard (which seems high, but let’s work with it).
That means every year you’re spending £12,000 on signs telling people about your business.
Now let’s say that instead of putting up these signs all over town hoping that some passerby will notice them and think “Hey! I should go check out this business!” maybe they could do something more effective like search engine optimization or SEO.
Sure enough, there are plenty of digital marketing companies out there offering their services at reasonable rates—but how much would those services cost? Well if you were paying for advertising on Google AdWords then it might cost about £1 per click (if you don’t know what I’m talking about try googling “SEO” or “PPC” or any other acronym until someone comes along who does).
So now instead of spending £12k per year on billboards which nobody sees anyway because they’re spread out over such a large area and people have stopped taking time out of their day just to read things displayed in public places in exchange for nothing valuable like money…you can spend just £1 per click instead!
If they’re good, use them.
If a digital marketing company is good and you’re happy with them, you’ve got a good thing going. Just like in any relationship worth keeping, it’s better to spend money on a great partner than spend money on someone who’s just okay.
But how do you know if they’re any good? And what if they don’t seem great? Well, there are no guarantees here—you can’t always tell the difference between a bad digital marketing company and a mediocre one before spending money (and time) with them. But that doesn’t mean it’s all up to chance! There are some things you can look for in order to feel confident about your decision:
Do your research online beforehand; check out their website, see what kind of projects/clients they have worked on in the past, read reviews from previous clients or industry publications (like this one!), etc.
This will give you an idea of whether or not their work has been well-received by others before deciding whether or not this company is right for your needs as well!
Talk with people who have worked with similar companies first – ask friends/family members who’ve recently had something similar done before; search online forums where people discuss their experiences working together professionally; ask around among colleagues at work until finding someone who knows firsthand what kind of experience others have had using this specific brand too.
It really helps put things into perspective when learning firsthand what others think about these kinds of businesses because then those thoughts become yours too.”
There is nothing wrong with hiring a company that knows what they are doing.
In fact, it’s the smart thing to do. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can make costly mistakes.
And if you do know what you’re doing and decide to take on all of the tasks yourself, it will cost more time and money than hiring someone who has already done it before. If a digital marketing consultant gives you any advice at all—even if he or she says “I don’t think that’s a good idea”—take their word for it and listen carefully.
So, next time someone asks you if you can afford digital marketing, tell them that if they are good at what they do then yes, you can afford it. And if they aren’t? Well then maybe it’s time to find another agency!