When you hear the word ‘agency’ the first thing that you might think is ‘it’s too expensive for my small business’. Fair enough, the word does sound like something only the big businesses can afford. But in today’s confusing social media and digital marketing landscape, you may not have a choice but to seek the help of one. In this post, we will list some common reasons why you would hire a digital marketing and social media agency. And some suggestions on what to do if you want to DIY it.
Social media stuff is confusing
There are so many things that come with managing your social media platforms. Aside from picking which platforms you should be on, you also need to figure out what to post, when to post, who to post to and how to get more engagement. Then you need to constantly analyse which ads are working and which ones are not. It can be a steep learning curve if you’re not familiar with it.
Digital marketing is not really working
You’ve tried boosting posts, you’ve tried creating ads, you’ve used every possible platform out there — still, nothing is working. The thing with digital marketing is that you need to get the right audience and the right message before it works. Throwing things everywhere to see which ones stick isn’t a good long term plan. An agency can help you with that as they have the expertise to figure out marketing strategies.
I have no time to learn
You’re already looking after your business and your staff, then there’s the business plan and tax needs. You really don’t want to add to that learning how to handle your social media and digital marketing. There are so many tutorials out there, some better than others. But how do you know which one to listen to?
DIY solutions
If you’re still not keen to hiring a digital marketing agency, then here are some suggestions on how to do it yourself.
Workshop it
Spend an afternoon with experts and learn how to do the whole thing yourself. Workshops that relate to your business are tax deductible so it’s good to take a couple of hours of your day to do it. By participating in one, you can focus on this and nothing else.
Train your staff
Or if you can’t do it yourself, pick one of your staff members (preferably someone who has the most marketing and online experience) to attend a training session. This way, you know someone in your team can do the job and you don’t have to think about that part of your business.
Hire on-demand service
Some agencies, like us here at 3C Digital, cater to small businesses. That’s why we offer On-Demand services to our clients so they can just ask for what they need — with no lock in contract. If you need a month’s worth of content strategy or marketing campaign, then just pay for that and we’ll do the rest for you. Digital marketing doesn’t have to be a super daunting and super expensive part of your business.
Kristyn is the Creative Director of 3C Digital. She is a freelance writer/journalist with over 13 years of experience in the industry both locally and internationally. She has previous experience as TV and radio broadcast journalist as well as print and online writer. Her novels, The Girl Between Two Worlds and The Girl Between Light and Dark, are out now.
