Benefits of Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency for B2B Market

Not every company can have a dedicated marketing department with content marketers, social media managers, SEO experts, analysts or designers.

While it is true that you don’t need a whole department in the early stages to make some noise on the B2B market it is essential for future growth.

Even though one person can manage many digital marketing activities when it’s time to really focus on individual actions it’s much more effective to have a specialist rather than a generalist.

This whole Digital Marketing thing is changing on a daily basis, and if you don’t keep up you’re likely to fall behind and essentially waste your time and resources. So you should invest your resources reasonably.

Let us present to you some of the benefits that go along with hiring a digital marketing agency for B2B.

1) Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency is Cost Effective

Outsourcing your digital marketing efforts is a money saver for a number of reasons.

When you think about your digital marketing campaign, you need to consider many different aspects it covers.

The idea, design, creation, execution, optimization, reporting – they all need to be thoroughly carried out. And you will need more than one person to complete all of those tasks.

Depending of the scope of your campaign, you might need a smaller or a larger internal marketing team. But regardless of the size, there are certain positions you will need to fill in.

For instance, an SEO specialist, content creator, social media manager, and advertising specialist are just a few necessary roles you need to consider.

Not to mention that you (will probably) need a graphic designer, a digital marketing manager, and more personnel. When you put that into the equation, along with the process of hiring and recruitment… You might end up with an absurd amount of expenses.

MOZ wrote an excellent article breaking down annual salaries of some of the most important positions in digital marketing.

And you can bet these figures haven’t decreased in recent years.

2) Outsourcing to a Digital Marketing Agency Increases Productivity

Hiring a digital marketing agency could take a lot of burden off your shoulders.

You wouldn’t have to worry about recruiting, training, and supervising anyone because you can have a full set of highly skilled individuals who work together like a charm.

Imagine having to spend your time building a brand new marketing team from scratch. It could take years and a tremendous amount of effort to create a well-synchronized team.

One additional thing to take into consideration is remote outsourcing.

Outsourcing to a digital marketing agency from the other part of the world gives you an opportunity to go beyond the local talent pool. Not only will it significantly reduce your expenses, you will also get comparable – if not exceeding – quality for the same services!

Some businesses dump the marketing burden onto their existing employees, increasing their workload. And it’s not only the increased amount of work that affects their productivity, it is also the lack of skill.

On top of that – you need to have people who have the exact skills you need. And according to B2B Marketing’s research – 79% of B2B managers and leaders reported noticeable skill gaps in the teams they manage.

Particularly when it comes to digital marketing techniques!

When you let the agency run your marketing campaigns, you are free to focus on growing your business. Your employees can focus on their task and you can focus on the business strategies.

All while your digital marketing agency is handling your marketing efforts – effortlessly.

The relationship with your chosen agency can be tailored to fit your needs. You can determine how involved you want to be.

Whether you’d let them take the creative control, or you have a particular idea that you’d like to single out, it’s easy to find a common language with an agency.

At the end of the day, you are dealing with professionals!

Which leads us to our third reason you should work with a digital marketing agency.

3) Digital Marketing Agency Offers Expert Knowledge

Digital marketing might seem like a small fragment of a bigger picture but just like any industry, it is a world of its own.

Thanks to the internet and the information that is available, we are able to learn many skills in many different areas.

Which sometimes makes us feel like we are superheroes and we can actually learn everything! (If a day had 72 hours – maybe we could!)

But without being fully immersed in the field, it is virtually impossible to keep up with all of the changes that are occurring.

Digital marketing itself is changing on a daily basis – and if you are not entirely engaged you will fall behind, defeating its whole purpose.

Sorry for the blues. But that’s the reality.

What working with a digital marketing agency allows you, is to leave everything up to the experts.

These people have an enormous set of experience, they have tried and tested techniques that work like a charm, and they know exactly what could benefit your company!

A dedicated digital marketing agency constantly develops their skills and they also learn new ones. They want to make sure that they are up to the latest trends, use the latest strategies and tools, new updates for social platforms new software and search engine algorithms.

An outside perspective

Aside from having expert knowledge on this topic, you also have an outside perspective from somebody who looks at your product, service, and company as your potential client would.

From a business point of view, it’s easy to get pragmatic and technical. But people (for the most part) don’t want to get into technicalities. Your prospects might not want to know about the details of your business, no matter how impressive it might be.

They want to know how your solution or product can solve their problem.

Your content needs to encircle the notion of helping your clients, while slowly and subtly embedding the idea of a potential purchase.

A digital marketing agency can become a bridge which is connecting you with your clients.

4) An Agency is Equipped With the Latest Tools and Technologies

As we mentioned previously – a successful digital marketing agency keeps up with all of the latest trends and emerging technologies.

That means your company doesn’t need to worry about any additional tools or software that might be necessary for your marketing campaign.

Although there are immensely useful tools on the market, unless you are a marketing agency it’s highly unlikely you’ll get your money’s worth. It’s a costly investment that you won’t get much use out of.

You can rely on your agency to offer you the best solution for any goal you’re trying to achieve with your marketing efforts.

The world of digital marketing is changing constantly and consistently. The whole idea of the latest developments, the latest software, updates is to make our lives easier. You probably don’t want to get wrapped up and waste all of your time on some complex platform.

Automating the process is also cost-effective, which is why the tools are so valuable. There’s less need for manpower.

Marketing tools help us increase efficiency, performance and overall productivity.

But they can come with a hefty price tag. Not to mention that some of them are not easy to utilize so it takes time to learn all of their features.

Of course – some of these software and tools are free of charge – but among all of the software available on the market, we know how difficult it is to pick the right one!

It boils down to trial and testing – and your agency has got your back.

5) Digital Marketing Agencies are Data Driven

At least we are!

Our main focus as a digital marketing agency is to bring results.

But seriously – every agency that holds to its integrity will focus on the things that matter – a measurable ROI.

And this is what every committed digital marketing agency will tell you – measurable results are what makes digital marketing worthwhile.

But you need to remember that inbound marketing is a marathon – not a sprint.

Which seems contradictory considering the pace of the digital world. We’ve gotten used to things happening quickly, and with the rise of the viral content, we’re putting a lot of pressure on ourselves.

Particularly on creating just the right content which will hit the bull’s eye and achieve amazing results. And on top of that – we want every following post to be more successful than the previous one.

Once we put such high expectations, we also set ourselves up for failure.

Not Every Metric Matter!

Now that we’re on the topic of metrics, we’d like to mention vanity metrics.

You might have noticed that some brands are obsessed with the number of followers.

Results are what needs to be in the focus. But what are the results you need to focus on? And more importantly – what are the numbers that shouldn’t be your focal point?

Well, number one – the number of followers. Now, don’t get us wrong – having a good number of loyal fans is extremely valuable. Those are people that will consume your content, who you will be able to create good relationships with. So nurture those.

But being fixated solely on the number of followers, the number of likes, and such, isn’t a measure of success.

Now that most people in the world have access to the internet, creates a wonderful opportunity to find people that will fit your ideal customer persona. But – more often than not many followers are faceless avatars that won’t bring anything valuable to your brand.

So let’s not hype up the sole existence, but the measurable engagement and intent behind it.

When you contact an agency – ask them what numbers they consider important. The number of followers should never be at the top of the list.

BONUS – Questions You Should Ask Before Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency

Here are some questions you should ask when choosing a digital marketing agency for B2B.

1. How do they measure success?

A good agency should be your “partner in crime” and work beside you in defining your unique brand success and demonstrate the results along the way.

2. Does this agency match the idea my company is perpetuating?

Working with an agency that has similar values to yours will make things run more smoothly. The basis of your collaboration should be a good human relationship.

3. How available are they for you?

If you want to take the burden off your shoulders and leave everything up to them you can do so. Just clearly communicate what you need – do you want to be daily involved with what they’re up to? Or do you feel comfortable giving them more space in implementing your marketing strategy?

4. How long should my contract with an agency be?

As we mentioned, when it comes to B2B digital marketing it really boils down to time, patience and consistency. Does that mean that you won’t see a big result for at least 6 months? No – but if you are in a hurry and you want to jumpstart your marketing campaign, you need to take paid advertising into consideration.

5. What is their SEO strategy?

Ask them about the latest SEO updates and trends, and what steps will they take to help your website rank higher. Primarily because Google relentlessly updates its algorithms, and if they aren’t keeping up with it things can go from bad to worse.

When it comes to complex services such as SEO it would be beneficial to educate yourself about the basics, so you won’t get snake-oiled. It’s easy to use fancy terminology and convey expertise when the other side is completely clueless.

Just like you would bring a car-guy friend when buying a used vehicle, you should get an SEO friend to help you choose the right SEO agency.

6. What is their content strategy?

To match your marketing needs you should learn about the way they create their content. Try to learn about their inbound strategies and the way they run their paid advertising.

And the creative part! How much can they produce, how specialized it can be – meaning, you need to think about if whether you need to get involved as well! Or at least to appoint someone to help with the sort of specialized content you want to share.

7. What social media strategy will they use?

As we mentioned – measuring social media success should not be based on the sole numbers of followers, so make sure their objectives are aligned with yours.

Along with that, you should find a common language when it comes to the way you want to represent yourself on social platforms.

The list of questions you can ask them isn’t exhaustive, but it might be a good place to start!

Conclusion

B2B digital marketing needs to be sustainable in order to be successful – purchases often take a long time to occur, and the process behind them is complex.

What B2B marketing requires are repeated actions, creating strong relationships with prospects, nurturing trust, and fundamentally finding your permanent place in the digital world.

Patience and discipline will lead to sustainability, which will consequently bring results and success. It’s a no brainer!