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IN-HOUSE
VS
AGENCY
Inbound Marketing:
Whats right for my company?
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Inbound Marketing: In-House
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John Bonini
Marketing Director
@bonini84
Written by
As the Marketing Director at IMPACT Branding & Design, John oversees the companys
entire lead generation and branding strategy, utilizing blogging, premium content cre-
ation, social media marketing, search engine optimization and video marketing in order
to help grow the company and expand its reach.
Under Jo|ns direction, MPACT |as experienced signifcant growt| in its blog subscrib-
ers, social nedia following, as well t|e conpanys overall traffc and lead generation.
In addition to his work at IMPACT, John has also been interviewed and featured in sever-
al industry leading publications, including the Wall Street Journals SmartMoney, Market-
Watch, as well as the HubSpot blog.
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GET STARTED
GET RESULTS WITH IMPACT
IMPACT is an inbound marketing agency focused on generating more
qualifed traffc and leads fron your website to ultinately drive sales and
produce results. Request a free assessment with IMPACT below and learn
how we can help you transform your marketing!
Strategic Planning
Your path to success starts
with a plan.
Convert Leads
Boost your brand visibility
& prove your expertise.
Campaign Development
Building the tools you need to succeed.
Grow Sales
Boost your brand visibility & prove
your expertise.
Drive Traffc
Boost your brand visibility &
prove your expertise.
Marketing Analysis
Boost your brand visibility &
prove your expertise.
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Inbound Marketing: In-House
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Doing Inbound Marketing In-House or Hiring an Agency .....................................5
Strategic Planning: Do it myself...or Hire a Marketing Agency?.........................14
Do You Have the Time Needed for Inbound Marketing? .....................................21
Skills Needed to Perform Inbound Marketing........................................................30
Staying Current With the Rapidly Changing Inbound Marketing Industry.......34
Is It Cheaper to Do Inbound marketing Mysef or Hire an Agency.....................37
In-house vs Agency...Who Delivers More?.............................................................43
In-house vs Agency: Making Your Case.................................................................48
Contents
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DOING INBOUND
MARKETING IN-HOUSE
OR HIRING AN AGENCY
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For most business owners, the decision to outsource their
marketing to an agency is usually met with equal parts
skepticism and curiosity.
The fact is that industry expertise doesnt always translate well
when it comes to marketing expertise. You know your business
better than anyone, and you know how it operates on a day-to-
day basis.
But do you know who your target audience is and how to
market more effectively to them? More importantly, do you even
have the time to worry about it?
The question then becomes, do I hire a staff and keep my
marketing in-house? Or partner with an agency?
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHICH IS MORE
VALUABLE AND COST EFFICIENT FOR
YOUR COMPANY?
Butisnt it going
to cost me more
than if I just hired
someone to handle
my marketing
in-house?
Can I stand
to get a little
help?
Even better,
cant I just do
it myself?
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By comparing the common experience between in-house
teams and marketing agencies in the following 6 areas, youll
have a much clearer direction moving forward on which is
right for your company:
Strategic Planning
Allocation of Tine and Pesources
Skills Needed to Effectively Perforn nbound Marketing
Staying Current in t|e Papidly C|anging ndustry
Cost
Peturn on nvestnent
How the following processes for executing a successful
inbound marketing campaign differ depends on whether
youre relying on an in-house team or a professional agency.
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Strategic Planning
dentifying specifc,
measurable, and
realistic goals is critical
in creating a strong
foundation for your
inbound marketing
campaign.
A game plan should then
be formulated based
on these goals that will
provide detailed strategy
on how these goals will
be met within a required
time frame.
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Allocation of Time and Resources
In order for a 12-month inbound marketing program to be successful, there will be
many daily, weekly, and monthly tasks that need to be completed to stay the course
for achieving your business goals and getting a return on your investment.
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Skills Needed to Effectively
Perform Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing provides a full-service strategy for getting
results. Everything from the design and implementation of
a lead generating website, creation of content, engagement
in social media, managing leads, implementing automation,
and making improvements over time, theres a variety of skills
needed in order to be successful, including:
Marketing Expertise
Crap|ic Design
Web Developnent
Content Creation
Social Media Expertise
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Staying Current in the Rapidly
Changing Industry
One of the most challenging aspects of marketing in the digital and online age is
keeping up with the most current industry changes and trends.
Everything from shifting buying behaviors, new social media platforms, changes in
search algorithms, and available new software can make a huge difference in the
success of your campaign.
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Cost
How can you get the most from your marketing budget?
Considering everything that goes into executing a
successful inbound marketing program, identify how to
allocate your resources in order to deliver the results your
business needs.
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Return on Investment
The most telling metric of all; considering the cost and allocation of your marketing
budget, |ow nuc| fnancial gain are you experiencing?
The following will thoroughly detail the experience expected from executing an inbound
marketing campaign employing either an in-house marketing team, or a professional
inbound marketing agency.
Which is right for your company?
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STRATEGIC PLANNING:
DO IT MYSELFOR HIRE A
MARKETING AGENCY?
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Planning your campaign and identifying the framework for implementing the most
powerful inbound marketing strategy is critical in experiencing accelerated results and
achieving your goals.
Simply put, you cant just start writing blog articles, creating premium content, or
posting to social media and expect any kind of return without a plan. The power of
inbound narketing lies in its ability to generate t|e rig|t kind of traffc and leads for your
company in order to shorten your sales process.
This requires a clear, concise blueprint in order to meet your KPIs and achieve your
business goals.
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This includes:
Analysis of your current marketing and brand
Defnition of your business goals
Turning your business goals into marketing goals
Performing a thorough competitive analysis
Defning value proposition
Developing your quality lead identifcation statenent
Creating detailed buyer personas
Performing an initial keyword analysis
Optimizing your website and setting up your campaign
Connecting your marketing and CRM
Creating content that attracts your target audience
Implementing and optimizing your lead generation strategy
Managing your leads and your sales and marketing funnel
Understanding your results
Improving your results over time and achieving your goals
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In-House
To successfully implement the type of planning and development required to execute
a powerful inbound marketing campaign, youll need the staff in place in order to not
only carry out the necessary tasks, but also manage the entire campaign and ensure its
neeting your defned lPs and on track to deliver a positive PC.
ts inpossible for a CEC to fnd t|e tine to be able to do all of t|is and still |ave t|e tine
to operate a successful business daytoday, t|erefore youll need to fnd |ig|level talent
in the form of a marketing director with extensive experience in executing full-service
marketing campaigns.
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No recent college graduates here. Depending
on how aggressive your marketing goals are,
youll need a bonafde narketing superstar
with extensive knowledge of the inbound
marketing process that can facilitate the entire
canpaign.and t|is wont be easy to fnd.
Because inbound marketing is still so new,
the agencies are really the ones who are well
ahead of the curve in setting the industry
standard for best practices and results.
Theres no room for error here, so its critical
that the right person is hired to be at
the helm.
This will be a challenge, as unlike agencies,
employee resumes dont come with case
studies, so theres limited resources available
to ascertain whether or not a certain candidate
can handle the considerable responsibility
of achieving your business goals and
experiencing an ROI from inbound marketing.
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Agency
The value an inbound marketing agency provides is that they already have extensive
experience in the development of full-service campaigns for other clients, therefore they
know what works.
As a result, they already have the entire strategic planning and campaign development
process fully detailed and ready to implement on day one.
The right agency will even work in the development of your inbound marketing
GamePlan immediately after signing an agreement. Due to the experience an agency
has in working with similar companies, this will allow them to expedite the strategic
planning process and get to the execution quicker.

All of this is completed prior to the launch of your campaign, ensuring that all marketing
initiatives are focused on achieving your unique business goals and also targeting your
ideal prospects.
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This has an immeasurable impact on
your campaign, as youll get much
more from your marketing budget,
and also shorten your sales process
due to an influx of nore qualifed
prospects. This is only possible with
a clear, detailed, and powerful plan
for executing your campaign.
Research is key here, as any
inbound marketing agency worth
its weight will have case studies in
order to prove their value. Therefore
its actually nuc| easier to fnd a
reputable agency t|an it is a bonafde
marketing superstar to hire in-house
to oversee your marketing efforts.
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DO YOU HAVE THE TIME
NEEDED FOR INBOUND
MARKETING?
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A successful 12-month strategy requires planning and consistency.
Setting time aside to complete the tasks necessary to execute a powerful inbound
marketing campaign can be a challenge if youre also trying to balance the day-to-day
operations of running your business.
How much time is needed? Well, that all depends on your business goals.
For companies with more aggressive business goals, much more time and resources
will need to be allocated toward your campaign efforts in order to successfully achieve
your goals and produce the ROI your company needs.
How aggressive are your business goals?
Moderate
Companies who have a 12-month revenue growth goal of 10-15%. They may have a
limited marketing budget, but they know the importance of inbound marketing and the
need to keep their sales team fed with quality leads. Typically for companies looking to
nake t|e s|ift to inbound narketing for t|e frst tine.
High
Companies who have a 12-month revenue growth goal of 15-25%. Typically for
companies that require more advanced services, as theyve tried inbound marketing but
need a boost in order to achieve their business goals.
Full
Companies eyeing an aggressive shift in revenue growth (over 25%.) Typically for
companies who may already be implementing inbound marketing, but need an agency
to accelerate their results and provide the shot in the arm needed in order to achieve
aggressive revenue growth.
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Welldepending on how aggressive your
business goals are will determine the
kind of commitment required to achieve
them. In other words, the amount of time
and resources needed to execute your
campaign will fluctuate depending on what
exactly youre trying to accomplish.
SO SET CLEAR AND MEASURABLE
BUSINESS GOALS and ask yourself,
Do I currently have the time and resources
available to achieve them?
So what does this all mean?
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In-House
Successfully implementing an inbound
marketing campaign means already
having a trained and knowledgeable staff
experienced in executing and managing a
full-service campaign.
Not to mention, it also means that upper
management (and even the CEO) are well-
versed in inbound marketing best practices
and know full well what it will take to
achieve the companys business goals.
Not only is this overly optimistic, but its
also a lot to expect from an in-house
marketing team thats already overworked,
and even more to expect from C-Level
executives who simply dont have the time
to worry about it.
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Aside from the entire planning and development stages of
launching your campaign, an inbound marketing campaign
typically performs the following tasks on a daily basis:
Monitor Dashboards Log in to HubSpot (or Google analytics) and
neasure your traffc and lead nunbers against your nont|ly goals. T|is |elps
you to stay on course and address problems quickly.
Marketing Team Meeting Quickly review short-term goals and get a
status report.
Blogging Refers to publishing content on a daily basis as well as
developing topics to assign to t|e narketing tean in order to fll t|e editorial
calendar. The more consistent your content, the more visitors and leads youll
generate.
Social Monitoring Using tools like HubSpot, Google Alerts, or HootSuite,
scan social media for brand mentions.
Social Engagement Engage your social media followings with
retweets, replies, and leave comments on other industry blogs. Respond to all
brand mentions and be sure to answer all questions.
Share New Content Via social media, and be sure to establish mutual
relationships with everyone who shares your content.
Moving Projects Forward Whether its continuing work on a draft for
an upcoming ebook, scheduling an email to promote a new service offering, or
redesigning your pricing page, plan and execute the next steps.
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Determine whether you have
the staff in place to perform
these tasks on a daily basis.
If this task list sounds overly
ambitious, then it may be
time to either revaluate your
business goals, or instead, the
manner in which you plan to
execute the campaign.
If you have aggressive
business goals, yet dont
currently possess the time or
resources to perform a daily
task list like the one above,
youre a prime candidate to
consider hiring an inbound
marketing agency.
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Agency
Hiring an inbound marketing agency allows businesses to reallocate their time and
resources to focus more on the day-to-day operations of running their business.
When considering hiring an agency, its important to evaluate the potential return on
investment from doing so compared to going it alone.
Based on your business goals, how quickly with the time and resources you currently
have available will you see a return on investment?
Due to most companies marketing budgets, most in-house marketing staffs are limited
in their skills and expertise; therefore it can actually take longer to experience an ROI.
An inbound marketing agency
contains experts in the following:
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MARKETING GRPAHIC DESIGN
CONTENT CREATION WEB DEVELOPMENT
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Instead, you can reallocate that time and spend it talking with your partner agency,
working with designers and content writers to ensure your knowledge and expertise of
the industry is translated to all parts of your marketing.
You have to ask yourself which is more valuableworking tirelessly with a limited staff
to perform all the tasks necessary, or partner with an agency where you work with
experts in marketing, graphic design, and content creation to implement their industry
knowledge and expertise with inbound marketing best practices to your campaign.
Theres also no training involved when
youre working with an agency, as they
possess the expertise necessary to hit
the ground running with your campaign.
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Download
Inbound Marketing Checklist
Quickly identify what youre missing in your inbound
marketing campaign.
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SKILLS NEEDED TO
PERFORM INBOUND
MARKETING
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Its often said that inbound marketing is not a one time thing; not simply a set it and
forget it method of marketing your business.
I mean it very well could be; that all depends on how serious you are about achieving
your business goals. For companies who view their business goals as critical to
their survival and success, inbound marketing is an ongoing process in order to keep
campaigns strong and performing on a daily, monthly, and weekly basis.
This requires a great deal of skill and expertise, as inbound marketing is a full-service
approach.
Along with marketing savvy, time management, and organizational
skills, the following are the skills needed in order to execute a successful
inbound marketing campaign:
Sales
Account Management
Project Management
Graphic Design & Web Programming
Analytical Skills
Content Creation
A zuot oLiII oet IiLe thio turgeted touurd your opecifc
buyers often delivers an ROI quicker than your typical
one time marketing initiatives.
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In-House
In-house marketers can be a strong asset
when it comes to the strategic development
of a marketing campaign. You may even
hire one with a business background,
perhaps even an MBA.
While they may have a strong skill set
when it comes to developing a marketing
plan, when it comes time to redesign your
website to be optimized for lead generation,
or create landing pages and calls-to-
action, or develop a content marketing and
social media strategy targeting your unique
buyer personas, they may be in over their
heads.
This doesnt mean an in-house marketing
director is a bad idea, but rather that in
order to complete the daily, weekly, and
monthly tasks necessary to execute a
strong inbound marketing campaign, youll
need to hire several other professionals in
order to cover your needs. At that point, it
nay actually cost you nore to fnd and train
the experts needed for inbound marketing
than to partner with an agency that already
has experience helping businesses grow
and achieve their business goals.
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Agency
Unlike many in-house marketing teams that may be relying on tools like Microsoft Word
and PowerPoint to get things done, youll be getting a much higher level of expertise
from an agency.
In addition to marketing experts who help to build and develop your strategy and
campaign moving forward, youll also have access to a team of:
Crahc Desgners
Will work with you in the design of your website, landing pages, call-to-action graphics,
infographics, and other marketing related graphic work.
Web DeveIcers
Develop and code lead generating websites using a CMS.
Ccntent Wrters
Responsible for creating editorial calendars as well as working with you to develop
resourceful blogs and preniun content t|at drive traffc and generate leads.
SccaI Meda Exerts
Optimize your social media presence in order to increase brand awareness and create a
valuable following.
Acccunt Managers
Your point of contact, working in collaboration with the entire team to ensure projects,
tasks, goals, and KPIs are continually hit.
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Youll also have access to the software and systems theyve put in place and have
already worked successfully for other companies. This is important as it saves your
company the time of having to research marketing tools and software on a trial and
error basis, and instead allows you to focus more on your business.
Instead of paying for an in-house marketer and expecting him to be a jack-of-all-trades
marketer, or even hiring and training a team of marketers to do all the jobs necessary to
be effective, its actually more cost effective to partner with an agency and let a team of
experienced professionals build and maintain a strong inbound marketing campaign.
Their experience and expertise coupled with your knowledge of the industry is a recipe
for both a quicker and more sizeable return on investment.
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STAYING CURRENT WITH
THE RAPIDLY CHANGING
INBOUND MARKETING
INDUSTRY
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One of the biggest challenges facing marketers today is the rapid pace in which
marketing trends and strategies are changing.
In fact, the inbound marketing methodology was born from this change. Consumer
behavior has shifted dramatically, and as a result, marketers and business owners have
shifted their focus from print media to online media.
Weve witnessed the decline in direct mail and cold calling due to the rise of newer, more
effective technologies and tools.
This change hasnt slowed.
Social media has emerged as one of the more powerful, dominant methods of
increasing brand awareness and driving traffc. Yet nany conpanies and industries
have yet to harness its potential.
New social media platforms pop up constantly. New software emerges that makes our
jobs easier. New mobile apps change the industry. Technology changes. Search engine
ranking algorithms change.
So how do you stay current?
Cr are you fnding your conpany is always riding t|e back end of industry c|anges and
trends?
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In-House
When it comes to keeping up with
industry changes and trends, in-house
marketing teams may have very
little understanding of whats going
on outside of your company and its
website.
This isnt uncommon, as the nature
of in-house marketers is to be fully
invested in the everyday duties of
executing the campaign, from individual
tasks to analysis. Therefore, its often
not high priority to read related industry
news, blogs, or keep up with new trends
as the make their way to the forefront.
They simply dont have the time.
Agency
A successful inbound marketing agency
is one that is constantly ahead of the
curve when it comes to industry trends
and changes.
Its the nature of the job, as agencies
are often working with a large volume
of clients, all in varying industries with
different needs and goals. Because
of this, agencies have a much greater
understanding of the tools, software,
and industry changes that will or are
affecting its clients.
Theyre also more privy to the changes
in search engine algorithms, ensuring
your campaign has best practices
implemented in order to rank high in
search engines and more importantly,
stay there.
Because an agency helps each client
create unique, detailed buyer personas,
they know who your audience is. Not
only that, but they also know the best
tools and methods for speaking to
them.
An agency also provides an objective
view on your marketing, and can often
identify areas that need improvement
and the tools that will help quicker
than you can. This is due to experience
for what works with other clients as well
as their extensive knowledge using the
tools and software available.
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IS IT CHEAPER TO DO
INBOUND MARKETING
MYSELF OR HIRE AN
AGENCY?
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Implementing the inbound marketing methodology to your campaign sounds great and
all, but it all boils down to one thing; cost.
What is it going to cost me?
As discussed earlier, it all comes down to how aggressive your business goals are and
what youre expecting in terms of return on investment. An inbound marketing agency is
just that, an investment.
Rather than viewing it as a cost, either for your in-house team or an agency partner,
consider everything that goes into building a successful campaign:
Strategic Planning
Canpaign Developnent
rve Trafc
Convert Leads
Crow Sales
Marketing Analysis
Rather than a one time, set it and forget it type approach that so many marketing
strategies and agencies offer, the inbound marketing methodology is a full-service,
12nont| approac| t|at consistently generates nore qualifed leads and grows your
business.
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In-House
Consider your marketing budget.
Got it?
Now consider everything needed to execute a successful inbound marketing campaign.
Obviously the staff and talent is a no-brainer, but what else do you need?
Some sort of marketing analytical software like HubSpot or Google Analytics.
A great CRM in order to execute a more productive sales process.
These are essential.
Now its time to hire your staff. Its important to consider everything that goes along with
hiring a staff.
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An employee with one skill set may cost you $50k, along
wit| payroll taxes, benefts, offce space, a conputer,
and also the supplies and tools needed to support their
|ob, youre looking at a signifcant portion, if not all of
your marketing budget being spent trying to hire all of
the specialists needed to carry out an effective inbound
marketing campaign.
This includes:
Marketing Director
Crap|ic Designers
Web Developers
Content Writers
Social Media Experts
There arent many companies who have the resources
available to both hire and train the type of experienced
talent needed from a marketing standpoint in order to
achieve your business goals.
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Agency
The flip side of spending over $150K on just a couple of experienced employees is to
reallocate your budget toward partnering with an inbound marketing agency.
According to CNNMoney, on top of an employees base salary, it actually costs the
conpany 182C nore after benefts and taxes.
So an average designer making $50k can actually cost your company $63k. Add in the
fact that you would need a marketing director to helm the campaign, making on average
$75k, and youre looking at well over $150k for just two employees.
Heres how it breaks down:
$75k employee = $94,500k
$50k employee = $63k
2 employees $157.5K
Add in the associated overhead costs with hiring an employee $300 for a desk, $1k for
a computer, phones, software licenses (especially for designers), and basic supplies
and youre easily looking at an additional $2k per employee.
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And what happens when en employee is sick? Takes a leave? Or goes on vacation? Does
your marketing campaign simply go on hold? Its essential to never let your campaign
go dark, as this interrupts any progress youve made in increasing brand awareness
and ranking high in search engines.
In contrast, a 12-month retainer contract with an inbound marketing agency at $10k/
month would cost your company $120k.
Full service inbound marketing agency $120k
In short, youll be getting much more from your marketing budget than any smaller staff
could provide.
You also wont be paying any payroll taxes or benefts on an agency, and t|ey |ave
access to their own hardware, software, and marketing tools that have already proven to
be effective for other clients.
Therefore, it can actually be more cost effective to partner with an inbound marketing
agency than to hire an in-house staff.
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INBOUND MARKETING ROI:
IN-HOUSE VS. AGENCYWHO
DELIVERS MORE?
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Get an inside look at how we strategize winning
campaigns for our clients.
Download
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The value of any marketing decision or venture boils down to one thing only; return on
investment.
Is the time and resources youre putting into inbound marketing delivering results and
helping you achieve your business goals?
The biggest factor in how fast or slow youll experience an ROI is the consistency in
which youre creating content on a regular basis. Content feeds the entire machine and
|elps to drive nore relevant traffc, educate prospects, and generate nore qualifed
leads.
Obviously the more resources you put into inbound marketing, the more youll get out of
it. However, as previously mentioned theres a lot that goes into executing a successful
inbound marketing campaign. From planning and development, to the completion of
daily, weekly, and monthly tasks, to tracking and measuring your analytics to identify
areas of inprovenent and increased effciency, naintaining a strong and consistent
approach in these areas will ensure a more timely, sizable return on investment.
Experience is key here, as knowing and understanding the vast amount of marketing
data available is a full-time job in itself, and having the know-how to navigate and
understand analytics will achieve results faster.
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In-House
As previously mentioned, the biggest contributing factor for seeing a positive ROI
from your inbound marketing campaign is the quality and consistency of the work
youre putting into it. Having the necessary experience is critical in getting results
and achieving your business goals. Inbound marketing is relatively new, so it can be a
c|allenge to fnd t|e talent and experience necessary to build a great tean.
This isnt to say that you wont see an ROI from an in-house marketing team, however,
its important to know and understand the limitations of a smaller team in regards to the
ROI you expect.
If you dont have the resources to hire
designers or developers, theyll also have to
outsource work to design agencies in order
to complete projects such as:
Website Design
Landing Page Developnent
CalltoAction Design
Social Media Artwork
Creation of nfograp|ics
An in-House team will work tirelessly in
the development and execution of the
following strategies:
Website Content
Blogging
Preniun Content
Social Media
Enail
Often times outsourcing project work can result in delays, missed deadlines, and a
back-and-forth type relationship due to unfamiliarity with your company and brand.
All of this will affect the timeliness and size of your return on investment.
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Inbound Marketing: In-House
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Rather than relying on a DIY philosophy when attempting to execute a full-service
campaign, and inbound marketing agency provides an all hands on deck style approach
to achieving your business goals and delivering an ROI.
Your business goals are the central focus, as everything in the planning and
development stages is designed based around them.
An agency will |elp you identify specifc, neasurable, and realistic narketing goals and
develop a narketing gane plan t|at defnes t|e strategy for you to attain t|ose goals
within your required time frame.
From that point forward, an entire team of marketing experts works to execute a
successful campaign. A great agency wont focus on tasks alone, but rather the results
you need.
That will dictate what strategies need to be implemented and ultimately, the size of your
return on investment.
Agency
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An agency is also equipped
with advanced analytical
software like HubSpot
and this means your
marketing campaign is
tracked and measured using
this same software.
Youll have full access to
these analytical tools as well,
which makes calculating your
ROI easy to do.
Most importantly, because
of the unique access and
understanding of your
marketing analytics, and
agency will be able to tie every
single lead, customer, and
dollar back to the marketing
initiative that created them.
Commonly referred to as
closed-loop reporting, theres
simply no more effective way
of ensuring an ROI.
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Inbound Marketing: In-House
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IN-HOUSE VS. AGENCY:
MAKING YOUR CASE
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So youve reached the decision process.
Do I keep my marketing in-house, or hire an agency
to help execute my inbound marketing campaign?

Which will offer greater value, and ultimately, help
ac|ieve your business goals nore effciently?
Use the following questions as a barometer to
help make your decision. After all, its a critically
important one.
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How aggressive are your goals?
The most important aspect of any inbound
canpaign is defning clear and realistic
goals. What are you hoping to achieve
through your campaign? Are you looking for
moderate revenue growth of 10-15% in the
year; or are your goals to aggressively grow
your revenue by 25% or more in that same
time frame?
The aggressiveness of your goals should
be a crucial factor in deciding on tackling
your inbound campaign in-house or
through an agency, since it will influence
the resources required for success. Small
or moderate goals may be attainable with a
sizeable marketing team that understands
the inbound marketing process, whereas
aggressive goals will require specialized
individuals with an extensive knowledge of
inbound marketing.
Dont let your in-house resources determine
your goals. Objectively determine what
your business wants to achieve, and then
decide if you can reasonably attain those
goals with your in-house resources. If you
are struggling to defne t|e goals of your
inbound campaign, keep in mind that an
inbound marketing agency will work with
you to defne suitable goals for
your business.
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Do you have the personnel available to
execute a campaign to meet those goals?
Once you have decided on how aggressive your goals are, you will need to see if you
have the staff available to meet those goals. Keep in mind that for an effective inbound
marketing campaign you will need marketers, designers, developers, and
content writers.
If your team is lacking expertise in any of those areas, your campaign will be very
unlikely to meet its goals. It would be unreasonable to expect one or two people to
manage all of those responsibilities, even if they miraculously have a background in all
four felds. Hiring an inbound narketing agency will provide you wit| individuals w|o are
specially trained in all four areas, and could save your marketing staff a few headaches.
If not, do you have the marketing budget to hire marketers, designers, developers, and
content writers?
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If you are lacking expertise in any part of your inbound campaign and still want to keep
it in-house, be mindful of your marketing budget. How much money are you willing to
invest in your canpaign to reac| t|e goals t|at you |ave defned?
Best case scenario you only need to hire one specialized individual to minimize training
costs. That means you are looking at a base salary for a marketing director of roughly
$75,000. For one employee that may seem like a worthwhile investment to keep your
operations in-house, but be mindful that is a rough cost for each employee that you hire.
So the big question is, at what point are you spending more on employees than you
would spend on an agency? A typical marketing agency will have set pricing structures
that are based on your companys goals. Moderate goals can be achieved with plans
that cost under $70,000 per year, and aggressive goals can be achieved for roughly
$175,000. Keep in mind that the employees gained through an inbound agency are pre-
trained, which should translate into a quicker ROI.
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Does your company have the time and
resources to execute the campaign
themselves?
Even if you have the employees in place to manage an inbound campaign, do they
have the time to balance the campaign with day-to-day operations? At a minimum your
team will need to post 3 blogs per week, consistently engage in and update all of your
social media outlets, create new offers and matching landing pages, perform keyword
analyses, and monitor SEO. And that is only if you are looking to achieve
moderate goals.
There are various types of software available to assist you in this process, but does your
company have access to this software? More importantly, are your employees trained to
use it? Any inbound marketing agency worth their salt will have employees versed in the
nost useful software, and could signifcantly cut down on training tine.
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Can you objectively identify how to
improve your marketing?
You know that your company needs to generate
more leads for you business, but do you know what
you need to do to generate more leads? It can be
very diffcult to set aside personal biases w|en
brainstorming ways to improve your marketing
efforts, since this is what you are constantly exposed
to. t is very diffcult for sonebody on t|e inside
to take a step back and thoroughly examine your
marketing efforts.
t nay be benefcial to |ire a narketing agency |ust
to have somebody on the outside take a look at your
marketing efforts. An agency can help to provide
you with a clear vision of the big picture, and can
work with you to improve your processes. A good
marketing agency will provide you with a customized
gane plan to set goals, defne problens and
solutions, and set forth a plan of action.
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Stop for a moment and holistically assess your situation. Are you ready to tackle an
entire inbound marketing campaign with your in-house personnel and resources?
If the answer is yes, you still dont have to go at it alone. There are plenty of resources
created by inbound marketing professionals available to assist your team and help drive
your success.
f you are a little less confdent in tackling an entire inbound narketing canpaign alone,
there are plenty of experienced marketing agencies available. Understand that hiring
an agency does not completely remove your control over your process. Any good
marketing agency will have an open two-way channel of communication, and will work
wit| you to neet your narketing goals wit|in a specifed budget.
Launching an inbound campaign may seem like an overwhelming task, but remember
that whether you choose to keep it in-house or bring in an external agency, there is
always help available.
?
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