Internet Marketing - Should You Outsource It to an Agency or Do It Yourself?
This question is asked by almost every business owner or marketing manager. The answer, as usual, is not clear-cut, because it will depend on several factors. Are you able, and above all, do you have the time, to face the challenge of internet marketing, do you have the right resources to outsource these activities, or maybe due to the specifics of the company the only possible solution will be to build your own team?
If you are just starting your business and your budget is small, you should definitely (if possible) do your marketing yourself. Advertising on the Internet can be cheap if you use free, publicly available media such as: YouTube, Facebook Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn, run your own blog, and use a free platform such as Wordpress to build your website.
If your business is already functioning well, you have been operating offline for years, and you already have too many responsibilities, outsource internet marketing to an agency . If you have too little time, you will not do it well, you will not be able to follow trends and effectively participate in the race that is undoubtedly internet advertising. Use the time saved in this way to work on what you know best and from which you earn money.
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Building your own team of marketing specialists will work well in large corporations and specific industries where marketing implementation requires the processing of many procedures, and access to company resources may be difficult for external specialists or requires a lot of specialist knowledge.
Advertising your company on the internet - where to start?
The right form of advertising is a very important issue. What if we have no idea about it and don't know where to start? To properly choose the types of online advertising, you need a marketing strategy. When planning a marketing strategy, we should answer a few basic questions:
What is the goal of the advertising campaign, i.e. what do we want to achieve through online marketing? If you are a small or medium-sized enterprise, then in 99% of cases it will be an increase in sales.
What is your target group? Create a persona and define who your line database customer is and who you would like them to be. Define who your ideal customer will be, and then consistently build an advertising message focused on that group.
Is the content on your landing page tailored to your target audience, i.e. your potential customers?
Is your product/service widely known and sought after, or is it completely new and you need to show the world that it needs it?
How have you acquired customers so far? Can you wait longer for the effects of online advertising, or do they have to appear immediately?
What does the competition use, what forms of online advertising are the most popular in the industry? Check if the competition has Adwords, if they use Facebook Ads. You can also use the SimilarWeb, Ahrefs or Surfer tool to check what sources the competition's website generates traffic from, what phrases it is positioning for or using in Ads.
What are your advertising budgets and what will you consider a success from implementing them? Knowing the agency's budget and rates will help you plan which activities to outsource and which to implement yourself or postpone. Plan how you will measure the effectiveness of your advertising.
By answering these few questions, you will be able to go a step further and determine whether you should invest in inbound internet advertising (SEO, content marketing, social media), outbound (Google Ads, telemarketing, display ads, SMS marketing, buzz marketing), or a hybrid solution (e.g. SEM). Below I have described several, in my opinion, the most effective forms of internet advertising, check what is worth testing or if you are already using them!
1. Website positioning
Every day, hundreds of thousands of people use internet search engines to find information, specific products and services that interest them. It is therefore worth ensuring that your company's website is displayed as high and as often as possible. In Poland, over 88% of internet users use the Google search engine , which is why you should focus on this search engine.
seo in numbers - website positioning infographic
Facts about website positioning
Positioning is definitely one of the most effective forms of advertising on the Internet - organic search results are still very trustworthy. A well-positioned website can provide you with a steady stream of new customers. It is also usually one of the cheapest forms of advertising (taking into account the cost of acquiring one click). Positioning is a series of activities consisting of optimizing the code on websites and the content found on them for Internet search engines, in such a way that they best respond to the user's query and the expectations of the Google robot and are placed in the highest possible positions in organic search results. Unfortunately, positioning websites is a time-consuming process , and the effects of these activities are visible only after a few, or sometimes even a dozen or so months.
Positioning also includes off-site activities, such as acquiring valuable links to the site. For example, by supplementing strong company directories or publishing articles on blogs and thematically related websites. SEO activities require extensive specialist knowledge, because not all the factors that Google takes into account are known. Due to the fact that algorithms are constantly evolving, the work of an SEO specialist involves frequent analysis of individual elements of the site and search engine results, and correcting these elements.
The strategy adopted for positioning will differ depending on the industry, because the issue should be approached differently if we want to promote a local service, and differently a computer program or an online store. An important factor influencing the effectiveness of this form of advertising will be the selection of appropriate keywords for the target group. Incorrect phrases will not generate leads, despite high positions.
For whom?
Positioning will work in almost all industries. The exception may be products and services that are very niche or innovative, which are not yet known to Internet users and therefore are not searched for.
When will you see the results?
You have to wait from a few to a dozen or so months to see the results - depending on the industry, the history of your domain and the competitiveness of the phrases.
