Why Outsourcing a Digital Agency Is Your Best Choice Post COVID
The impacts and rapid pace of changes that COVID has brought upon us personally and to our businesses are irrefutable. But what have we learned so far, and how will this reflect in your business marketing practices as we move forward and ready for opening again?
Of the many changes that have taken place in Australia since March 2020 we can define behaviours and practices that your business will need to evolve in a post COVID marketplace.
SME’s have been the hardest hit by the COVID shutdowns. Many businesses running on razor thin margins have disappeared. Some have been able to pivot (restaurant takeaway for example), and there are the stellar examples of agile businesses that have doubled-down on their online models to drown out their competitors caught sleeping behind the wheel. There are polar opposite examples across the board.
But as we move into a new paradigm of behavioural and procedural changes, how will your company adapt to this new business environment?
Most SME’s don't have a huge budget to play with to start, and cash flow issues could hinder and expose the soft underbelly of a competitor very quickly.
You are always seeking the best ROI your marketing dollar can get. This is why an agency is best positioned to offer your business the best results and value for your dollar. Experience, skills, tools and services and analytics. This is what comes with the expert digital agencies.
Consider the changes your marketing plan that your business might need to make post COVID:
- Keep your marketing message on target. Focus on an organic, authentic message .
- Understanding your post COVID normal adaptions and how business is going to adjust.
- Website and UX are more important than ever. Make sure you CRO is meticulously reviewed and dialed-in for the optimal online experience.
- Strategising new business, services, cross and up-selling to current clients
- Understand how SEO and Organic Search, and ‘Zero Click’ are going to affect your content tactics.
- How to best leverage your PPC and Social channels. Doubling down, Outsourcing
- How you can shift or add in DTC (Direct to Consumers) over your wholesale stream.
- How bricks and mortar businesses are pivoting to eCommerce bricks, click & collect.
- How your supply chain has affected your business and bullet proofing with shop local, supply local mentality.
- The changing face of your workplace environments. From work from home environment, to benefits. The way we work will necessitate how you can market your business.
- COVID has shown us the need to be agile and adaptive, and the ability to pivot your business model fast.
So why do you need to use a digital marketing agency post COVID?
Expertise & Skillset
With a digital agency you are getting a very specialised set of industry leading marketing skills and experience than a single (or even several) in-house persons. Knowledge and skills across a broad spectrum of platforms and media mean marketing activities are more effective and accurate. Time is a big factor in bringing your company up to speed after COVID, and an agency with this scope will be able to work with your niche and specific marketing needs. With a larger team and experience it means we are achieving your goals in a fraction of the time an in-house marketer is.
Tools
Agencies have a plethora of digital marketing tools to be able to analyse, predict, monitor and your marketing activities. These tools are designed to access multiple data points and while they might be affordable at Freemium levels, in order to access professional level data, they have a price point and a learning curve that are insurmountable to all but digital marketing experts. A digital agency will integrate all your data instead of siloing in small pools that become time consuming and prohibitive.
Speed of Implementation
Since a digital agency already has the experience, skillsets and tools, they can help you change direction tactics and much faster than an in-house marketer. This can come with a substantially larger price tag but when efficiency and speed are key factors, an agency can help you change gears much faster. In light of today's business environments, the faster to market wins.
Adaptability
In a time when environmental factors are anything but predictable, the bold are favoured in their ability to read and act on industry signals, experiment and be agile. Quickly mitigating risks and the speed of decision making of business models, process and strategy give your organisation a distinct advantage. A digital agency will be able to parallel and complement your strategies with their fast moving industry leading tools and knowledge.
Affordable & Profitable
Cost isn't always the bottom line but profitability is. If you were to compare an in-house marketing employee at $75K a year versus an agencies services, most decisions are made by ROI. With an agency, you have control over costs at all times.
Say your organisation needs to generate $500K additional revenue by the end of business year. Do you hire the marketing person who is going to take 2-3 months to get up to speed, or do you hire an agency who can be on the job tomorrow, have your return on investment at the end of month two, and double your revenue by the end of those 6 months? Drawing on years of industry experience with a proven track record and case studies to back up their expertise, an agency will be better equipped to get you the revenue you require in a much shorter time.
When you hire a digital marketing agency, controlling your costs and getting the expertise of a large ROI driven team that focuses solely on your companies growth in a volatile, uncertain marketing era is definitely the bottom line.
We’d love to hear about what you’ve got in mind this year and how we can help you to your COVID normal business thrive.
