Marketing retainers are made to help us help you.
One crucial decision (and investment) most businesses will make is deciding whether to keep their digital marketing in-house, or to outsource (or a mix of both). These days, digital marketing has MANY moving parts, and is more complicated than ever.
To survive, you have to keep up. To thrive, you need an in-depth understanding of how to integrate ALL of these components.
Most in-house teams aren't equipped to keep up with the specialized and holistic approach that today's digital marketing requires. And frankly, even the most skilled in-house marketer is limited simply by the hours in their work day.
For most marketers, it takes years of professional experience to become an expert in just one of these areas, so it’s unrealistic to expect results across the board from just one or two people.
For many businesses, housing an entire team of specialists is just not within their budget.
That is why they partner with a marketing agency - a solution that serves as a cost-effective way to leverage the many specialists you need to make your investment in marketing more than worth it.
Let’s break it down:
When comparing costs between hiring a full-time marketing employee vs. a marketing agency, often times indirect and opportunity costs are overlooked.
Let’s say a marketing agency will charge you $5,000 per month. Compare that to hiring one marketing manager who will be paid a $60,000 salary. Not only will you be lucky to find a seasoned marketing professional for that salary, but there are additional costs that need to be considered.
What does it cost to offer healthcare, a 401K program, vacation/sick time, and other employee benefits? Not to mention, investing in costly software platforms for one employee to manage, monitor and analyze all of your marketing initiatives.
In the end, hiring an in-house marketing manager will cost you upwards of $75,000 annually (excluding opportunity costs), while an adequate monthly retainer with a marketing agency will cost you $60,000 per year (and give you access to a whole team of multiple marketing specialists).
It’s easy to identify the clear-cut winner here in-terms of cost savings (and that’s based on conservative numbers).
An in-house marketer who is responsible for all of the elements in a marketing strategy can spend a full 40 hours per week developing and executing a single marketing campaign, while still falling short when compared to their competition who partnered with a marketing agency.
The main reason for this is marketing agencies have the right people and processes in place to effectively execute marketing campaigns in a timely fashion. It’s like the old saying “Jack of all trades, master of none”.
A team of masters will always outperform one jack.
Here are some additional benefits to working with an experienced marketing firm:
So you’ve come to the conclusion that a marketing agency is the best solution for your marketing needs, but now you’re faced with yet another choice. Do you choose an agency that provides a-la-carte services or a retainer partnership?
The real question here is: do you want your marketing to be results-driven or task driven? If your answer is results-driven (which is should be), then your best option is a marketing retainer.
Why? Because choosing to post on Facebook 3 times a week and email a newsletter once per month is invaluable, especially if it doesn’t connect your solution to your audience.
You must post with a purpose. Your goals may change on a quarterly basis, and if they do, your marketing tactics should shift with them. One initiative may require more content development, while another may require heavier paid search support.
The point is, marketing isn’t effective when it’s cookie cutter.
Unlike the traditional a-la-carte approach, a marketing retainer delivers results with minimal limitations. They allow for the implementation of ANY marketing tactic to be used at ANY time in order to achieve specific goals and objectives.
And we get it, as we used to be a services-based agency. But after realizing it doesn't allow us to do whatever it takes to achieve client success, we switched to the retainer model and it has worked wonders for our clients.
So many times, we see businesses performing marketing tasks they either THINK will work, THINK they need or are simply FEEL more comfortable executing.
Marketing agencies take a totally different approach. All of the marketing efforts are aligned with a client’s specific goals and objectives. The agency will then use any and all tools in the toolbox to achieve those goals.
The only limitation you face is time. Marketing retainers are based on a certain number of hours per month. But using that time efficiently and effectively based on goals will provide the best ROI to your marketing budget.
Any business would benefit from a true partnership with an agency that develops strategies and campaigns around goals and objectives, executing whatever tactics necessary to achieve them. Marketing in today's digital world is exhausting, complex, and multifaceted. Partner with a retainer-based agency so your organization can grow, and you will look like the superhero.