At some point, businesses will require marketing support solutions for various reasons – online presence through a website, SEO, social media, and that’s just for starters!

However, for some businesses, navigating any type of marketing can be overwhelming. 

Where should you start? 

What type of digital marketing do you need to reach business goals?

What resources and skills are you going to need to do this well?

What does ‘well’ mean for my business?

Fortunately, there are marketing support solutions available! But how can you determine the right type of digital marketing support for your business? 

In this blog, we explore the options, and which type of marketing support might suit your business the best.

What are marketing support solutions?

Marketing support solutions are designed to assist a business with their marketing providing expertise in various areas such as digital marketing analysis, content creation to boost SEO (search engine optimisation), social media management, email marketing, paid advertising (PPC) and more.

There are numerous digital marketing support solutions available, but how do you choose the right one for your business goals?

For instance, if your business has an in-house marketing team that covers most areas but lacks the time or resources to handle a specific project, you would seek out digital marketing support solutions from freelancers or a digital marketing agency.

Alternatively, if you’re a growing business without the budget to hire a dedicated in-house team, outsourcing to a digital marketing agency can help ease the burden. This approach allows you to focus on other essential tasks while ensuring your marketing efforts are managed effectively.

Regardless of your situation, investing in digital marketing support can reduce stress, improve efficiency, and provide access to expert insights that drive business growth and boost your online presence. Most importantly, it will ensure you get great marketing results!

In this blog, we explore the available options, the pros and cons of each delivery method, and how to determine which solution best suits your business goals.

Marketing support solutions: Using freelancers

Freelancers are a flexible, cost-effective option that many businesses utilise, especially within the digital marketing industry. They are self-employed, which means they aren’t your responsibility so no particular employer obligations, and you hire them for a specific service for a finite period of time. They can be a great way to outsource your digital marketing, quickly and fairly cheaply to fulfil an immediate marketing support need.  

However, using a freelance marketer means their time might be divided between you and other businesses. Unless you manage to hire a digital marketing freelancer on a mutually exclusive contract, they are free to work with whoever they like including possibly a competitor, or at least with another business that has competing deadlines to the work you need doing.

This can lead to periods of radio silence if they are busy with another client, and it isn’t the best option to go for if you want to create reactive marketing. 

While they can be a less expensive option, if you hire a freelancer who isn’t suitable for your business, this can become an unnecessary cost. Finding the right freelancer with the skills and capacity therefore can very quickly narrow down the pool of people who are right for your business.

Additionally, if it is a complex project, such as a website redesign which requires multiple freelancers to be working together, from experience, this can be a bit of a headache in terms of briefing and coordinating. The aim is to lessen the pressure business owners feel and reduce their time commitments. 

Where multiple freelancers need to work together, with joint briefings and dependencies between them all, it is unlikely the outcome will be less work, less stress or the freeing up of your time!

Overall, we would recommend freelancers for small projects or as temporary cover for sickness and maternity, and use between hires.

Marketing support solutions: In-house digital marketing

There are lots of pros to having your digital marketing in-house. The first is that your marketing department will know your company values, tone of voice and how exactly you want to execute your marketing like the back of their hand (once they’ve been recruited, trained and fully inducted into the business).

Another advantage is that you can control what digital marketing activity goes out, at what time and where. This is especially helpful for reactive content as you have all the resources you need in-house. 

However, the biggest issue with having in-house marketing is the cost. Not just for the person doing the marketing in terms of their salary and benefits, but any digital marketing tools they may need can add up to a costly bill.

Recruiting the right person for your team can also take a lot of time and money. If someone doesn’t fit in with the company culture or business goals or isn’t as skilled as you first thought they were, it can result in them being a financial burden.

The other challenge with hiring in-house is what digital marketing skillset are you looking for. Do you want a website designer and/or developer? A graphic designer? A social media expert? A content creation writer? 

Each of these areas, and there are many more, are specialist digital marketing skills. Do you try to hire someone who can do a little bit of each of them but none of them expertly, or do you focus on one particular area? 

It depends very much on your digital marketing strategy. But equally, someone who can put a strategy together isn’t necessarily the best skilled at delivering on it. This is all assuming you aren’t planning on hiring an entire team of marketers!

Marketing support solutions: A digital marketing agency as your outsourced marketing department

Agencies are a great way to deliver your digital marketing as they carve out specific times for your content. With this, you know exactly when you can expect work to be completed and that it will be to a high standard. If it isn’t, you have a clear line of communication to get it sorted asap without eating up any of your time.

Digital marketing agencies usually work on a package basis, offering marketing support solutions for various areas. Some specialise in particular areas such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) or social media, whilst other digital marketing agencies offer a whole series of solutions, factoring in any kind of digital marketing you may need. These can be upscaled and downscaled each month depending on forward notice and the agreed marketing strategy.

The agency team will have access to many resources, tools and platforms that would be too costly for a small business to have access to, enabling them to provide quality marketing for your business.

The main downside to a digital marketing agency is that you have to find the right one for you, not just in terms of service but also the people within the agency and their culture. It makes your life as a business owner much easier and more enjoyable when you find the right agency to become your outsourced marketing department. 

A digital marketing agency does still need to be onboarded, like a new recruit, but their experience and expertise should make that a quick process as they only need to know your business and business goals rather than marketing itself. 

Marketing support solutions: Growth by Design

Are you seeking marketing support solutions to boost your online presence? 

We specialise in marketing support solutions aiming to achieve real results and help businesses achieve their business goals through our digital marketing services.

To request your free marketing review today, and let’s see where we can help.

FAQs

1. What are marketing support solutions?

Marketing support solutions are services that help businesses improve their online presence and achieve their business goals. A digital marketing agency can provide support through content creation, social media management, email marketing, SEO, and paid ads.

2. How do I choose the right digital marketing support solution for my business?

Identify your business goals and areas needing support. For SEO and online presence, choose agencies specialising in those services. For audience engagement, focus on social media and email marketing solutions.

3. Why should I consider hiring a digital marketing agency?

A digital marketing agency team offers expert marketing support solutions, with a variety of digital marketing skills, (web developer, content creator, graphic designer) to cover all aspects of your marketing, keeping it all under one roof!

4. Where should a business start with digital marketing?

Start by setting clear business goals. A digital marketing agency can create a tailored strategy to guide your efforts, deciding on the most effective and efficient mix of tactics to then achieve those goals. 

5. What is the difference between the various marketing support solutions available?

Marketing support solutions vary. Freelancers are ideal for small projects or temporary tasks, an in-house marketing team offers full control but can be costly, whereas a digital marketing agency provides comprehensive support, combining expertise in SEO, email marketing, and strategy to help businesses achieve their business goals efficiently.