Why Hire a Marketing Agency in 2024?
I’m writing this post as a challenge.
Because let’s be honest, what hasn’t already been said about the topic?
I could regurgitate the same stuff as everyone else, or I can provide my perspective for why going it on your own isn’t the best play in 2024.
You need a partner. Someone who can be the shield to support your sword.
If you want to maximize your effort, this is the way.
(Also, this intro inspired the Midjourney prompt for the featured image. It’s really come along, yeah?)
The Right Reasons to Hire an Agency
If you’re just looking for a vendor, this article isn’t for you.
If you just need additional help and you’re trying to do it cheap, that’s not what I want to talk about.
There’s real value in hiring an agency to work as a partner with you. And that doesn’t mean there isn’t value in finding someone who can just increase your capacity, but then you’re hiring them for output.
The benefit of having a good agency is that they focus on outcome, not output.
If I can get you a result, do you really care whether it’s done with half as much effort?
If you do, it’s because you’re living some antiquated mindset where hard work and lots of hours are the only ways to get results.
It’s 2024. We’re thinking smarter now. Get on the train or it’ll leave you behind.
So, before I can get into the benefits, you need to understand that I’m writing this based on how the best agencies operate. I don’t care if your experiences have jaded you. Those agencies were likely leaning on tactical deliverables, not strategy.
It’s no fault of their own. That’s what everyone has been doing for years, especially when startup cash was easy to get and people would throw money at anyone who could help them.
And any dude with a laptop can claim to be an agency. So if you made the mistake of hiring them, it’s on you. Due diligence is the name of the game.
But for now, let’s talk about the benefits of hiring an agency.
1. You’ll find the strategic direction you can’t easily acquire.
Your team gets to see a problem once with your brand.
An agency might see the same problem 10 times monthly across their clients. That repetition allows them to recognize the patterns faster than anyone else.
The growth rate for team members at an agency is exponential when compared to what’s possible with a single brand. Granted, the agency has to have the right systems to develop its team, but the potential is massive.
When you have a problem, if you can find the agency that solves that specific issue, they’ll deliver a strategy that surpasses your expectations. Why? Because they’ve seen that problem more than you and already know what to expect.
Patterns let us forecast the story.
Agencies have the potential to know the story more in-depth than anyone else.
Be specific in the problem you want solved when you seek an agency and you’ll be amazed at what they deliver.
2. They can move faster without your bureaucracy.
The bigger a company gets, the more bloated it gets with approvals for simple actions.
A single marketing campaign can take weeks to get approved when you have all these committees and “need-to-know” individuals who actually just want to hold onto whatever authority they can muster because they’re power-hungry.
A benefit of using an agency is that they can move fast.
They can get a smoke test for an offer up quickly. And if you’re smart, you’ll give them some parameters to work within, but you’re not going to force them to check in on every single decision.
They should be experts in what they do, so you’re going to let them be experts.
As long as they’re not going to cause a brand meltdown, you should give them the flexibility to get the job done. Set a financial cap if you need to. “If a decision could cost more than $X,XXX, you need to ask first.”
I recommend doing the same with your team, as you should have hired them as experts in their specific space as well. But when you do that with an agency, you’re empowering them to be your partner and they’re going to want to crush it for you.
3. You’ll get a great look at metrics.
This one is a sub-benefit from the first reason.
If the agency you’re working with truly has expertise in what they’re doing, they’re going to know all of the metrics to look at. This includes the leading and lagging indicators that you’re on track, but also some of the less observable metrics.
For example, your leading indicators would be the comments, shares, audience growth, and conversion rates. Your lagging indicators would be revenue, retention rates, and cost per conversion.
Nothing surprising there. You get it.
The harder-to-observe metrics would be things like comment sentiment (how people are engaging), how people are sharing (dark social metrics), or even micro-influencer reach.
No one is initially looking for these numbers, but an agency that’s worked in the space for years is.
They’re going to find those numbers that no one is looking at up front, but if tracked, can level up your decision-making.
The agency you’re hiring should be able to do this across whatever problem they have expertise in. And if they don’t know what metrics are important in the space, they’re not worth hiring.
4. You can take a break from learning new tech.
Technology is advancing faster than anyone can keep up.
If you’re a marketing leader, it’s nearly impossible to learn all the tech while managing all your duties and reports.
So, you assign your team to it. You have them do the research to learn tools. Hopefully, they find the right ones and can put them to use.
Because agencies need to be the best at the problem they solve, they also have a specific area to focus on for tech advancements.
This means they’re more easily able to stay updated on the technology that gets the job done. And that means you get to learn which tools to use and how to use them from the team helping with your work.
You can ask an agency what tools they’re using. Some will dodge the question as if there’s shame in using tools.
But the good ones understand the tools alone doesn’t get the job done. It’s the tool coupled with expertise. So hell yeah they’re using a tool. It helps them bring their strategy to life much faster.
You Should Hire an Agency the Right Agency
While I think there’s value in working with an agency, not every agency is created equal.
So many are using outdated playbooks and just providing you with deliverables that aren’t tied into a greater strategy.
I’m not ignorant of the norm.
But when you find the agency that solves your exact problem and can walk you through how they’d do it, there’s a good chance they have what it takes.
Ok. Go find your agency. Or shoot me a message. I can direct you towards the ones to talk to.