After you purchase the resource of Inbound Marking you reach the point where you have to make the decision to manage it yourself, or hire a digital marketing agency to take it off your plate. When you come to this cross roads it is important to lay out the pros and cons of which method would best suit your company when using inbound marketing.
If you are unclear about what Inbound Marketing does to benefit your company, check out this article on INBOUND 101 to learn more.
Taking on Inbound Marketing yourself could be considered an overwhelming task for many marketing directors and business owners alike. There are multiple articles online that you can read for little to no cost on how to use inbound marketing, and it seems pretty easy. But, it is crucial when implementing your IM campaign that it be swift and to also effectively reach your target audience. Anyone could go online if they wanted and become educated on the subject, but not everyone necessarily knows how to successfully follow through with a strong marketing campaign.
Another facet to using inbound yourself is cost.
Below is a chart explaining the components of an IM campaign when you decide to take it on insourcing (shown by hours needed) versus what it would cost if you hire an agency.
Campaign Content |
In-house (cost in hours) |
Agency (cost in $) |
Buyer Persona Development |
6 hours |
$1000 |
Content Idea Development |
3 hours |
$200 |
8 blog articles |
16 hours |
$1600 (8 articles at $200/) |
1 premium offer |
6 hours |
$1250 |
Call-to-action button & Landing page |
1.5 hours |
$150 |
Email nurturing series |
3 hours |
$200 |
Social Distribution |
2 hours |
$500 |
Paid Promotion |
4 hours |
$1000 (not including management cost) |
TOTALS |
41.5 hours |
$5900 |
Matthew Bivens 2014
*Note, these numbers are rough estimates pulled from a hubspot partner’s experience of both managing inbound marketing campaigns as part of an in-house team, and at an agency. These are only meant to give you a relative idea as to what to expect.
PROS AND CONS
Insourcing inbound marketing:
PROS
- Decisions could be implemented faster through communicating through the chain of command when insourcing
- When doing your IM in-house you would be able to oversee all aspects of the campaign and direct where you see fit.
CONS
- It could be confusing when first jumping into inbound marketing and could be very time consuming to figure out all the ins and outs of the system and this could limit the success of your campaign.
- Other areas of your business would lose attention because of how much time you are devoting to IM and trying to get it up and running
Outsourcing inbound marketing:
PROS
- You would be able to delegate instead of execute your campaign, which could take loads of responsibility off your shoulders that could be devoted to different aspects of your company.
- Your campaign would be solid because there would be a TEAM of experts working on your IM rather than just one person devoted to the task.
CONS
- There would be a potential monthly expense
- You as the business owner or marketing director would not be able to oversee every small intricate detail of the IM campaign.
THERE YA HAVE IT FOLKS
Of course it is your decision to decide which path you would like to take when you’re at the crossroads. It is important to try out your options and use whichever method would benefit your organization and delight your customers the most.
Good luck and happy marketing!
Your Comments :