Marketing is moving fast. And, so are the expectations from your clients and prospective clients. In the past, you probably could have gotten away with basic marketing campaigns that allowed you to be good at one solution—let’s say SEO. But today, you need to be winning on all fronts.
Your clients EXPECT you to:
Be a thought leader.
Have a great website that is informative and engaging.
Be on the first page of Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
Have a strong social presence across a variety of platforms and media types (graphics, video, audio).
And the list goes on … and on.
And, just as your client’s expectations keep rising, so does your competition’s marketing efforts. To win in this space you need to hire and rely on subject matter experts. The problem with that is the average company’s marketing budget can’t keep up with the salaries and time limitations of these experts.
Although it can feel overwhelming, we believe succeeding in the digital space shouldn’t be so stressful or expensive.
Two Simple Shifts That Will Revolutionize Your Marketing Strategy
- Streamline
The pressures of modern marketing can be overwhelming, which is why most CMOs end up hiring various vendors to take on individual parts of the job. These positions can include:
- Content Writers and Editors
- Social Media Managers
- SEO Experts
- Paid Advertising Specialists
- Video Team
- Graphic Designers
- Web Support Personnel
If all of this staff is required to reach your marketing campaign goals and you can actually afford the time and cost to manage all of these positions, terrific. But for the rest of us, these combined salaries and overall spending on marketing often outweigh the financial gains that can be achieved. When you sit down to create your marketing plan, the numbers (budget) have to make sense just as much as the strategy does.
What’s the Solution? Find a Partner.
Consider partnering with an agency that utilizes a team-based approach for their marketing. If you have a limited marketing budget, but still have large growth goals, a marketing team will give you access to subject matter experts that can supplement your in-house staff, but you only pay for them as you need them.
The bottom line is you get all the value of having the collective specialists mentioned above—and you get them at the same level of expertise, but for a fraction of the cost.
If you are considering using a team-based agency, there’s one thing you should understand before you start the process. When selecting an inbound marketing agency, you should be looking for a partner, NOT a vendor.
When push comes to shove, a vendor is someone who collects a check from you. You pay them to do a specific job. It is a very transactional experience.
A partner, on the other hand, is someone who is accountable to you, your goals, and success metrics. Before you set a marketing budget, you need to be sure you’re aligning yourself with an agency that is accountable to the things that really matter.
Here’s what you don’t want:
You: “Our leads are down for the month.”
Your “Partner” (Vendor): “Yes, but we got you 55 Facebook likes!”
This example does not illustrate a partner relationship—it’s a vendor relationship. Your marketing plan will only work if you have dedicated and committed partners that produce quantifiable results. Essentially, their perspective has to be that they win when you win and they bleed when you bleed.
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At Farotech, we believe it’s our team’s responsibility to partner with companies that want to get “marketing done right.” We understand how a marketing plan helps a business strategically allocate funds and maximize the power of partnership, and we’re here to help you do just that.
- Specify
Right now, you might be thinking that point number one doesn’t apply to you because your budget doesn’t include an allocation to partners. You just do it all yourself to keep your marketing expenses down! For nearly 20 years, we’ve worked with plenty of companies like yours who do try to keep their marketing plan all in-house. The reality, however, is that their CMO is typically taxed to the breaking point.
If you’re a CMO reading this, here are some indicators that you are operating at capacity:
- You have a pile a mile high on your desk (or in your inbox).
- You don’t have a comprehensive strategy that includes content marketing, marketing automation, analytics, and paid social media.
- The boss or supervisors feel like things can never get done fast enough.
- New ideas or initiatives never get adopted due to drowning in previous initiatives.
- Tasks aren’t getting done at the pace or quality that they should.
- You are not reaching your marketing goals.
- You have a wish list that (if you are honest with yourself), you will never get to.
If you checked several (or all) of the indicators above, don’t be too hard on yourself. Marketing is growing more complex each year.
In his blog, Why You Can’t Figure Out Online Marketing…, Neil Patel uses his usual blend of statistics and humor to explain the whirlwind of change that has been the past decade of marketing. It’s no wonder most CMOs feel like they’re just treading water.
There’s only so much one person can do, and being honest about that is actually the first step toward saving money and becoming more efficient overall with your marketing. CMOs who are doing it all themselves are usually “doing it all” on a very general level. And, this is not because they couldn’t do it better, but because they simply don’t have the extra time required to do it at the highest-quality standard. Or, the work requires subject matter expertise that they simply don’t have the time to master.
When overloaded with tasks, investing enough time in any specific digital marketing skill area simply becomes impossible.
Ask yourself honestly: What might it be costing my company if I can’t maintain specific expertise across the many, complex aspects of marketing?
Maybe you’re staying afloat —or even growing — because you’ve busted your butt as much as any human possibly could. Honestly, we respect this level of commitment, but we’re also here to let you know there’s a better way.
What’s the First Step? Rely on a Team.
Our team-based approach gives you access to every subject-area specialist you’ll ever need—right when you need them. They’re all right here at Farotech, and they’ll all be at your disposal with one appointed Account Manager as your liaison. That puts you in the quarterback position you were meant to have all along. You call the plays.
Take a look at our Unique Process to see the level of depth we go into with our partners.
Before You Create Your Marketing Budget, Consider Your Investment
As we said earlier, you need a partner, not just another vendor. You need a team that can help you plan and execute your one, three and five year marketing goals. You need a proven system that takes the science of conversion and produces great results for you—just like it has for so many of our clients.
According to 2019’s CMO Survey Report, “Marketing capability development continues to be the critical knowledge investment priority for companies.” But in this unstable economic climate during the COVID-19 pandemic, most organizations are having to slash marketing budgets, not expand them to reach new goals.
What if your company made a change and decided to do things differently?
What if you found a more cost-effective method for marketing this year?
Whether you’re the CEO looking for results, the CMO looking for a helping hand, or the CFO trying desperately to keep the marketing budget under control, we’ve got your back. Request a free, customized marketing assessment today!
