More than 60 percent of marketers say generating leads is the most challenging part of their job. If you’ve ever been involved in lead generation, then you know how true this can be.
There are plenty of ways to generate leads online, but this can create even more challenges for you. Which tactics should you be using, and are you using them the right way? How do you get more quality leads, and how can you sort the best from the rest?
If lead generation is a priority for you, then you might be debating hiring some helping hands. Should you go with an in-house expert? Would it make more sense to team up with an agency?
You might consider hiring an intern. Someone on your team may volunteer, even if they have no previous marketing experience.
When it comes to finding and developing leads, an agency partner is often your best bet. Here’s why.
Years of Experience Generating Leads Online
Many business owners make the mistake of thinking lead generation is easy. They may hire an entry-level marketer or an intern and task them with generating leads online.
Remember that more than half of marketers call this task the most challenging part of their job. Do you want to hand it off to someone who is in their first job or just got out of school?
The same question applies when you hand lead generation to others in the business. Your VP of finance probably isn’t going to do a good job with lead generation, no matter how great their analytical thinking is. Your HR specialist is a great communicator, but writing marketing copy may not be their forte.
Even you may not be the right person for the job. Your expertise and talent may be elsewhere, even if you have a knack for marketing.
When you team up with an agency, you’re instantly adding an experienced team to your roster. Most agencies have teams of professionals. Each marketer on the team has years of experience under their belt.
Tap into the Right Technology
You may have thought hiring your new in-house marketer was the only cost you had. As it turns out, you may also need to invest in marketing software or other technology.
Technological solutions can be expensive, and they may not provide the value you want. This is especially true when your team members aren’t familiar with an app. They may not be able to use the tools you provide them effectively.
What seemed like a more affordable solution is actually chewing through your budget. It’s also not delivering the results you want or need.
Working with an agency can help you gain access to the right technology.
Your agency partner has already invested in the technology to make your marketing work seamlessly. What’s more is they’re always investing in new solutions. Your business is always at the forefront of automation, AI, and other advances.
An agency has more resources to invest in this technology, so they can keep delivering results to all their clients. The costs of this investment are spread out across accounts. Your risk is much, much lower than if you paid for a new, unproven solution yourself.
Beyond that, your agency partner is also more capable of assessing different solutions. They can pick the right ones, so you’re always getting solutions that fit your needs.
Stay up to Date on Digital Marketing Techniques
You know that digital marketing strategies have many moving parts. You need to stay on top of your SEO to boost both your content marketing and your PPC ads strategy.
There’s also social media marketing, influencer marketing, and video marketing. New options, such as programmatic advertising and more, are almost always emerging.
Managing this many campaigns and coordinating your efforts takes a good deal of time and skill. What’s more, though, is that this digital landscape is always evolving.
SEO is probably the best example of this. Search engines change their algorithms to better reflect how people search. In turn, the SEO tactics you use today may not work tomorrow.
Social media works in a similar way. Facebook tweaks their algorithm to show people more of what they want to see. Your organic posts might as well be invisible to even your most loyal fans.
Even bidding strategies need to change. As the competition for ad space heats up, you’re going to need to switch things up to see success.
Your marketing agency partner knows this. In fact, they’re already anticipating the changes. They should be willing to experiment with new tactics to get you the leads you need.
Your agency partner will have a better idea of what’s happening in the digital landscape. They’re monitoring the market for new developments. In turn, you can become a trendsetter instead of always being behind the eight ball.
Expert Advice When You Need it
Another reason you’ll want to make sure you have a marketing expert on your side is so that you can tap into the advice you need whenever you need it.
Want to know if your strategy is working? Your marketing agency partner has the data and they can help you crunch the numbers. They can offer insight into where to focus your efforts or how to tweak your strategy.
A Cost-Effective Solution for Your Business
You’ll want to make sure you’re hiring at least one digital marketing expert is that it’s more cost-effective.
Why? In the simplest terms, experts are going to drive results. They’re also going to do it in the most efficient way.
What does that mean for you? It means you’ll likely end up paying less overall than you would if you hired someone to work in-house. It’s especially more cost-efficient if you’re thinking about hiring someone with little experience.
You may be able to bring that person on for less initially. If you look beyond the salary you’re paying, you’ll see just how much they’re costing you. Inexperience could mean ineffective campaigns, the selection of poor tactics, or the adoption of the wrong strategy for your business.
It also usually means more time is spent on each task. An inexperienced marketer is learning the ropes, so it may take them more time to complete tasks. They may not yet have learned some of the tricks that could help them manage time-intensive tasks.
They’ll also spend more time correcting mistakes. Over time, all this adds up. The result is usually that experienced marketers can get the job done for less.
Better Management of Your Budget
Experience can also make your marketing efforts more cost-effective by improving budget management.
Expert digital marketers are in a better position to strategically spend ad budgets. They can help set up campaign parameters that make better bids. In turn, you’ll get better ad placement.
They can also help you choose the right leads to follow-up with. One of the problems with generating leads online is that it’s easy to generate lots of leads. Certain tactics will generate plenty of leads, which may seem like a good idea at first.
Marketers often find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume of leads. They then spend plenty of time and budget following up with as many leads as possible. In some cases, they don’t check the quality of the lead.
The issue here is two-fold. First, you’re spending too much time and effort on low quality leads. These people aren’t likely to convert, so this is a waste of your resources.
The other issue is that you’re not spending enough of your resources on high-quality leads. These leads are more likely to convert, so it makes sense to concentrate on them.
In turn, you might be losing sales, because your team is too busy following up with people who aren’t ever going to convert.
The root of this issue may even be the tactics your team chooses to use. There are some tactics that will generate lots of low-quality leads. Others generate fewer leads, which tend to be higher quality.
Knowing which tactics are which is key to getting the right leads for your business. Investing in lead qualification is another good use of resources. Finally, expert marketers often have a good sense of which leads will convert and which ones won’t.
Delivering Proven Results
You have several goals for your marketing efforts. You might want to drive more traffic to your website, or maybe you want to increase your brand awareness. Most marketing efforts aim to generate leads and then convert paying customers.
If you want to reach those goals, then it makes sense to team up with an experienced marketing agency.
Their expert team has been delivering results to their clients for some time now. They should be able to share case studies with you and detail their results.
They should also be able to describe their method and how they get results for their clients. This should inspire trust in your marketing agency partner. They’re going to be able to drive results for your business.
If you decide to hire or leave lead generation in the hands of someone else on your team, results aren’t a sure thing. Often, you may not see the results you want.
Some business leaders make the mistake of blaming the tactics, saying they don’t work. That’s not usually the case.
By partnering with an expert team, you get better execution of the tactics best suited to your goals. In turn, you can be sure you’ll be in a better position to actually get the results you want.
Forward-Thinking Strategy
Finally, partnering with an expert team can help you devise a better strategy. With their advice, you’ll be able to push lead generation and all your other marketing efforts into the future.
The professional marketers will work with you to revise your current strategy. They can also help you prepare a new strategy.
Their insights about upcoming trends, where the digital landscape has been and where it’s headed can be key. Designing a strategy to meet the challenges of tomorrow is easier with the right insight.
Getting a New Angle
One of the reasons the insights of a marketing agency team can be so helpful is that it provides you with an outside perspective.
When you hire in-house or work with people already on your team, you can end up in a marketing echo chamber. Since you’re all on the inside, you might find it difficult to see the bigger picture. You may not be able to identify issues or solutions.
The experts on the agency’s team are coming to your business and looking at it from a completely different angle. Getting this new perspective can help you spot problems you didn’t see before. It can also be key in discovering solutions.
This extra perspective makes it easier to develop a better digital marketing strategy. In turn, you’ll be more likely to craft a strategy that will not only meet your goals but exceed them as well.
Get the Professionals on Your Side
Whether you want to generate leads online or improve brand visibility, partnering with a marketing agency could be the right move. It’s cost-effective and proven to deliver the results you want.
What’s more is that you’re adding the expertise you need to compete. In today’s ever-shifting digital marketing landscape, that can give you an edge. With the right team on your side, better lead generation is well within reach.
Ready to start generating more highly qualified leads for your business? Get in touch with a team that has years of experience delivering results. The leads you want are a few clicks away.
