One of the biggest challenges faced by SMMEs is having a good marketing team in place. Industry-specific marketers for the engineering, manufacturing, technology and science fields are complicated to source successfully. These companies rely on marketing teams to know their industry inside-out, but they also rely on marketing to ensure brand awareness and, ultimately, sales.
There is no right way to do marketing, but there are many wrong ways to approach your marketing strategies. For many companies, it depends on their circumstances and budget.
Xponent knows how to avoid the common pitfalls of in-house marketing teams and offers a multidisciplinary marketing solution for your business.
We drive lead generation, increase revenue, and deliver strategic marketing plans that target business growth and development. Discover our innovative B2B (Business to Business) marketing packages for business owners in the engineering, science, technology and manufacturing sectors.
The In-House Dilemma
Going the in-house route will mean that you employ your marketing team from scratch. The person or team (if you have the budget) you recruit will ultimately face many challenges.
You know the saying. Teamwork makes the dream work. But how realistic is this when your team has never worked together? Different personalities and marketing methodologies could give you a hard-to-manage team when your last priority is team management.
Beyers Hauptfleisch of Xponent (Pty) Ltd shares the common issues that can arise from hiring a marketing manager in-house.
“The problem that companies face is that it is very difficult for business owners and managers to think about their business from the customer’s perspective, leading to marketing that is company-centric. You can spot this when marketing focuses on the production capacity or commodity produced by the business as opposed to the product or result derived from consuming that product. By sub-contracting your marketing to an agency, you gain an outsider’s perspective. With this outsider’s perspective, it becomes possible to create customer-centric marketing that appeals to the audience. The secret to hiring a marketing company is to get a company that provides a turnkey solution”
Beyers continues: “When you hire a marketing agency it provides a further benefit because each person that makes up your team can specialise in a specific field of digital marketing. They also see other clients’ marketing data, which means they can spot trends and learn faster than an in-house marketer because they have the opportunity to learn faster than people trying to perform all the various tasks required”.
Unless you can find a candidate who is a master at all things digital, it may be difficult for them to manage the entire workload. Like anyone, they’ll have their strengths and weaknesses.
We need to be honest here. Hiring a team from scratch can work, but it will be challenging to find, build and manage the perfect team. Offering your new team the proper training is ideal, but it could also lead to turnover issues. If you want to keep your staff turnover low, you’ll need to invest in maintaining a solid company culture.
Agency Agility
Marketing agencies have the skillsets and resources to give your company a better return on investment. Agency teams are equipped to meet deadlines, generate new strategies, implement concepts and ensure lead generation.
Agencies allow you to focus on your business while the marketing team keeps track of your goals. Agencies have skilled teams who understand your industry.
A marketing agency will also consistently keep ideas interesting, analyse marketing initiatives and generate new ideas based on your customer experience.
Tech Stack Availability
Digital marketing agencies offer tech stacks like no other. Hiring an agency allows you to take advantage of expensive tools and integrations you may not be able to afford. A small business can get long-term benefits by investing in marketing services from an agency.
Xponent specialises in digital marketing for B2B companies who want to generate relevant leads consistently. Xponent coordinates and implements world class digital marketing solutions right here in South Africa. Our sales-led generating websites deliver sales leads directly to your email inbox.
Generate Excellent Content
At Xponent, we understand the importance of generating content that matters. When you partner with an agency, you can be guaranteed that all the content being generated has been thoroughly researched and planned. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is a vital service that a digital agency can offer your company.
The Xponent marketing team performs keyword research and creates link-worthy content to drive traffic and improve your results on search engines. Excellent content will grow your online presence significantly.
Branding and Design Expertise
Graphic design, website development and branding consistency take a full-time team to manage. Marketing agencies in South Africa, like Xponent, can extend their expertise and bring your brand to life.
Forbes Councils Member Kristopher Jones shares, “One of the most obvious reasons businesses need expert branding is to help them get recognised more often. If you have strong branding for your business, people will naturally take note of it much more than they would a business without it. A business that doesn’t really have any cohesive branding isn’t going to stay in someone’s mind for very long”.
Digital marketing is changing the way South Africans do business. No business can afford to waste a valuable marketing budget on ineffective digital marketing.
Get in touch with Xponent and start your marketing agency experience today.
