Don’t Go It Alone: The Case for Hiring a Marketing Expert

Why you should hire a marketing professional

While you should always have the final say on your marketing campaigns and expenditures, it’s best to leave the bulk of your marketing in the hands of a professional. According to Emily Williams, founder of Web Copy Collective, digital marketing is particularly nuanced and challenging and best left to a professional.

“Digital marketing is a time-consuming and expensive skill to learn by trial and error,” Williams cautioned. “There’s a complicated balance of buyer psychology, branding, messaging and relevancy you need to get right. If you’re not a professional, that balance is impossible to get right, and it’ll cost thousands in failed campaigns””

Consider the following four reasons why hiring a marketing professional may be the best option for your business.

1. Marketing is a full-time job.

Entrepreneurs are sharp, savvy and typically great at learning new skills. Yes, you absolutely could learn everything you need to know to create a marketing plan and execute effective marketing campaigns. 

But let’s be honest: You don’t have time for that. Today’s marketing landscape encompasses advanced analytics, artificial intelligence tools and multi-channel attribution models that require continuous learning and hands-on experience. Your business needs immediate results, not gradual improvements as you navigate the learning curve of digital advertising platforms, email marketing campaigns, content strategy and social media algorithms.

As your company grows, prioritize activities that require your expertise and vision. Marketing is crucial to your business’s long-term success. However, it’s a full-time gig in its own right, and you already have a big job: running your company. 

2. Hiring a marketing expert saves time and money.

One of the biggest reasons business owners dismiss the idea of hiring a marketing expert is the cost. They figure that because they can write and use social media, they can get along just fine. Unfortunately, that logic often backfires when they spend time on content and money on ads, only to get little to no return on investment.

If money’s tight, consider working with freelancers and independent contractors versus full-time employees. While these individuals may charge higher rates overall, you can hire them for specific projects, and you won’t need to provide benefits. This can be a great option for website copy or consistent blog posts. (We’ll explore more about marketing professional costs below.)

3. Partnering with a marketing expert is an opportunity to learn and grow.

For business owners eager to expand their marketing knowledge, collaborating with an expert provides invaluable real-world education. Your marketing professional brings tested strategies and industry insights that give you competitive advantages. You’ll absorb practical expertise in months that would otherwise require years of trial and error.

Your marketing expert can show you how to:

• Acquire new customers
• Use your existing customer base for referrals 
• Cultivate social media relationships

Reilly Newman, founder and brand strategist at Motif Brands, noted that marketing experts can help business owners understand new insights into industries, markets and even their own companies. “When a company tries to do its own digital marketing, it can be extremely difficult to effectively position and package the offering,” Newman explained. “This is because a marketing expert brings not only their experience but their perspective. This can assist a brand in gaining insight into the market or seeing an obvious gap in the audience to market effectively.”

4. Social media marketing is complex, so you need an expert.

Small businesses need a social media presence, so every modern marketing strategy must have a social media component. Social media marketing is an excellent way to build engagement, create word-of-mouth brand awareness and tell powerful stories that help sell products. However, it is complex and extremely competitive.

Your potential customers are exposed to a daily onslaught of advertisements and marketing messages. To cut through the noise and get noticed, brands need dedicated, innovative social media managers who understand platform nuances, create compelling visual and written content, and maintain consistent brand voice to create a strong social media presence.

A digital marketing expert will possess the analytical and social skills to identify your target audience quickly and better understand your customers’ needs. They’ll effectively use your social channels to get your customers’ attention and prompt them to act. The rest is up to you.

Cost of hiring a marketing professional

Your costs will vary widely depending on whether you use a marketing agency, hire an in-house marketing professional, or work with a freelance marketer. 

Marketing agency costs

According to digital marketing solution provider WebFX, monthly agency marketing costs can vary widely from $50 to $6,000, depending on the services you need (web design, SEO, social media marketing, email marketing, or PPC advertising). For example, small businesses might allocate $2,000 to $5,000 monthly for basic marketing services, while mid-sized companies may invest $5,000 to $10,000 for expanded capabilities such as SEO optimization and content marketing. Note that your fees may not include the actual costs of advertising in digital or traditional media.

What you need to spend to achieve a significant ROI will depend on your industry, region, competition and goals. 

Here are a few tasks a marketing agency can help with:

• Create a marketing strategy and build customer personas
• Conduct a marketing analysis and create a market research plan
• Develop compelling content across channels, such as social media, websites and advertising platforms
• Handle the website design process, including programming
• Create landing pages and other marketing assets

In-house marketing professional costs

Building an internal marketing team requires substantial investment beyond base salaries. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, marketing managers in the United States earn a median annual wage of about $160,000. Regional fluctuations and experience can impact this number.

Additionally, you’ll need to consider other factors for a true cost assessment:

• Employee benefits: You’ll need to calculate the cost of the in-house marketing professional’s employee benefits package, which typically runs between 25 percent and 40 percent of their salary. For example, for a marketing salary of $55,000 annually, you’d spend an additional $13,750 to $22,000, for a total cost between $68,750 and $77,000. If you break this down into an hourly cost, assuming a 40-hour work week with two weeks of paid vacation, it’s between $34.38 and $38.50 per hour.
• The marketing skill level you need: You must also consider your marketing professional’s skill level. If your business is in a highly competitive industry, you may need someone more sophisticated and experienced, which will cost you more. However, if you use channel selling or a direct salesforce, or your industry is less competitive, you may do well with someone less experienced who doesn’t cost as much. If they’re on salary, they could also contribute to other aspects of your business.

Chris Ferris, senior vice president of digital strategy at Pierpont Communications, estimated that to execute a full digital marketing strategy, a company would need to hire an SEO expert, PPC manager, social media writer, graphic designer, data analyst, copywriter, CRM expert, website developer and strategic marketing executive.

“In reality, most companies simply can’t afford to hire all those professionals,” Ferris said. “The benefit of a digital marketing firm is that a good agency will have experts in all the areas a company needs, and they can scale them up or down as the business needs.”

Freelance marketer costs

If you own a small business and just want help creating and executing a digital marketing strategy, hiring a freelance marketer may be the best option. According to Upwork, freelance digital marketing professionals cost about $15 to $45 per hour, though someone with extensive experience and a proven track record will cost you more. 

Still, starting with a freelance marketer can be a more affordable option than hiring a full-service agency. Freelancers typically offer flexibility, allowing you to scale services up or down based on your needs and budget. While they may charge lower rates, it’s essential to vet their expertise and ensure they can deliver on key areas such as SEO, content creation, social media management, and email marketing. 

Downsides of not hiring a marketing professional

If you decide to put off hiring a marketing professional, it can hurt your business in the following ways:

• You may not do enough marketing. All businesses must market to survive and grow. Even if you have an established customer base, there is always attrition. Customers can become dissatisfied for whatever reason. Perhaps they can no longer afford your product, their needs change, or they move away. To replace lost customers, your business must constantly reach out to new prospects and entice them to buy. Without a dedicated marketing professional or agency actively planning, implementing and analyzing, potential new customers can slip through the cracks. You may not be out in front of potential customers, but your competition likely is.
• You’ll waste money on ineffective marketing efforts. It’s easy to waste a lot of money on marketing if you don’t know what you’re doing. Marketing is as much science as art, and experienced marketing professionals know the tips and tricks that give their companies a higher ROI. Additionally, they’re focused on marketing KPIs and adept at analyzing data to determine precisely what’s working and what isn’t and then adjusting accordingly. While no marketer has a crystal ball that lets them avoid wasted marketing spend entirely, professionals can detect problems and regroup quickly.
• You may miss out on opportunities. Even if you have a marketing background, new marketing methods and channels always pop up. If you aren’t dedicating a sizable chunk of your time to keeping up with trends and strategies, you’re likely missing out on a platform or tactic that could bring you business. Part of a marketing professional’s job is staying abreast of the latest marketing buzz so your business is always where it needs to be when it should be there.
• You may neglect other crucial business functions. You have many responsibilities as a business owner. If you’re spending an excessive amount of time on marketing, you’re likely neglecting other parts of your business, including managing employees, improving processes, overseeing finances, creating an overall business strategy and forming strategic alliances. Your company can’t afford for you to devote too much time to one business element. 

Improve your bottom line with a marketing expert

If you’re still on the fence about hiring someone to do your marketing, consider this: No one will buy your product or service if they don’t know it exists. Marketing experts know how to get a company noticed and can consistently implement new strategies. It may take a few months to start seeing the results of these strategies, but in the end, it’s an investment that will pay off and allow you to start scaling.

Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.