Are Marketing Agencies Worth It for Small Businesses?

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  hasher22 on 13/12/2023 - 19:59

  +5

  I'll share my experience but others may and will have negative and different outcomes and experiences.

  TLDR: No

  Marketing is a powerful tool and its needed to grow businesses, while organic traffic is king through SEO and word of mouth (depending on the business), you want to try focus more on organic rather than paid traffic. And even then organic and paid avenues can be very very very tricky.

  15% is good as some businesses use 5% up to 30% or a bit more. But it's how you use that 15% and if that 15% is working for you. If an ad is low performing at 15%, you need to change your ads or keywords, if 15% is working, then double down on that and maybe bump up the marketing budget.

  Personally, I put aside roughly 15%-20%, I am a sole trader and I was on Google Ads but I ditched that and I am now on Facebook and Instagram ads and that works much much more better for me.

  Over the last years, what I have learnt that I will NEVER trust marketing agencies ever as I have been burnt in the past and recently been burnt in the last 2 months from dodgy sales pitches and thank god I never continued and read their T&Cs and found their dodgy ways wanting money from small businesses / sole traders.

  Thing is with agencies, you have to find a right fit, its like a dating game and you have to in it to 'win' it. Marketing is a testing field where as A/B testing goes, to see which is the winner and you will double down on that asset.

  I've had SEO agencies, marketing agencies wanting 2k to 10k per month but guarantee no results and it's all a gamble and investments.

  Go on youtube and learn how facebook and instagram ads work with analytics, you will learn alot. Also do A/B testing with your ads, this will save you money in the long run and facebook will pick either ad A or ad B to be the winner and scrap the other ad and use the best performing ad.

  I am sure there are other small business owners here have success, but my experience, I had better results doing it myself.

  I've never consulted with one before, as I'm scared I'll get guilt tripped into signing up. What's the process like?

  From the sounds of it, you may get guilt tripped as they are sales agents, they will use tactics to offer you the 'best' outcome without any guarantees. This is why I hate talking to marketing agencies because the sales people are just so pushy and very sales orientated instead of goal focused for your business. While some may appear empathetic and want to do best for your business, keep in mind they have a bunch of other businesses they're attending to in the back end.

  Also, don't hire anyone from Fiverr, they will rank your site in google quite low.

  • 

    EvoQuattro on 13/12/2023 - 21:42

    Thanks for the great insight!

    Word of mouth is definitely the most powerful, or positive customer reviews in relevant Facebook groups, but that of course only goes so far and is soon forgotten/unseen by new members.

    I guess what I was hoping to get out of an agency is validation that what I am doing is on the right path, and also how to better my SEO. You're right though, first step I guess would be to see what I can find on Youtube to understand the analytics.

  • 

    geekcohen on 14/12/2023 - 05:44

    I was on Google Ads but I ditched that and I am now on Facebook and Instagram ads and that works much much more better for me.

    Are you aren't the only one. Google has become harder and a bit more painful overtime, plus depending on the industry a high CPC.

    Social media can be more cost-efficient and you can target people better. Its swings and round about, sometimes Google is better then Social for some businesses and vice versa.

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  plmko on 13/12/2023 - 20:30

  No

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  CheapandUsed on 13/12/2023 - 21:17

  +2

  This guy has a YouTube series where he shows how to setup a social media marketing agency (SMMA) from scratch… But he also touches on how he crafts the ads and to target Facebook/Instagram rather than Google ads and why… Not sure if this was that exact episode but might be close and have some ideas to help

  https://youtu.be/2r5tYoAfinY

  • 

    EvoQuattro on 13/12/2023 - 21:43

    Thanks mate! Will take a look at his videos.

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  poboy on 13/12/2023 - 23:08

  +1

  The trick is to get people's email and keep trying to get repeat sales or cross sales without being too annoying. And ask your customers what more they would like from you. Look at similar businesses and have a better offering.

  Good luck.

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  geekcohen on 14/12/2023 - 05:43

  As someone who worked for an agency, yes, they can help but it is a two-way street. It isn't something that you can just let the agency do, it needs work from both parties.

  We always found that there were saving opportunities on media spending across all platforms that generally covered the agency fees. It is also a multiple-pronged approach where you need to be doing things across Google, Facebook and Email Marketing.

  Agencies can help you grow and build, but you need to find the right partnership. Don't sign up for one of those larger gimic agencies you hear on the radio or see some big CEO on a YouTube ad. Find a slightly smaller agency.

  Something to think about for an agency is that you have the availability of all their team (at least that was what we did). So regardless of the service, the tech team were always available to assist should an issue arise.

  Depending on your industry, there can be large growth. Over my 6 years with the agency, we grew companies into million dollar a year businesses and so much work they expanded facilities, stores and their team.

  Just my 2 cents. I am no longer in the agency space as I needed and wanted a change. Happy to answer any questions if you want to PM me.

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  jdyoung on 05/08/2024 - 23:35

  As someone who has experience in direct marketing any advice on where to learn digital marketing I don't have an issue with pitching and strategic communication have a uni qualification, but this was prior to the world becoming digital and looking at upskilling