The marketing landscape has evolved rapidly over recent years, and firms are now beginning to acknowledge the need to bolster spending in digital as it rapidly becomes a staple of the modern marketing mix. With over 3.5 billion Google searches every day, it begs the question, what is the most time efficient and cost effective way to keep up with trends and competition. Should businesses look to risk moving projects in-house or should they place their trust in the tried and tested knowledge of experts? Consider just three advantages of using an agency:

Return on investment

Hire a great agency and your targets are their targets, just as your success is their success. Most will push cutting edge technology to the limits, ensuring you receive frequent updates that not only outline what is going well, but what is being missed; resulting in opportunity and potential expansion.

With a labyrinth of tools at the ready finger tips of a third party, firms are able to benefit from the in depth analysis of important KPI's, that would otherwise come at a hefty cost. With the ability to measure click-through rates, bounce rates, demographic specific statistics and more, leaving advanced technology to in-house employees could see expensive tools being underused, and budgets stretched.

In a climate where PPC and SEM budgets can spiral out of control, as law firms try to get their hands on prime real estate, it pays dividend to have a wealth of proven experience making sure that your costs are spent correctly and effectively. Top agencies will provide you with regular reports that will track what is being spent; highlighting key data like correlations between budget, leads, and conversions. This is crucial at a time where many digitally sceptics want proof that a budget is being well spent.

Hiring a great agency will provide an all-hands-on-deck approach, ensuring your precious finances are carefully handled with fastidious monitoring and unmatched experience.

Experience

Knowledge is power and, in an industry where trends are volatile, it pays to have a team who have been there, done it and bought the t-shirt.  The benefits of outsourcing far outweigh the expense of  day-to-day employment issues such as retention and training. Especially when the outsourcing of seasoned talent is, in most cases, the best cost effective solution to hiring technical diversity. Working with a plethora of partners and knowing what works and what doesn't is an essential idiosyncrasy of a top agency. Go in-house and you run the risk of venturing into a very expensive unknown. 

Flexibility – Time is Money!

Whether it’s one project or a series of campaigns, businesses can rely on the flexibility of an agency, often contrasting to the mono-roles associated with an in-house team.While companies struggle to maintain enough full-time staff to plan, implement and measure a whole marketing strategy, a fully-fledged party of experts are able to not only implement the latest techniques, but to ensure you stand out from your competitors.

With Google Adwords surpassing 50 billion dollars in revenue last year, and insurance/lawyer related keywords ranking most expensive, it is clear that firms can’t afford to lose themselves in the proverbial haystack of adversaries. Agencies will devote time to keeping up with social media and marketing tools, a feat that would be extremely difficult for an employee to mirror without draining resources. This also goes for attending industry led conferences, building vital relationships and dedicating time to keeping up with fundamental marketing publications.

Great agencies immerse themselves in the everyday essentials that most firms just don't have the resources to utilise or research. When outsourcing you leave the burden with the experts, and free up the time to fight your own fires.

Developing talent in-house is certainly an option for some firms, and of course, it is done. But amidst a digital frenzy where budgets are stretched thin, and technology is developed quicker than you can teach it, It seems sensible to have an array of experts at the helm.

Dez Derry is CEO of mmadigital at www.mmadigital.co.uk