A Cost Benefit on Hiring a Marketing Company
So…
You’re almost ready to make a plunge. You’ve found a marketing company you’d like to sign and they are going to do gangbusters for you. Odds are, it’s The Wayne Consulting Group, but even if it isn’t, there are some things you need to consider.
Now, some may look at this as a deterrent from hiring an external agency, but these are real things I encourage our potential clients to look at because of two reasons:
We are an organizational development firm and we don’t want to have someone hire us if (1) they can’t afford it or (2) it won’t be of any benefit to them
We want to make sure they understand the entire return on investment (cost/benefit) before they pull the trigger
THE BENEFIT
How much does it cost you to hire someone to run your Facebook page? How much time are you spending? What’s been the return for your time? These are all questions we ask because we want to understand your time and effort against how we can perform for you. If you’re hiring someone at $12/hour for 30 hours a week and spending an additional $500/month for advertising, that is a monthly budget of $2,012. What’s your ROI on that $2,012?
A lot of companies don’t know. When I discuss customer acquisition cost (CAC) or the efficacy of an ad campaign, a lot of times they are shooting in the dark. They don’t have the time to keep track of these numbers and because of that, they are losing a lot of dollars to lost marketing.
Lost marketing is a term we use that describes campaigns, outlets, and persons that a company has used/hired that has had little to no benefit for them. By calculating the “lost marketing” cost as well as their operating budget for marketing, we can determine how an effective campaign will benefit them and how to reduce that budget overall. If a company can reach 500,000 people for less dollars and get enough business off of that, then there is no reason to dump unnecessary funds into a campaign.
THE COST
The big question that firms face is the cost of a marketing firm. If you spend $1,000/month in management and $1,000/month in “ad spend” then I would suspect companies want to see a return of $2,000+ worth in brand awareness, sales, or followers. One thing that companies forget sometimes is that marketing is a long game. People forget it takes 5-10x for someone to see your brand for them to remember. Consistent branding is key. Companies that change their image, logo, and message 3-4x/year are going to get fewer sales and fewer clients. People forget and YOUR competition is happy to remind your customers who they are and why they are better than you. So consistency matters.
WRAP UP
It’s your company. The decision is yours to make. Your time is valuable and it’s important to have a consistent brand that people won’t forget. Evaluate the cost, the benefit, and most importantly, your budget.
