5 Alternatives to a digital marketing agency
The digital marketing industry is filled with companies that promise the moon and stars. While they might be able to deliver on their promises, they’re not always easy to work with or close to being affordable for a small business.
That’s why so many businesses are looking for alternatives to a digital marketing agency. They want something that can also get results without having to deal with an impersonal corporation or high-pressure sales pitch. Luckily, there are plenty of options out there—so let’s dive into what each one offers!
Learn more about digital marketing
Digital marketing is the use of internet-based channels to reach a wide audience in order to promote your products or services. This is what we’ve done here at TL Web Design Studio and how you’ve discovered this blog.
Digital marketing includes search engine optimization (SEO), social media, display advertising, video marketing, mobile marketing and content marketing. As a business owner, you can use digital marketing to increase brand awareness and reach a broader customer base.
If you’re interested in learning more about digital marketing and how to apply it for your business, we have some resources here:
- https://www.udemy.com › Marketing › Digital Marketing
- https://academy.hubspot.com/courses/digital-marketing
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rHNDhc586Q
Hire a freelancer
With freelancers, you can hire someone for specific projects, or for specific skills or tasks. If you want to work with a graphic designer on a particular project but don’t need the services of an agency that’s going to take care of things like SEO, web design and social media management for all your company’s marketing needs—you can simply hire one freelancer at a time as needed.
You’ll also find that many freelancers work at lower rates than digital marketing agencies do (though this depends on skill level).
Hire someone in-house
The pros of hiring someone in-house are:
You have more control over your budget.
There’s no risk of being locked into a contract or paying monthly fees.
The cons of hiring someone in-house are:
They may not be experienced enough to do the job. If you need help with strategy, this could be a problem, because people who are good at executing one aspect of marketing often aren’t as good at developing it from scratch and coming up with new ideas for how to use digital channels to reach your customers—which is what you really want from a marketing partner! That’s why we recommend using an agency or freelancer who specializes in what you want them for (e.g., if you want someone who can do all aspects of digital marketing well).
Build an internal team
There are a number of ways to build an internal team:
You can hire the people you need for your digital marketing needs. This can be tricky, as it takes time to find the right person, but once you do, they’ll keep performing at peak levels for years.
If hiring isn’t an option right now, consider training up existing employees so they’re capable of handling digital marketing tasks on their own. Training is more flexible than hiring and much less expensive, so it’s always worth considering if there are any candidates who could be trained in digital marketing skills over time.
You may also choose to outsource some or all of your work through freelancers or agencies who specialize in digital marketing rather than having them on staff full time (or even part-time). Outsourcing gives you access to experts without having them around all day doing things unrelated to their field of expertise—so long as their work gets done properly!
Use a content platform
If you’re looking to get your message out there and are looking to do it on a budget, content marketing is an excellent choice. Content platforms like Medium allow you to share your stories with the world at no cost. You can also start your own blog if you want more control over how it looks or want complete ownership of the content that goes up on it.
Content platforms make it easy for anyone who knows how to write (or even if they don’t) because all they have to do is write their story and submit it through their dashboard, then sit back and wait for people all over the world who care about what they have written about take notice!
There are many ways to approach marketing
There are many ways to approach marketing. You can hire a freelancer, you can hire in-house, or you can build an internal team. Some businesses choose to use content platforms. Whatever route you decide to take, it’s important to understand the pros and cons of each one so you can make an informed decision about which path is right for your business.
The pros:
Cost savings: A freelancer or agency will charge anywhere from $100/hour all the way up to thousands of dollars per hour depending on their skill level and experience. An agency may require higher fees because they’ll be providing more services than just writing content (e.g., designing graphics, building landing pages). Freelancers usually bill by project rather than hourly rate ($10-$200+). Content platforms usually cost much less than hiring someone full time—around $50-$150 per month per writer depending on what type of package you purchase—and don’t require any additional equipment like computers or software licenses since everything happens online through their platform dashboard interface!
We hope this article has given you some new ideas on how to approach your digital marketing plan. As we mentioned, there are many different ways to go about it and if none of these options work for you then feel free to reach out! We’re happy to hear from our readers and we’d love to help.
