Switching from in-house digital marketing to hiring an outside consultant is a very big decision.

Ironically, hiring a digital marketing consultant creates hesitance among many businesses.

Even when they know that awesome talent and expertise can be found externally to their organization and can be brought in fast to implement special projects and turn things around rapidly. That includes education, strategy and business growth hacking.

Digital marketing is an umbrella term for the targeted, measurable, and interactive marketing of products or services using digital technologies to reach and convert leads into customers and retain them.

But, many businesses are slow or even scared (burned in the past, unable to manage, not understanding the processes, actual needs, etc) about hiring a third party to deal with their issues.

It can be related to cost, sure — but very often it can be just us much about procedures, security, ‘red tape’ issues or no power to take action.

These are just a few reasons why some businesses would rather stick to in-house digital marketing staff rather than hire outside consultants.

Despite these issues, the benefits of working with an outside digital marketing consultant outweigh the risks. However, you can only enjoy the benefits if you take your time hiring the right consultant for the job.

Here are a 10 signs that your business actually needs to hire an outsider for any digital marketing projects.

1. Corporate Branding: Website, Social Media, eMail

Getting a website up and running is not an easy fete. There is so much work to do. For instance, the look/feel and messaging, all the social media profiles that need to be managed regularly, website updates, development that need to be handled as well as email marketing responsibilities and more.

With all these issues hanging in the back of your head, hiring an outside consultant for any digital marketing projects would definitely be more beneficial.

2. Strategy and Future Planning

Any business needs to work on both short term and long term goals. However, if you’re only planning one month ahead, you’re definitely a poor planner and strategist. Therefore, if you don’t have the time to concentrate on long-term projects and growth, it might be time to hire an outsider to help you to launch and double your business over a decided period.

Using such expertise through an outside consultant allows you to get inspired as well to devise a detailed plan for your marketing and sales growth.

3. Poor Sales Or Slow/Low Demand Generation

Are the sales numbers for your business stagnant or very low?

Are there very few leads coming through your website?

Well, this is a good sign that you need to hire a digital marketing consultant. He/she will assist you in developing an inbound marketing strategy to allow you to reach target customers more effectively, as well as to building out the right marketing funnel.

The new strategies will provide smarter marketing automation, create consumable content, and send / share targeted information to the customers allowing your leads and sales to increase dramatically.

4. Content Marketing & Website Freshness

Visitors are always looking forward for new and rejuvenated content. Well, if your website was last updated 2 years ago, then you might need to hire a digital marketing consultant and content strategist.

If you want to remain competitive in the ever-changing online market, you should consider a current website design, proper SEO and competitive research.

Currently, websites that have responsive designs and are mobile-friendly are receiving preferential rankings by Google and search engines in general. All the audience needs to have a seamless viewing experience of your website regardless of the device they are using.

Therefore, if you haven’t updated your website to meet such criteria, you need a consultant to provide the right advice on how to do it. Of course, consultants can also do the work for you.

5. Tracking & Analytics Metrics

In order for marketing to work for your business, you need to test, track and analyze any results to find out which strategies are working and which ones aren’t.

Therefore, if you don’t have enough time to track your metrics regularly such as looking at traffic numbers, user behavior and how many leads are coming to your site, which ones can be converted into sales, you definitely need to hire a digital marketing consultant.

On that note, you should look for a consultant that understands your business well and help provide tools and resources to do the tracking for you.

6. Poor In-House Digital Marketing Skills

At a first glance, digital marketing might not seem too complicated or intricate. However, this notion is completely misguided.

In order for digital marketing to succeed, an individual needs to be knowledgeable about everything related to SEO, graphic design, copywriting, content marketing, technical aspects, website development, conversion optimization and also social media.

Therefore, if the in-house digital marketing team doesn’t possess these skills, it’s time to hire an outside consultant to guarantee the best results.

Hiring an outside consultant allows your business to tap into the wealth of information and creativity that often can’t be found in-house. You may even ask to have this knowledge transferred on a regular basis (weekly, monthly).

7. Lack Of Frequent Content Updates

Currently, Google gives more preference to websites with brand new and fresh content. Therefore, if you’re not in this category then your website’s success will be undermined accordingly.

However, the content isn’t only limited to your website.

Your social media profiles also need to be regularly updated. Therefore, if you don’t have the time to post new content on a frequent basis, hiring a digital marketing consultant can make things easier for you. They will teach you the process, and/or do it for you.

8. Lack Of Fresh Ideas

Just because you’re required to update your content regularly as well as other tricks to keep your website and online business afloat, you don’t need to repeat everything over and over again. Sometimes, you might be in a rut such that you can’t generate any new ideas thereby leaving your website (and readers) to suffer.

Well, if you have run out of ideas to update on your site, it might be time to get fresh ideas somewhere else. An outside digital marketing consultant will definitely bring new ideas and creativity that will ignite a spark in your business.

9. Growing Your Business

Is your business growing? Do you need to build up your reputation and authority in your marketplace?

If that’s the case, then you need a digital marketing expert to help you through the expansion process.

If your business is gaining a bigger and better reputation, then you need a brand new website approach and changes to your social media profiles. That’s why the need for a digital marketing consultant can’t be undermined at this stage. You need someone who is savvy enough to introduce new changes that is aligned with your growth goals.

10. Limited Access To Digital Marketing Tools And Software

In-house digital marketing would be easy if you had all the proven procedures, tools and software needed for your projects. However, most of the time, this is not the case. An outside consultant can help with this.

Even better, the consultant will have insights on how to use the tools to guarantee more success for your business. Therefore, the need for an outside consultant for any digital marketing needs can’t be undermined at all.

Now, for the highly biased (!) follow up – here’s what to do next:

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