To hire or not to hire a marketing agency? Many dealership owners and decision makers grapple with this question. Although there are numerous benefits to working with an agency, some business owners may still be skeptical when it comes to outsourcing their marketing strategy.
When it comes to hiring an agency, some businesses are totally on-board. While others believe that they can handle their marketing efforts on their own. The truth is there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Ultimately, every business’ situation is unique.
Different companies have different needs. But for a good number of dealers, those needs may be better fulfilled by hiring a team of experts to handle some or all of their marketing efforts.
So if you’re going back and forth on whether or not your dealership should hire an agency, we invite you to consider the following questions and see how they pertain to your current business needs.
What Type Of Marketing Are You Doing?
One of the first questions a potential agency will ask you is “What are you presently doing in regards to your marketing?”. Are you taking out ads on a local radio station? Sending promotional emails to your mailing list?
Maybe you’re simply relying on word of mouth to get customers through the door. The truth is that whatever you’re doing at present, there is always going to be room for improvement.
For example, you may have a Facebook page set up for your business, but do you have a strategy in place in order to use it as an effective marketing tool? The same goes for all of the other social media outlets.
Some decision makers are content simply to have a social media presence. However, the difference between just being on social media, and having an effective social media strategy, is night and day.
This is where having an agency on your team can drastically boost your efforts. Marketing agencies spend their days working with and researching different tools and strategies. No matter what you’re doing to market your business right now, odds are it can be advanced.
Working with an agency can give you an in-depth perspective on different marketing opportunities that may be available to your business. An outsider’s perspective on your dealership’s marketing strategy may prove beneficial in seeing things you may not have even thought of.
Marketing platforms and strategies are constantly changing. Having an agency on your side will help ensure your business keeps up with emerging technologies and services. Staying on top of the ever-changing marketing landscape can open up the doors of opportunity, and help you stay one step ahead of the competition.
How Time Consuming Are Your Marketing Efforts?
Believe us when we say, we know how much time and energy it takes to keep a business up and running. For a business owner or manager, your days are constantly packed with issues to tackle and projects to oversee. A busy schedule like this can lead to important aspects of the business (like consistent marketing) to fall by the wayside.
The real question is whether or not the people handling your dealership’s marketing have the time to invest in drafting, implementing, and improving upon your dealership’s on-going marketing strategy. As they say, time is money. For some dealerships, the sheer amount of time a consistent marketing strategy takes to maintain means it may be worth it to hire a team of professionals to take that responsibility off their hands.
Of course, some dealerships have staff on hand who are incredibly proficient in marketing. You don’t necessarily have to be a marketing professional in order to put together a decent strategy. Besides this, you may even have an in-house marketing team at your dealership.
This may very well cover all of your bases in regards to your marketing strategy. This doesn’t mean that working with an agency is off the table. An agency can be an asset to the in-house team. By working together, both the agency and the in-house team can study and improve upon current marketing plans.
How Are You Measuring Your ROI?
Just having a marketing strategy isn’t enough. You also have to be quantitatively measuring the fruits of your labor. If you’re not measuring your results, you’re missing out on potentially valuable information.
In the long run, having a strategy means nothing if you are not taking the data seriously. One of the most valuable services an agency can provide is an accurate look at the return on investment for your marketing efforts. Without this information, you have no way of knowing which parts of your marketing efforts are working, and which ones need improvement or termination.
One of the main reasons business owners don’t bother with ROI is the time it takes to calculate. Measuring the results of your marketing efforts can take up a lot of time and sometimes requires a more nuanced understanding of data to make an informed decision about how to proceed.
If you don’t have the proper staff support or tools to track your returns, you may be better off hiring an agency to do the more nitty-gritty work for you. Most agencies are well versed in which metrics to look out for, and know how to interpret and act on them. Giving you a detailed, data-based report on marketing can give you an even more in-depth look at your dealership’s overall strategy.
Are You Consistent With Your Marketing?
Consistency is key when it comes to your business. If you don’t keep up with your marketing efforts, you’re going to be missing out on a ton of opportunities. Social media especially rewards consistency. Posting relevant content on a consistent basis is one of the best ways to increase your reach and engagement.
Consumers want to know who you are as a company. A strong, consistent advertising campaign can be one of the best ways to show them. Clearly though, efforts such as this take up a lot of time and energy. Sometimes it’s more time than your current team is willing or able to spare.
If you don’t have the time to keep your marketing efforts consistent, that could be a sign that working with an agency may be the correct decision for your company. You really don’t want to be sporadic with such an important aspect of your business. Having a team on hand to ensure consistency can be a huge asset to the business.
Is Your Sales Team Getting Enough Qualified Leads?
Drawing in qualified leads is one of the greatest challenges a sales team faces. When those leads stop coming in, questions begin to emerge about how to get back on track. Assuming you have a competent, hardworking sales team, this is the perfect time to ramp up your marketing efforts.
Working with a marketing agency can help integrate your marketing efforts to coalesce with the sales process. An agency can work with the sales team to tailor a marketing strategy aimed at producing more qualified leads. If you trust your sales team, working with an agency can help boost leads and make their jobs go so much smoother.
Are You Optimizing Your Online Presence?
We’re not exactly breaking new ground when we say that your dealership’s online presence matters. The importance of your online presence, especially your dealership’s website, cannot be underestimated. According to a study by Stanford University, 75% of consumers judge a businesses’ credibility on their website design.
Consumers see your website as a direct reflection of your business. If your website is out-of-date, cluttered, or not mobile-friendly, odds are that you are turning off potential leads. Essentially, leaving money on the table. In order to succeed in today’s business environment, you need your website to be an asset, not a liability.
Working with an agency with expertise in web design can be an excellent way to revamp your website, so that it works for you. If you do not have an in-house designer, it’s more often than not better to hire an outside expert. Website creation and maintenance takes not only technical skill but a good deal of time. If you want to do it right, (and trust us, you do) then it would behoove you to hire an outside agency.
To Hire or Not to Hire?
So we circle back to the initial question; “to hire or not to hire a marketing agency.” For many business owners, working with an agency can be a mutually beneficial undertaking. Whether you are looking to add resources to your current marketing team or looking to unload all of your marketing efforts to the professionals, working with a marketing agency can be a worthwhile investment.
Working with a group of professionals who can plan and execute your marketing strategy can help free up your time to focus on other aspects of your business. We know you’re busy, and delegating certain aspects of your business’ overall strategy can help you to focus on other divisions of your dealership.
At the end of the day, you and your staff are experts at selling motorcycles. You should not try to become marketing experts too. If you don’t have an in-house marketing team, you may be better off retaining a team of outside marketing experts. Their sole responsibilities are to know everything about marketing and help you take advantage of the best marketing opportunities available.
If you’re a motorcycle dealership owner or decision maker who has hired a marketing agency, we’d love to hear from you! What are some of the pros or cons of working with an agency? Would you recommend it to other dealerships? Let us know in the comments below.