5 Signs It Is Time to Use a Marketing Agency

Almost all small business owners start off solo, and many of them begin with a shoestring budget. Due to these constraints, a significant number of them tend to overlook marketing efforts. Their primary focus is on running a restaurant, hair salon, coffee shop, car dealership, or any other business venture. These passionate and driven entrepreneurs often experience early successes and growth, which eventually prompts them to consider expansion, often in the realm of marketing. However, the question arises: how can they determine when they have reached that point?

Knowing the Signs

It can be difficult to know exactly when it is time to pull the trigger on bringing in outside help to run or aid your marketing efforts. However, this article will outline five clear signs indicating that your company should consider engaging a marketing agency.

1. You Have Run out of Family & Friends

If you're fortunate, you have a wonderful network of family and friends who, in turn, have their own network of acquaintances. This is great because when you first open up they show up in droves, word of mouth spreads and your new BBQ place is busy as busy can be for a few weeks. However, as time goes by, their visits become less frequent, and although you still have customers, it's not as busy as those initial weeks when everyone you knew had come multiple times and recommended it to their friends. Sales become stagnant, and you are unsure what to do next.

2. Your Social Media Posts Stink

Social Media is huge, as of 2023 Facebook has 2.96 billion monthly users. On top of that, marketing on social media is a big business with Facebook ads reaching nearly 2 billion users. But I know what you are thinking, you can post on Social media for free. That is true, and according to Sprout Social in 2021, 55% of consumers learned about new brands on social and 78% of consumers were willing to buy from a company if they had a positive experience with them on social. However, with all these companies and people competing for your potential customer’s attention, it can be difficult to stand out. Plus, your food pictures keep coming out like the one on the left, not the one on the right.

3. Nobody Can Find You

You are an e-commerce company selling custom mugs and you have a website but nobody can find it. When you search Google, Bing, or any other search engine you don’t show up unless you write the exact name of your company in the search bar. With Google 70% of users saying that they search for a product on Google before buying it and Google generating almost 90 billion visits a month, if you don’t show up on Google or other search engines you can’t succeed.

4. You Don’t Like Marketing

Let's face it, you didn't start your company to run a website, or social media account, or to try to pitch everyone you know to buy from you. You started a company because you wanted freedom or you loved what you were doing. However, does it feel like freedom when you are stuck working late to post on social media? Or watching videos on how to increase sales? And we all know you love to cook your food but you don’t seem to have any time now that you are spending hours taking pictures of your food.

5. You’re Growing Too Fast

Let's be honest, it sounds counterintuitive to say, "I am growing too fast"? Isn't rapid growth a good thing? But now you find yourself overwhelmed and unable to handle all the essential tasks required to manage a thriving business, such as taxes, payroll, and marketing. If you neglect marketing, fail to meet your financial obligations, and don't ensure your employees are paid, you won’t be around much longer. That is why it is time to allocate some of your new disposable budget to a marketing agency. They will help maintain sales which will provide clarity on your incoming revenue, and allow you to focus on what you do best—running your rapidly growing startup.

Is Your Company Experiencing Any of These Signs?

If your company is experiencing any of these signs the team at Key Branding Labs can help. With nearly a decade of digital marketing experience their talented team of professionals can help get you and your company to the next level.