If you outsource your inbound marketing with the right inbound marketing agency you will find that the time you invest won’t be that much at all. Of course this depends on how involved you want to be but I am assuming that hiring an outsourced agency means you prefer someone else take the wheel.
As an inbound marketing agency we have inbound processes in place that should apply to your business seamlessly if you are a good fit for inbound marketing. In order to customize each inbound marketing experience you will need to spend time with your inbound marketing agency explaining your business. We find that we work best for our clients when we feel like we are a part of your company. If we understand your business through and through then we can act in your best interest.
Strategizing sessions will require your attendance. As inbound marketers we need to understand what your goals are and where you expect to see improvements. We would need those explained and then we would have to scale the means to reach your expected goals. This means some tweaking to the inbound marketing processes we have in place so we can implement a plan that is better customized to your goals.
Inbound marketing can seem pretty automated when you outsource to an agency but you will be required to review some content. Reviewing content such as blogs or white papers will take an 1-2 hours out of your work week. The beauty of working with one inbound marketing agency over time is that they understand your voice and you begin to trust them- so you may feel like you can take a step back from the review process.
As you can see, inbound marketing revolves around you and your business but that does not necessarily mean it involves all of your time. As long as the communication gates are open between you and your inbound marketing agency, your time spent will be of value.
However if you are considering hiring an inbound marketing agency then you need to understand your role in order to save yourself time and money. Some companies will hire inbound marketing agencies without fully understanding what inbound is, they just heard inbound is the new outbound. This company may usually find themselves straddling the line of outbound and inbound, still 100% dedicated to outbound principles- which is fine but you have to dedicate yourself 100% to inbound principles too. If you don’t believe that inbound marketing philosophies will work then you will be fighting your agency every step of the way. You have to be able to give over reins completely and let your expert agency do what they know best, otherwise you will be spending too much time mulling over every detail and second guessing the motives of your inbound marketing agency.
So now the question is, how much time does it take for you to realize you want to work with an inbound marketing agency?
Photo Credit: deux-chi via Flickr
Time is something we don’t have enough of which is why time is costly to business owners. If you are considering implementing inbound marketing strategies for your company your time spent investing with an inbound marketing agency will be worth it.
