1. Hiring a Marketing Agency is Too Expensive.
Looking purely at what it will cost, of course, doing your marketing in-house will save you money, but in reality, what you should really think about is this: what is the return on your current marketing investment, and how much are you potentially leaving on the table? A good agency can help you understand what the opportunities are, and when they do that, it will be an investment, not just an expense.
2. You Feel like Marketing Yourself is the Better Option.
This could potentially be true, but you are likely looking at agencies in the first place for a few reasons:
- You’ve been doing well, but are feeling more and more stretched as your business grows.
- You feel like you are really good at something, like search advertising, but less so in other areas. There’s a lot to be an expert at, and it can be overwhelming. Agencies exist because no one can be an expert at every facet of marketing. This is why having a multi-faceted team of experts can significantly increase your chances of meeting and exceeding your goals.
3. An In-house Marketing Team is Better.
Having a marketing team in-house is a great idea, but you need to weigh that cost and that person’s expertise against what you will get from an agency. Does that person have expertise in all the areas that you need? It is a lot to ask one person to do it all. They may be great at certain things, and a hybrid approach where that person works closely with an agency could work for you.
4. You Won’t Know What You’re Going to Get for Your Money from an Agency.
No operator should ever feel like they are in the dark with results and metrics. There are certainly some things that are hard to track, but data and measurement have come a long way. There is no reason why any agency shouldn’t be able to provide good data to their customers to show them what is working and what is not.
5. You Will Have to Tell the Agency What to Work On.
Collaborating on a winning strategy is one of the biggest values an agency can provide. Without a good strategy, you are very unlikely to meet your goals. When you speak with an agency, ask them how they approach strategy and how it’s part of the budget.
I hope this gives you some good things to think about as you consider an agency relationship. And remember, that any good agency relationship needs to be built on collaboration and transparency so you can find yourself a strong and trusting partnership that achieves great results.
For more tips, check out all of our Tourism Marketing Quick Tips!
