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Theoretically speaking, many small business owners would be able to do their own online marketing. The information they need is out there, albeit in bits and pieces. Anyone who takes the time and puts in the effort can develop the skills.
Fair enough, they would probably not end up being professional online marketers, but it is possible to acquire the basic skills required to get some results.
Considering the typical agency fees…
Why do so many owners of small businesses choose to pay a marketing agency?
1. To avoid the learning curve:
There is a LOT of misinformation out there. The internet has shown us just how many pretenders we have in society. In order to learn about any subject, you have to wade through tons and tons of misinformation first.
The problem is that, the less you know, the less you are able to discern between information and misinformation. That ability only develops as you learn more.
This means that the learning curve, even for a fast learning, intelligent person, is likely to require more time than they have available when founding their businesses.
So, while they would theoretically be able to acquire the (basics/essentials of the required) skill set, they simply choose to tap into someone else’s existing knowledge and experience.
2. To free up time:
For many small businesses, this is the primary reason to outsource their marketing. Even though some owners or employees do have some basic marketing skills, doing online marketing can be a very time consuming job, especially at the start.
When a small business is just starting out, employee numbers are often limited, and the owner is spread quite thin. Spending two to three hours a day on online marketing is simply not possible at that stage.
3. It allows them to focus:
Any business operation is a mix of core and no-core activities. Core activities generate income, while non-core activities are necessary to facilitate the making of money.
For instance, you would have a carpentry workshop. Doing carpentry is their core activity. Anything else – marketing, bookkeeping, deliveries and logistics, and HR issues are non-core activities. Each of these can – and should, until the company grows big enough to justify it in-house – be outsourced.
It allows the owner and the core team to focus on what they do best, and do it so well that people come back for more.
4. Professional marketers are just better at it:
As with any job out there, the longer you do it, the better you become at it. Fair enough, in the world of marketing on the internet, things are always changing, and you constantly have to keep learning to be able to keep up with new developments and algorithm changes.
However, for marketing agencies, their services are their core business – so spending time to keep abreast of new developments and innovations is an essential part of their core activities.
Over time, all of that ongoing self-study and experience adds up
5. Outsourcing allows business owners to set expectations:
If you are a small business owner trying to do online marketing in-house, you will probably not be able to set any expectations. Aside from owners who actually hire someone capable of doing online marketing, any in-house marketing is likely to be a series of experiments to see what works.
Just keep throwing stuff at a wall, and see what sticks.
However, when you are dealing with someone whose core activity is marketing on the web, you can agree on a set of realistic expectations for both the ongoing activities and the expected results.
6. Consistency is a given:
When a small business owner – or an employee with a different job description – engages in online promotional activities, it often has to take a back seat to serving new clients or customers, or essential paperwork.
As a result, consistency goes out the window the moment things become busy.
Considering the fact that all social networks reward you for being consistently active on the platform, this means that your in-house campaigns are likely to struggle to gain traction, or yield any notable results relative to the passage of time.
On the other hand, if you hand it over to an agency or even a dedicated freelancer, consistency is a given. If your agreement and budget allows for daily activity (not only posting, but also engaging with other people’s content), even on just one platform, your presence/reach and influence on that platform will grow systematically.
In fact, you will see much more growth from posting and engaging 5 days a week for a month than you would see from doing the same volume of content and engagement over a period of say, three months.
It’s just how social media algorithms work. The more you use it, the more they reward you for it with additional exposure.
In conclusion:
Yes, theoretically it is possible for (most) small business founders to do their own web based marketing. However, when you take all of the practical implications into consideration, it usually makes sense to be able to outsource it.
Given, of course, that you are able to afford it. Building a presence online takes time – so it is not a good idea to expect miracles when you only have enough money to pay for one month’s work.