When should you hire expert help to handle your online marketing?

As a small business owner, you wear many hats, from office manager to salesperson to frontline employee, depending on the stage of growth your business is in. And if you’re like many entrepreneurs, you also try to handle online marketing all by yourself. After all, how hard can it be to send out some emails, plug in some keywords and keep up with social media?

Well, none of these things are difficult individually, but it’s when you try to combine them all—along with the dozens of other tasks in your average day—that it can become overwhelming. Add to that the constantly changing world of online emarketing. With Facebook and Google, to name just a few examples, seemingly revamping their rules and algorithms every few weeks, the online marketing tactic that works for you one day may not work (and may even backfire on you) the next.

Keeping up with changes in your industry is tough enough, so why add to it the burden of keeping up with online marketing changes? Just like you probably use an accountant to prepare your taxes, and trust him or her to keep up on tax laws, using an online marketing expert or service to handle your Internet marketing can be a savvy move that saves (and even makes) you money in the end.

So how do you know when it’s time to outsource your online marketing, and how can you choose the right online marketing service?

• You’ve reached the point of diminishing returns. If you keep up with your website analytics, you’ll be able to see what’s working and what isn’t. If your social media followers, website visits or conversions seem to have plateaued, it could be time for an expert to bump it up to the next level.
• You have better things to do. Sit down and list all of the activities you do every day for your business. Then identify which are the ones that 1) only you can do and 2) that bring the most value to your business. Focus only on those tasks that meet both criteria (only you can do/high value) and outsource the rest, and you’ll see your business grow. (I promise, you are not the only one who can do online marketing, but sometimes you need to see it in writing).
• It makes (dollars and) sense. How much will it cost to enlist outside help for online marketing? How much could one or two new customers bring in? Look at it this and you’ll likely see that landing just a few new customers will more than pay for the online marketing services you’re outsourcing.

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