A strong online presence is essential for any Houston business. Whether you’re a well-established company or a dynamic startup, most customers turn to the internet to learn about who you are and browse your products or services. But navigating the ever-evolving world of digital marketing can be daunting. Should you keep your marketing efforts in-house or partner with a Houston digital marketing agency? Today we’ll talk about the advantages and disadvantages of each approach so you can make an informed decision for your business.
As a Houston digital marketing agency that’s been working with local businesses for over 20 years, we can help. We provide a free consultation and quote for a customized digital strategy that propels your business forward. Contact our team at Bizopia today for a no-obligation digital marketing quote.
What Digital Marketing for Houston Companies Includes
Digital marketing is much more than simply setting up a Facebook page. It includes a number of different strategies and tactics that work together to reach as much of your target audience as possible.
A comprehensive digital marketing plan should have a mix of outward-facing and behind-the-scenes pieces in order to get the best return on your marketing efforts. These may include:
SEO Website Design: Your website is often a customer’s first impression of your brand. Not only does it need to be visually appealing and user-friendly, but it also needs to be optimized for search engines (SEO). This ensures that potential customers can easily find you when they search for related keywords and phrases.
Successfully developing a strong website needs detailed keyword research, a logical sitemap, attractive and practical design, and full written content of around 500 words per webpage that integrates your keywords throughout. You’ll also need to keep your website active by continuously adding fresh content, such as regularly scheduled blog posts.
Paid Advertising (PPC): Pay-per-click advertising is a way to place your business at the top of search results or display ads on relevant websites and social platforms. These campaigns target specific audiences and offer a means to drive immediate traffic to your site.
Setting up PPC advertising campaigns requires continuous check-ins and adjustments of your account to ensure your ads line up with the most relevant keywords, and remove irrelevant phrases that are driving the wrong type of traffic to your website. For example, if you offer B2B products, you don’t want to have to pay for a lot of clicks from B2C leads that aren’t useful to you.
Content Marketing: High-quality blog posts, informative articles, engaging videos, or visually compelling infographics are all examples of content marketing. This strategy helps you build trust, establish authority within your industry, and attract potential customers organically. Content marketing crosses over multiple areas, including social media, email marketing, and website content.
Social Media Management: Building a genuine presence on social media isn’t just about posting a couple times a week. It’s about creating an active community by creating content designed to draw out and engage with your audience, and setting a firm posting schedule to ensure you show up regularly and repeatedly in your followers’ feeds. It can also include setting up and running targeted social media ad campaigns.
Email Marketing: Email remains a powerful tool for nurturing leads and maintaining relationships with existing customers. Effective email marketing involves crafting compelling newsletters, timely promotions, and personalized messaging.
Reputation Management: It’s vital to track what’s being said about your business online. Reputation management involves monitoring review sites, responding to both positive and negative feedback to proactively addressing any issues that could harm your brand image. With so many consumers relying on Google reviews for an honest assessment of your company, this piece of digital marketing is critical.
Analytics and Reporting: All successful digital marketing hinges on data. Regularly tracking website traffic, campaign performance, and conversion rates provides the information you need to make informed decisions and optimize your strategies for maximum results. Monthly reports can show you everything from how many users visited your website and how long they stayed there, to how many qualified leads you received through your PPC ads.
Contemporary digital marketing is highly interconnected, and to do it well, it can be a lot to manage. Let’s take a look at whether tackling these tasks in-house or outsourcing them to a Houston digital marketing agency will be more beneficial for your business.
The Case for an In-House Marketing Team
Building an in-house marketing team can offer advantages for your Houston business. The biggest advantage is that, as your employees, they know your company inside out. This gives them a deep understanding of what you do, which is highly valuable for creating knowledgeable content. Plus, since they are on site at your office or facility, they are readily available for quick in-person meetings or to collaborate on responding to an urgent issue.
However, in-house marketing isn’t without challenges. Finding talented individuals with expertise across SEO, PPC, content creation, social media, and analytics is a tall order. Building a full internal team could mean hiring multiple people with specialized skills, resulting in increased payroll. In addition, digital marketing tactics, platforms, and algorithms evolve quickly, so keeping your team at the forefront will require investing in the costs of software, training, and workshops.
Partnering with Experts – Houston Digital Marketing Agency
Outsourcing your digital marketing to a Houston-based agency comes with a strong set of advantages that are worth considering. One key advantage is the lower cost of paying for just the specific digital marketing services you want versus paying full time salaries for new marketing staff. When weighed against the combined salaries of a specialized in-house team, agency services are generally more cost-effective because you are paying one vendor for access to a diverse team with dedicated skill sets. You’ll benefit from the expertise of SEO specialists, PPC campaign managers, graphic designers, copywriters, and social media managers in one package.
Sometimes, being close to your business can inadvertently create blind spots. Agency teams bring a fresh, objective perspective. They evaluate your current strategy, identify challenges, and offer insights that might be missed by an internal team steeped in its day-to-day operations.
Need a new website designed quickly? Launching a large-scale social media campaign? An agency has the manpower and resources to scale up or down quickly based on your needs. This is crucial when you experience sudden growth or have large, time-sensitive projects.
Digital marketing agencies also invest in premium software, analytics tools, and stay constantly attuned to the latest industry trends. This lets your business benefit from the most effective strategies and technologies available, without needing to invest in them directly.
Custom Digital Marketing Solutions for Your Houston Business
Ultimately, the decision to stay in-house or work with a Houston digital marketing agency hinges on your business’s specific needs, goals, and available resources. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. In fact, you can even collaborate with an agency on select strategies while maintaining in-house capacity for other marketing efforts.
Whether you’re leaning towards partnering with an agency or creating a custom hybrid approach, the team at Bizopia is here to support you. We offer customized digital marketing strategies tailored for your Houston business.
Contact us today for a free digital marketing evaluation and learn how we can elevate your brand’s online presence and drive measurable results.