Anyone hiring Digital Marketing companies?

[MichaelWallaroo]

Hey all. I'm new to the forum and I see that there are a lot of passionate business owners/members here! I love it.

I work for a Digital Marketing company (a reputable, established company) and was wondering who is hiring companies to build their site, boost their Google search results via SEO, manage their social media, create content like blogs/photos/infographics/videos/etc.

If you have hired a Digital Marketing Company: What was your experience like? What did you enjoy about that company? Any services that you didn't get that you wanted/needed help with? Did you receive a good return on that investment?

If you haven't: What prevents you from reaching out to an industry expert to boost your online presence? No budget for it? Not sure it will return your investment? Not sure what a Digital Marketing company does?

Thanks for any/all responses!

[KristineS]

I'm the Director of Marketing for two companies. Here's my thing with hiring someone from the outside to do any marketing for us - they don't know the company as well as I do. I write, so I write our blogs. I also do all of our social media, and our IT Director and I collaborate on our SEO and our videos. I just don't see how an outside company could craft a strategy and message as well as we do. Are these sorts of comments something you commonly hear?

[VeritasCustom]

For a small guy like me... it's mostly a budget issue.

[billbenson]

Internet based stuff is something I am very reluctant to farm out. I have an internet based business. I am extremely cautious on who I use for web development or any other aspects of online marketing. I think most educated web people would feel the same as I do. That doesn't mean they won't use you, but they will need an extremely high level of confidence in you.

The people that are not so web savvy will probably be your easiest prospects. They don't know what internet marketing is and may pick your name out of a hat.

And I agree with Kristine. Many businesses are technical. It is hard for external firm to be effective when they may have trouble understanding the product or service. Smart companies will tend to do a lot of things in house. That's not to say there aren't a lot of stupid companies out there :)

I'm not suggesting your services are bad. I'm just saying it's a hard sell to the educated customer and an easier sell to the less web knowledgeable.

[Harold Mansfield]

I have to agree with Bill. My business is web based too, so it's not likely I'd trust any one else with it.