Ooooh should you build an internal marketing and social media team, or is an external Digital Marketing agency even better? Well, here at Marketing Yorkshire, we’re lovers and collaborators, so for us, this isn’t so much of a ‘which is better’ debate. Internal marketing teams can be amazing. And external digital agencies can also be amazing. They’re just different, so I suppose the question should really be ‘what is best for my business.’
Digital Marketing Agency < Budget
Opening with money talk isn’t usually our thing. But we all love to see cost effective strategies and best ROI. So here’s the money talk: a common rule of thumb is that B2B companies should spend between 2 and 5% of their revenue on marketing. For B2C companies, the proportion is often higher—between 5 and 10%.
On average in 2024, companies are spending 7.7% of their revenue on marketing. So how do we allocate digital marketing and social media costs? In 2022, around 25% of the average marketing budget was spent on digital marketing and advertising. But if you’re planning your marketing spend for 2024/ 2025, at least 50% of your marketing budget will be saved for digital marketing. As trends towards digital marketing continue to rise, it’s time to future proof your social media and digital marketing strategy. This starts with getting the right team in place.
Building the best social media team for your brand
If you’re looking to grow an internal marketing or digital team, you’ll probably start with a Marketing Manager, a graphic designer and a writer. The Marketing Manager will develop digital marketing strategies, coordinate workloads and deliver multi-channel campaigns. They’ll take care of things like your social media planning and scheduling, blogs, website reviews, email campaigns, marketing performance reporting. They’ll also look after your social media team, and plan events and content shoots. Experience, a strategic eye, and organisation is key to this role. In 2024, the average Marketing Manager salary in the UK ranged from £40k-55k.
Next in your marketing team is your graphic designer. It’s their job to create impressive brand visuals that catch your target audience's eye. They’ll ensure that your social media content is consistent across all platforms, and that your employees all have company branded banners. Aside from social media, they’ll keep all of your internal and external communications and marketing/ tender documents on brand, according to your brand guidelines. You want someone with an eye for design and detail, and a creative flair. They also need technical skills in Photoshop, Illustrator and a number of video-making platforms; for a mid-weight designer, expect a salary of between 30k-40k.
A copywriter will keep your brand voice consistent across your social media channels. They’ll also create stories and content that is just too interesting to ignore. They will story-board innovative video ideas, create cheeky email subject lines, and plan thought leadership articles that will set your digital marketing channels apart. Your audience will love reading your website blogs, and they’ll improve your SEO through expert keyword research. So how much does this marketing magic cost? £25k–£50k depending on experience.
And whilst most small and medium sized businesses need all of these specialist skills, you might find that an internal marketing team will spend a little bit of each work day twiddling their thumbs. You need all the skills, but not all of the hours. There is a lot to do, but in most cases, the workload doesn’t really justify employing three people full time.
So, on the modest end, an internal marketing department will set you back £90k. Oh and that’s before employee benefits, equipment costs, recruitment fees and all of the not-so-cheap pay-by-monthly marketing and design platforms.
Now we’re not saying we’re cheap…
But we’re significantly cheaper than employing an internal marketing team. We bring all of the skills, experience and results you’d expect from a full marketing department. But because we’re a remote marketing hub, we’re far more cost effective. With our monthly retainers, we support businesses across Huddersfield, Yorkshire and the UK, and we are proud to deliver outstanding value and ROI. You’ll have your very own marketing team, complete with graphic design, social media, digital marketing, copywriting and digital strategy at your fingertips. And you’ll work directly with Jake and Katie as your point of contact. It’s a nice balance of big agency ideas, small agency service.
And if the marketing budget takes a hit…
Well if you are marketing right, your annual digital marketing spend should only increase. But let’s be honest, if the worst comes to the worst, it’s a lot cheaper to replace a digital agency than an in-house team. And if you team up with us, we’re pretty confident you’ll stay. Marketing Yorkshire is all about being your friendly marketing team, and we’re proud that many of our partners have been with us for four years and counting. So why do they stick around? Well, it’s not for Jake’s jokes, that’s for sure.
We listen, we make marketing fun, and we bring results :)
Finding the right marketing team for you!
You might be searching Google for things like: Digital Agency Yorkshire. Or asking to find the best: Marketing Agency Huddersfield. And there will be lots! There are brilliant Digital Agencies in Huddersfield, and great Marketing Agencies in Yorkshire. You just need to find the right team for you! So if you think that we might be able to help, please get in touch 😊
Ready to see how we can help?
You can call 07903731455 anytime to talk to Katie, or our office number is 01484 950560. Alternatively, ping us a message, and one of the team will be in touch!
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