1. Do we need professional help? Or could we do it ourselves?
There are lots of good reasons to self-serve:
DIY resources
There are great resources available for DIYs. I recommend just about any MarketingSherpa benchmark report or how-to guide you can get your hands on. Even if it's an old outdated version it could be an eye opener. Vendors like Google Adwords include campaign set-up and support, so why not take their free advice?
Or, if you already do mailers and telemarketing, you could always increase the volume of each. All that requires is bigger lists and a bit more cash outlay. It could be low-hassle, in the sense that the path to increased exposure is nice and short. No fussing with messaging. No fiddling with design. Just feed more bills in and get more leads out.
Machine out of order?
If that will work, do it. And instead of messing with marketing, do something more fulfilling.
It’s a question only you can answer. You have the 30,000-foot perspective on how you’re doing relative to your business goals.
But as you weigh your decision, let me offer a couple points:
As Laura Ramos, formerly of Forrester Research, wrote in How To Avoid Becoming Obsolete,
“Focusing simply on new campaigns, clever advertising, and delving into social media will only paper over problems. Turning up the heat on conventional marketing activities won't spur the profound changes required.”
Decision point
If you don’t need professional marketing, stop here.
And if you need help shifting to a new, more productive, inbound marketing approach, it’s still not time to hire. It's time for your next decision. Look for our next Dealbreakers article due out next week!