7 Mistakes You’re Making When You Bring Your Marketing In-House

In-house marketing might seem like a good idea at the time, but you should consider how it might affect your company and its performance in the online world. If you have some experience in the marketing industry, then bringing it in-house might be the best decision for you. However, if you’re new to the game, then there are several mistakes you might be making as a result, and you should be made aware of them. Here are seven mistakes you’re making when you bring your marketing in-house:

1. A lack of strategy

Often, if you don’t know the first thing about marketing, SEO or content creation, then it’s not surprising that you’ll lack strategy. This is because a plan needs to be devised before anything else can take place. Unless you have the same experience as a seasoned marketer, you won’t know what’s involved with building a marketing strategy. This is often where taking marketing in-house will collapse – at the first hurdle. 

A digital marketing agency, such as us here at Kumo, would have come up with a strategy as part of the proposal phase, helping to give you some idea of what is being planned, when and how. If you want to avoid making this mistake, then do your research and come up with a solid strategy of your own. You can always ask a marketing agency to help you, for a fee.

2. Being too “vanilla”

Being “vanilla” refers to a complete lack of personality and uniqueness. Playing it safe might seem like a good way to go, but sometimes, you need to push the boundaries in terms of campaign ideas and content creation. You want to stand out from the crowd, not blend in with the thousands of blogs and websites that are visited every minute of every day. 

A great way to get started, to avoid being too “vanilla”, is to know what your USPs are and then use those to your advantage. How do you differ from your competitors? Think about it and then use that as a way to push ahead of the game. Don’t make the mistake of being too bland and don’t attempt to blend in with everyone else on the internet.

3. Copying other agencies & companies

It might be tempting to go and have a look at other websites, including those of your competitors, especially if you aren’t experienced in the world of marketing, website design or content creation, but this is quite a big mistake to make if you’re looking to go in-house. 

The danger here is that you could risk plagiarising someone else’s content or using their logo. If this happens, you could end up with a more serious issue than whether or not to take your marketing in-house. The other reason why you shouldn’t be copying anyone else’s website or content is because you need to be original and unique. 

You should be looking for ways to set yourself apart from the crowd and not blend in with it. Finally, you don’t want to be confused with another company, and vice-versa. Be individual and think outside the box, just don’t copy anyone else’s websites.

4. The constant need to start over again

Not seeing results straight off the bat can cause people to become frustrated, so you’ll likely find that you’ll constantly want to try in-house marketing again from scratch. If one thing doesn’t work, you’ll look for other strategies to try, before giving the first tactic time to reap dividends. 

This mistake is made partly as a result of a lack of patience. Starting over again doesn’t give your website time to gain any sort of reputation and it can interfere with the way Google crawls and indexes content. The last thing you want to do is to keep changing the goalposts, so it’s a big mistake to make. 

5. Setting expectations too high

If you don’t have any experience in the world of digital marketing, then you’ll likely expect to see some impressive results in no time at all. However, it just doesn’t work like that. It can take months for you to see the fruits of your labour, and that’s just something that those lacking in marketing experience will not understand. If you’re taking your marketing in-house, with little expert knowledge, then you’ll likely go into it with the bar set too high. Start small and work your way up to more impressive results as time goes on. 

6. Putting too much faith in AI tools

AI is all over the internet right now, with programs and tools claiming to do everything from creating animations to generating content. However, while they might seem like fantastic tools that are cost-effective to use, AI technology isn’t advanced enough to utilise on its own. 

They have been designed to work alongside professional marketers and content creators and shouldn’t be used as a way to completely replace qualified writers and marketing experts. AI can provide you with misinformation and incorrect spelling and grammar, to name just a couple of downfalls it has currently. This is why you need the help of a professional to work in combination with those tools. 

They will amend and programme the tools and software to ensure these snags don’t occur. If you continue to use AI tools as a replacement for professionals, you’ll soon see the quality of your site and content reduce. If you want to play it safe, hire a professional to do it for you and avoid this mistake. 

7. Forgetting about the associated costs

Bringing marketing in-house might seem like a cost-effective solution, rather than hiring a marketing agency to do it for you, but you might have to think again. Marketing is an art and a skill. Therefore, it needs to be carried out by competent, trained and qualified individuals. This will come at a price if you do not have these skills yourself. 

Not only will you need to devise your own team, but you will also need to pay for all of their equipment, the tools they need, and the software required and you will also have to foot the bill for extra insurance, to name just a few hidden fees that you might be met with. You need to look at the bigger financial picture, and then weigh that up against hiring a professional marketing agency to do it for you. 

You may find that hiring the experts is far more cost-effective than having your own in-house marketing team. To be sure, contact a dedicated digital marketing firm, such as us here at Kumo, to give you an idea of cost. This way, you’ll have more of an accurate breakdown of the money needed to get the job done, either in-house or otherwise.

Kumo is a committed digital marketing agency with a team of specialists at the helm of everything we do. We can offer SEO, PPC, content writing and website design services, to name just a few ways in which we can propel your business into the spotlight. If you would like further information about our digital marketing services, get in touch with a member of our friendly, knowledgeable team today – we’re always pleased to hear from you.