Over the last two years, virtual assistants have been the go-to option for many small businesses and entrepreneurs, specifically virtual marketers. Virtual marketers are VAs that help you manage and accomplish your company's objectives through marketing processes like creating brand awareness and applying your sales strategy to all your channels.
A virtual marketer can help your company find its marketing funnel and increase sales. Moreover, the cost is lower than hiring a regular employee. They offer flexibility, and in some cases, 24/7 assistance to any of your enterprise's needs.
There is a fine line of how a virtual assistant can help you and hiring a marketing agency. In this article, you will learn the differences between hiring a virtual marketer and a marketing agency. Even though their jobs are pretty similar, understanding their differences will help you make a fitting choice for your company.
Virtual Marketer
A virtual marketer is a virtual assistant that helps you with specific tasks of your marketing campaign. They can also guide you through the different processes of a marketing funnel and perform functions that you can delegate. So you, the owner, have more time to acquire new clients or close deals.
Marketing VAs come with a lot of benefits when hiring them. Below you can find a small list of these benefits.
Cost
The best reason to hire a virtual assistant is the cost. For as little as $10 an hour, virtual assistants provide expertise in multiple fields and are well-recognized entrepreneurs of their own. VAs understand what drives a business and can become a cultural asset to your company due to most of them working from offshore locations. Most importantly, they will only charge for the amount of work you assign them to. You don't have to worry about paying benefits, taxes, or medical insurance.
Flexibility
Virtual marketers are workers that don't have specific work hours. They will be available 24/7 to fulfill any of your company's needs and can help you deal with picky clients. If there are any changes a client asked you to make promptly, a virtual assistant can make those changes without raising their budget or charging for these changes. Also, they will have no problem changing a strategy or a project plan while it is already running compared to marketing and advertising agencies.
Expertise
Virtual marketers across the globe understand how a business works. Therefore, most of them have years of expertise that backs them up and have worked with numerous clients worldwide—giving them an edge over local marketing agencies and on-shore companies. They can perform tasks like improving a webpage's SEO, introducing advertising campaigns in your social media account, and overall making your company stand above the competition.
Marketing Agencies
Marketing agencies are more marketing-focused. While they do not offer specific tasks like client nurturing or community management, agencies can perform excellently in more significant marketing tasks, like creating strategies and mapping out your buyer's journey.
According to Brand Trust, a marketing agency is a service provider for measures concerning the marketing mix: communication, price, product, and sales. They assist companies with the planning, design, and execution phases of their marketing activities. Full-service agencies take on all three of these phases.
For example, suppose you want to drive sales up on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In that case, a marketing agency will develop a 360 plan involving your website, social media accounts, and physical advertising to create brand awareness. After the initial plan, they will design the different types of content your company needs to create that brand awareness. Finally, they will execute the strategy taking into account leads, targeted audiences, and competitors.
There are two downsides to marketing agencies. Take a look at these disadvantages below.
Cost
Unfortunately, most marketing agencies are very costly. Even though they offer plans that include many benefits, you are paying for a team of expert marketers. In addition, agencies often charge for benefits and other legal fees that can come up during their marketing process.
No flexibility
As mentioned above, virtual marketers don't have a problem changing your marketing strategy in the middle of the campaign. Marketing agencies are not so flexible in this situation. They plan a process that can last up to a year and follow it until the campaign finishes.
Sure, some agencies can do these changes without a problem, but most likely, all of this will come with an extra pricy fee that most business owners are unwilling to pay.
When to choose a Virtual Marketer
From a business perspective, it all comes down to what your company's needs are. Virtual marketers offer a wide array of skills, and some specialize in different marketing areas. They can guide you through processes and perform time-consuming tasks. If your company already has a designed marketing strategy, a virtual marketer is a perfect choice. They will take their time and expertise to help you reach your marketing goals.
A great tip when hiring a virtual marketer is to include them in your weekly meetings. By having VAs in your sessions, you can set the expectation of what you need from them. You will understand what kind of skills they possess and exploit those skills for your benefit. Each campaign has different needs, but having excellent communication with your VA will help them understand what you require them to do and when to deliver. Moreover, give feedback to your VAs.
When to choose a Marketing Agency
As we mentioned above, a marketing agency can take care of the whole marketing process on its own. They are a team of trained marketers who understand how to persuade clients to consume more of your product and better understand the human psyche than most online marketers.
A virtual agency will be part of the campaign creation process and help you strategize content to achieve your marketing and sales goals. In contrast with a virtual marketer, that will help you execute the strategy. If you have problems deciding which channels you should use to promote your product or are unsure about the type of content you need to create to attract your customers, a marketing agency is the way to go.
Virtual Marketers vs. Marketing Agencies
In the end, it all comes down to what your company requires. If you already have a plan and need someone to execute and keep track of the metrics, a virtual marketer is perfect. But, if you are confused about how to start a marketing campaign or only have a general idea of what to promote, then a marketing agency will create campaigns that suit your specific needs.
Whichever you decide is the best fit for you, you must do your research first. Pricing, skills, and benefits are the most important factors when choosing between these two options. Both are experts in their fields, and you can also try hiring both. There is no reason for a battle when both will work great for any company.
If you have made a decision, and you want to start working with a virtual marketer, try one here!