Hiring a Mobile App Marketing Agency vs. Doing It Yourself

You’re on the verge of success, got your mobile app idea and all. You’ve maybe even gone through the process of execution. What’s left to do is to take care of the marketing activities, and the big question rises above your head inside a cloudy bubble: should you hire a mobile app marketing agency or risk the “DIY online marketing approach”?

Before we go into detail, let’s chat about what’s happening in the digital world right now. Did you know that, in 2019, both Apple and Android’s app stores offered more than 2 million apps? All it means is that the numbers are growing, and your chances of making your app stand out in the virtual stores are getting slimmer. Who’s going to help you navigate your way through the complex and highly competitive market? But you’re going to be smart about your mobile app marketing, and it’s all going to turn out just fine, right? For some, executing their app’s marketing themselves seem like the easy way out. After all, they know their creation better than anyone else, they have a business-like mind frame – how hard can it be?

You’re in the right place, because we’ll go over all of your options, identify each one of the advantages and disadvantages and, by the time you reach the end, you’ll leave informed and fully capable of making such a big decision. So let’s dive in. 

DIY Online Marketing: Can I Do It Myself?

First, let’s see if you can and if you should execute your mobile app marketing yourself. For starters, let me say that you’re not the only one: many entrepreneurs are intrigued about an idea. Sure, you can read a couple of blog posts, take a few online courses about both marketing and graphic design, and let your creative juices flow. But do you have the time for it? Because if you’re going to do your mobile app marketing yourself, then you have to do it like an expert. What’s the point of you spending time that can never be brought back, money that already lost its value, or sweat that is only making you old if you’re not going to put your 100% in the game? 

Ins and Outs of DIY Online Marketing

Then, there’s the learning curve: marketing is not only about Facebook and Instagram. It’s also about App Store Optimization, reaching out to the media for press releases, growing your brand awareness, and more. But you don’t want to be one of those business owners who focus all of their precious time and attention on a learning curve in the creative side of their business: marketing.

One of the advantages of doing your mobile app marketing yourself is that you have a vision for your app and you don’t have to spend the time to share it with a marketing agency to make sure your app goes in the direction you want it to go. Sometimes, it can become difficult to share ideas and expectations with others while trusting that they got the idea. This fear can keep you from hiring professionals who have a better chance at succeeding and taking your creations to the top.

For some companies, hiring internal staff, or maybe just one employee, to conduct the job can be the best idea to fit in their marketing budget. That also depends on the culture of those specific companies and their goals. 

Hiring a Mobile App Marketing Agency

Need reasons to hire a digital marketing agency for your mobile app? Expertise with your market niche, experience in executing marketing plans, no HR nightmares, and no employee training, to name a few.

But here’s what I hope you learn early on: mobile app marketing is completely different from product or service marketing. The main difference is that mobile app marketing requires a few extra steps. To name a few:

• App Store Optimization to help your target audience find you quickly and easily
• Heavy Onboarding Support to guide users when downloading, learning, and using your app
• Ongoing Marketing to ensure your buyers are using your new mobile app
• Other Promotional Activities to keep your app relevant and fresh

Now that you know a bit about the kind of marketing your mobile app is going to require, you’ll know that most in-house teams or entrepreneurs won’t be able to handle it themselves. 

Benefits of Hiring a Marketing Agency

Making a decision of hiring a marketing agency can be difficult. It’s like hiring a nanny for your kid; you need to know this new person from head to toe, trust them with the daily education of your child, and believe they won’t screw up. Luckily, there are a lot of marketing agencies out there, like Scopic, that have a trusted client base and make it all a bit easier. Still wondering why you should hire a digital marketing agency? Let me get right to it. 

The Team, the Time

When you hire a marketing agency, you hire multiple people, all specialized in different fields of marketing; all of that expertise is going to help your app’s marketing efforts. It also solves your cost issue. If you’re thinking about how much it costs to hire a marketing agency, I can’t give you an exact number, but I can tell you that it will cost you less than if you were to hire freelancers for all areas of marketing: content writer, graphic design, and strategic consultant to name a few. Your single in-house employee probably won’t be able to support all the areas of marketing. Moreover, teams work together and come up with fresh and bright ideas that will make your products or services shine brighter in the eyes of your clients. 

The next important factor that will make a difference in your decision is the time: whichever option is more time-saving, you’ll choose that one. That’s because you value your time and don’t want to waste any. Well, then I should tell you that hiring a marketing agency for your mobile app is going to save you time. You will only be in contact with one person, who will lead your app’s marketing and be in contact with the rest of the team. Like the sound of that?

So the next time you wonder why you should hire a digital marketing agency, think about your valuable time and the thrill of working with an experienced and knowledgeable team. 

When Should You Start Marketing?

Thinking about when you should hire a mobile app marketing agency is a question that might keep you up at night. And you’re guessing correctly: it’s beneficial and smart for your company to start working with a marketing agency during the early stages of your app’s development. That will help create a vision for the app together (you and the marketing team you’ll be working with) as well as assess the customer benefits and selling points from the beginning. Moreover, a full-service mobile marketing agency will lead you through the complex processes of developing your marketing strategy, setting goals and KPIs, improving your customer retention, and much more. 

Here’s a fun fact: 98% of businesses have a documented mobile app marketing strategy. Do you think you can create that on your own? I bet you’ll dream of a marketing agency’s help when you’re struggling while crafting your app’s marketing strategy at night – and that’s not all you’re going to need. The advanced tools and technologies app marketing agencies use when working towards achieving your company’s goals are what you need to compete in the world of mobile app sales. 

How to Choose the Right Marketing Agency

When you’ve made up your mind and you’re about to choose a mobile app marketing agency, you’ll feel like a kid in a candy store – so many options. But there are important factors to consider before making a final decision. Let’s identify 3 crucial factors and identify those.

#1 Communication

Communication is key in any relationship and cooperation. If the chemistry doesn’t work between you and the agency you’re about to hire, then something is wrong. It’s important to keep in mind that great full-service mobile marketing agencies excel at the communication process. After all, without it, what’s the point of working together? Therefore, make sure that you and the agency both understand that the communication between you should be quick and effective. Now, how do you identify this characteristic in an agency you’ve never worked with? 

Sure, you can go and read a bunch of client testimonials. They will be helpful, but nothing can give better insights like firsthand experience. So make sure to sustain some kind of a connection with them and pay attention to how well they explain things and how quickly they return your messages. Identifying that they’re good listeners is a big plus. 

#2 Reliability

It’s crucial to make sure the mobile app marketing agency you’ll be working with is reliable and follows through on their word – it doesn’t matter how well the agency communicates with you if their words mean nothing. Moreover, paying close attention to small details can help determine how dependent they are. If you need to, ask yourself the following questions to help you with the decision-making process:

– Do I trust them?
– Do they deliver what is asked?
– Can the agency run a tight schedule if needed?

Again, you can go ahead and read client reviews to make sure the agency you’re about to be working with is reliable.

#3 Results

A question that has been with us for ages: what’s more important, effort or results? I’m here to tell you that when it comes to working with a full-service mobile marketing agency, seeing results, fast results, is key. That’s because you don’t have much time: the timeframe between the moment your app goes live and becomes history is very short. That’s why the marketing agency you’ve decided to trust has to deliver and show a trend to increase your profit, your mobile app downloads, and more. 

Something to keep in mind when working with an agency: while we agree with the fact that anyone who actually promises specific marketing results is just making educated guesses, you’ll also want to set some clear expectations in regards to the end goal you’ll be reaching together.

Punch Line

Hopefully, you have the answers to all of your questions. From “can I do it myself?” to “how much does it cost to hire a marketing agency?”, make sure to address all of the questions that are in your head before making a final decision. There are a lot of reasons to hire a digital marketing agency, so identify the ones that apply to your case. When you do hire your agency, remember to put communication on the top, build trust with them, and ask for results.