Marketing agency vs. sales and marketing coach: which is the best option for you?

As a business, you have to do sales and marketing to stay afloat. Most companies agree on that.

A lot trickier is the question of to what extent you can outsource your sales and marketing activities. What is or is not wise to outsource for best results?

At Buzzlytics, we recently made the switch from a traditional marketing agency to a marketing and sales training agency. Since then, we have helped several companies bring their marketing and sales in-house.

In this article, I discuss the differences between a marketing agency and a sales and marketing coach - as we also call ourselves since we became a training agency. In addition, I explain why it is important to see marketing and sales as the core of your business.

By the end of the article, you'll have a better idea of which option is best for your business: hiring a marketing agency or engaging a sales and marketing coach like Buzzlytics.

Marketing agencies offer their services to companies that cannot or do not want to do certain work themselves. They often employ specialists who are up-to-date with the latest developments and can move quickly.

Buzzlytics was also a marketing agency for many years. We helped our clients with marketing automation, advertising and conversion optimization.

However, depending on an outside agency for your main marketing and sales activities has one major drawback: you quickly run into trouble if that agency goes away.

We didn't think that was healthy. So we made the switch from a traditional marketing agency to a marketing and sales training agency that helps companies become the "trusted advisor" in their market with the They Ask, You Answer method.

In other words, we have become a sales and marketing coach, rather than a marketing agency.

Many companies have an unhealthy dependency relationship with a marketing agency.

As a sales and marketing coach following the They Ask, You Answer philosophy, we help companies get the knowledge and skills they need to do their marketing and sales themselves.

This way, they are in control of their own sales and marketing activities and are not dependent on an external party. So unlike a marketing agency, we do not perform services for our clients.

At Buzzlytics, we often say that we help companies become so good at marketing and sales that they no longer need us. On average, companies who enter our TAYA Mastery program can do most of their marketing and sales themselves after 18 months.

We help companies become so good at marketing and sales that they no longer need us.

Many companies say, "The core of our business is delivering our product or performing our service. The rest I can hire." For example, they hire a calling agency for lead generation or they have their content written by outside writers.

But great thinkers in this field such as Peter Drucker, Tom Hopkins, Howard Partridge and Marcus Sheridan often say, "You are primarily a sales and media company."

After all, a business exists by the grace of paying customers, and you get those customers with marketing and sales. So for sustainable success, sales and marketing should occupy a much more central place in business operations.

This does require companies to bring much of their sales and marketing activities in-house. That way they not only have more control over core processes such as content creation, but they can also form what is known as a "revenue team," in which marketing and sales work together to achieve their joint revenue goals.

Do you really want to be successful with your own sales and marketing team and get further ahead than if you outsourced these activities? Then you need a philosophy that is embraced by the entire company - the leadership team, sales and marketing. They Ask, You Answer is a very suitable framework for this.

In our view, all companies should see marketing and sales as the core of their business and do most of it themselves. Then they can decide exactly what they want to do themselves and what they want to outsource.

Even if you choose to implement They Ask, You Answer, you may still benefit from hiring certain marketing expertise. Consider event marketing, design and communications, and advertising platforms you don't have experience with yourself.

Content creation (both written content and video content) is something that, according to the They Ask, You Answer philosophy, is precisely what it is best to bring in-house.

After all, to become the trusted advisor in your market, your content must be authentic and have depth. That result is best achieved with internal content creators who know your company inside out.

Moreover, you need to publish a large amount of content to become the trusted advisor in a given market - it would be very costly to outsource this. Especially now that we live in an age of AI, where the amount of content being produced is only increasing, it is crucial to consistently create the right content that is distinctive, clear and stands out in a sea of noise.

The most important thing to remember is that you don't outsource anything that would put you in trouble if your marketing agency goes away tomorrow. A marketing agency should complement the sales and marketing you do yourself.

A marketing agency should complement the sales and marketing you do yourself.

Also read: Outsource content marketing or bring it in house: which is the best choice for your business?

In summary, it is not that you have to choose between a marketing agency and a sales and marketing coach. In fact, a marketing agency can be a good complement.

What is the best option for you (an agency, a coach or a mix) depends on your philosophy and your sales and marketing goals.

Whether it's best for you to work with a marketing agency or a marketing coach depends on your philosophy and your goals.

Below are some criteria to consider in your decision whether to partner with a party like Buzzlytics or whether you prefer to hire a marketing agency to which you outsource work.

• What exactly do you want to achieve? Where do you want to be in 3 years? Do you want to become the trusted advisor in your industry?
• Do you think it is important for your team to be trained in specific marketing frameworks such as They Ask, You Answer?
• Does your business need specific expertise that a marketing agency offers or a growth strategy like They Ask, You Answer?
• What is your available budget? Coaching can ultimately be more cost-effective if it makes your team more self-reliant.
• Are you looking for more control and ownership over marketing activities within your team or do you prefer to outsource these tasks?
• Which fits your business goals better: a long-term partnership with a coach or a more project-oriented approach from an agency?
• How important do you think it is for your collaboration partner to stay up-to-date with the latest marketing trends and technologies?
• Are you more concerned with getting results quickly, which is often the case with traditional agencies, or is slow but steady growth through coaching acceptable?
• Which option offers the best potential for scalability as your business grows?
• How flexible is the party in adjusting strategies based on ongoing results and feedback?

So the choice you ultimately make depends heavily on your company's specific needs, culture and goals.

At Buzzlytics, we believe that marketing and sales should be the core of your business and that They Ask, You Answer (TAYA) is the best way to express this vision. And as mentioned, even if you get started with TAYA, you can still outsource certain tasks.

Wondering if TAYA is for your business too? Read our blog Does TAYA work for my business? or schedule a consultation with me or one of my colleagues.