Challenges that Inbound Marketing Agencies Face in Latin America, Part 1.

This article is based on a research done by HubSpot in Latin America yet, some of these challenges may also be found in other Inbound Marketing (IM) agencies as well, since they have to do with the way this kind of agencies operate, aside from the specific Latin American circumstances.

In other words, if you want to know more about Inbound Marketing agencies in general, this is an interesting article to read, since although it is based on Latin American statistics, it is studied from an Inbound Marketing agency best-practices point of view and thus, can offer useful information to any IM agency.

Do you have problems consolidating your Inbound Marketing agency? You have done it all, you have started the company and you already have some customers and employees but ... you just don't manage to reach your consolidated agency goal? Don't you worry! Reading this article (and the parts that follow) will help you to see that:

1. There are some common problems that all IM agencies share, so it is not just you
2. There are solutions that have proved to work that you can easily apply

The HubSpot Research

HubSpot carried out this study with the help of more than 750 Latin American Inbound Marketing Agencies. The goal was to learn more about the challenges that they are currently facing and their possible solutions.

There are of course several challenges that these agencies face, but one can broadly distinguish two key aspects from this research:

1. Clients

• Generation of new clients
• Kind of contracts and profitability

1. Employees

• Retention

The study states that:

"Regardless of their size or specialty, these agencias have a chance to grow and be successful if they overcome the following four obstacles:

1. Hiring staff
2. Retention of employees
3. Getting clients
4. Retention of clients"(*)

(*)All of the translations of this HubSpot study (originally written in Spanish) found in this article, were made by this article's author.

Step 1: Hiring and Retention of Staff

The importance of your staff

"Before working on any other other aspect, even before looking for more clients, it is key to understand and fully manage the hiring and retention of your staff" Christian Neff

As the same study states: "Those employees who are more talented can make a contribution to the marketing efforts of the company and help close new deals as well as retain old customers". In other words, if you have a good team, it will be easier for your company to grow and consolidate itself, since: "What we sell at the end of the day, is not the technology (since we all have access to it) but the human talent that we have in order to turn it into results."

Results of the study

According to this study, almost 70% of the agencies find it difficult to find the right staff for their vacancies, mainly because:

• There is a huge gap between what is being taught at universities and what the agencies really need.
• It isn't easy to find management, creativity and solid communications skills.

It is also true that the benefits that the employees are offered are usually limited to:

• On-time salary payment
• Some (not very specific) growth opportunities

As agencies, we trust that "offering flexible work hours or the option to do home-office" will help us compete for qualified professionals yet, since these days there are increasingly more agencies who offer this benefit (42%), it is no longer a key differentiation factor. It is also true that "employees who don't feel as valued, are the ones who usually abandon the agency first".

Solutions

1. Hire out a human resources experts. Go beyond internal solutions and invest not only in the hiring of employees, but also in their formal incorporation to the agency.
2. Offer a good health plan.
3. Offer a well-defined growth plan:
1. Avoid any uncertainty of the employee's professional journey
2. Show your employee your appreciation
4. Offer professional training.
5. Offer "qualitative hiring with competitive compensation" (better salaries or other benefits).
6. Develop a well-defined process of service delivery. It will avoid stress and frustration in your employees. Be very specific about what you expect to be delivered, in a timely manner.
7. Invest in culture and value. "Your first clients are your employees". As Juan Carlos Hernández points out in the same study: "The best talent will invest their life in those companies that add meaning to their talent and who are worthwhile to mention on their personal biography" It is important thus to work on their training and personal development, as well as on events that help build a strong sense of culture of your company.

After all, they are the company's face that your customers will see.

Freelance or full time?

There is no correct answer, everything depends on the maturity of your agency and your financial status.

If your agency:

1. Has a B plan in case freelancers are not available
2. Has managed to get freelancers know and understand the whole strategy held with the clients (not only specific tasks)
3. Can make use of these freelancers for more than one specific task
4. Includes the freelancers' rate when measuring its profitability

They "you may have developed a sustainable method for your agency to grow with the help of independent workers" Catharina Ellingsaeter.

Now, it is also important to remember that your agency's full-time employees are the ones who build the culture and energy of your company. So work with them offering constant training. Make a list of the skills and weaknesses of your agency and:

• Work on strengthening the weaknesses of your people (that is, of your agency)
• Also strengthen their skills, improving thus the level of experience that your employees already have.
• Acknowledge their value and autonomy: trust your employees! Autonomous employees in a company, who might even have their own "signature", become an asset both for the employee himself as well as for the company. In the end, the professional achievements that he'll have in your agency translate into a bigger profitability for your company.

The Importance of Both, Clients and Employees

We offer here two statements mentioned in this study that will help us to better understand the importance that both employees and clients have for you company, as well as how both of them are related and how to work with them:

1. "Treat your employees as you would want them to treat your clients" (Mayra Lee)
2. Hiring and retaining good employees "is really not that different from hiring and retaining good clients" (Juan Calor Hernández)

So hire and motivate your employees as you do with your clients. If they are both satisfied with your agency, the growth and consolidation of your company will be a much easier task to achieve.

Step 2: Clients

Once this issue of consolidating your agency by consolidating of your team is covered, we must give way to the growth of your agency: How to make it more profitable? How to attract more customers? What strategy to follow? How to negotiate contracts? The answers to these and other questions will be found in our next article: Challenges that Inbound Marketing Agencies Face in Latin America, Part 2.

If you would like to know more about Inbound Marketing strategy, click on the following links.

Do I need an Inbound Marketing Strategy?

5 Reasons Why your Company Needs Inbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing Assets

If you want to know more about how digital marketing agencies work, ask an expert agency on the matter. DataBranding is an Inbound Marketing agency that has the experience and the know-how that you need in order to watch your company grow thanks to their digital marketing strategies.