If you want to take your business to the next level, growth marketing is an essential strategy worth consideration. Growth marketing is a data-driven approach that focuses on acquiring and retaining customers through experimentation and continuous optimization. 

In this article, we'll discuss several growth marketing ideas that you can use to boost your business along with examples of companies that have successfully implemented these strategies.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website in search engine results pages like Google’s. This is accomplished through techniques such as keyword research, meta tags, and link building. SEO is an extremely powerful way to drive traffic to your website and grow your business. While this is a long-term strategy that requires a lot of effort and dedication, the payoff can be significant. 

In 2023 every business needs a website, and SEO is the way to get it in front of the right people. Improving your website's ranking in search engine results pages can increase visibility, drive more traffic, and ultimately grow your business. There are a variety of businesses that really benefit from SEO, but to see who’s really coming out on top, just take a look at who’s sitting in Google’s number one spot. 

Onsite Content

An SEO strategy is essential for modern businesses, but it’s not really worth much without quality onsite content. Audiences can’t search for content that doesn’t exist, so without it, you’re practically invisible online. Put simply, your content signals to search engines and your audience that you know what you’re talking about. When prioritizing onsite content, you want to make sure your business’s website has relevant material. Types of content may include blogs, infographics, and/or videos, but you have to choose what’s best for your business. 

Leveraging your online content allows your business to showcase your expertise, which can help you earn your audience’s trust and gently move them through your sales funnel. Canva is a popular design tool, and they are killing it when it comes to onsite content. They offer users thousands of design tutorials through their design school. It teaches people how to use their product while also showcasing  the features their service has to offer.

Digital PR

Digital PR is a powerful tool to help businesses build their online reputation and brand authority. With time, it can help you become a reputable industry leader. When done successfully, a digital PR campaign will result in brand mentions and backlinks from sites with quality domains, which increases a brand’s authority both in the eyes of search engines and human readers.

Any current industry leader is most likely benefiting from digital PR. Think about businesses positively mentioned on sites like The New York Times, Forbes, or Entrepreneur. Once those mentions are obtained, it heightens a company’s level of authority. So much so, it’s common practice to see “as featured in” sections on their website. Those sections speak to a level of authority and convince your audience by providing social proof. Strengthening the relationship your business has with the public is important, and digital PR does just that.

Influencer Marketing

Almost everyone is familiar with who influencers are and how they contribute to the marketing space. But to define for those who don’t know, influencer marketing describes a partnership with individuals who have a large social media presence to promote their products or services. Partnering with these individuals can be an effective way to reach a large and engaged audience that is likely to be interested in your products.

With this marketing strategy, you’re able to leverage influencer connections to promote your business. An example of a company that has had great success partnering with influencers is Fashion Nova. They’ve partnered with celebrities like Cardi B and Amber Rose to promote their brand on Instagram. The company made a million dollars on the first day that Cardi B’s line dropped — and that’s largely due to her dedicated fan base. 

Referral Marketing

Referral marketing encourages existing customers to refer their friends and family to your business. To incentivise these referrals, companies often offer rewards and additional perks to these existing customers. This can be an effective way to acquire new customers at a lower cost than traditional marketing methods.

Dropbox is a great example of a company who benefited from referral marketing. They grew their user base by offering more storage space to users who refer their friends to the service. Their company grew 3900% (not a typo!) in just 15 months. That’s wild, but it speaks to how capitalizing on your customer’s connections can really benefit your business.

Mobile Optimization

Optimizing your website, products, and services for use on mobile devices is crucial if you want to grow your business. According to Think with Google, “Almost half (46%) of consumers prefer to use their smartphone to complete the entire process from researching to buying.” This means that having a mobile-friendly website and making sure your products and services are easily accessible on smartphones is crucial to reach customers. Through optimization, you can increase visibility, drive more traffic, and ultimately grow your business.

Personalization

Personalization has become more and more important over the years as audiences expect to be treated as individuals rather than statistics — and rightfully so. However, it can make some marketing efforts more difficult. Personalization as a marketing strategy tailors messages and experiences to individual users based on their behavior and preferences. This can be a powerful way to increase customer engagement and retention.

Netflix is known for its personalized recommendations, which have been successful in keeping users engaged with the platform. According to the company, over 75% of the content that users watch on Netflix comes from its recommendation system. This highlights how effective personalization can be, especially as it keeps users engaged.

A/B Testing

A/B testing is the process of testing two or more variations of a marketing campaign, website, or product feature to see which performs better. This allows you to make data-driven decisions about which changes will have the biggest impact on your business.

If you’re familiar with the meal kit delivery service HelloFresh, they provide a nice example of A/B testing with their menu display update. When they redesigned their menu to create a seamless user experience while also promoting upselling opportunities, they compared their original design to the update. They found the final version contributed to a 7% increase in upselling, proving the second variation performed better.

Remarketing

Remarketing is a strategy in which advertisements are targeted to users who have previously interacted with your business. This can be a powerful way to increase sales and customer retention. Studies show that retargeting can increase conversion rates by as much as 150%. It also helps re-engage the 98% of visitors who leave a website without making a purchase.

Amazon's retargeting ads, which show products that a user previously viewed on the website, have been very effective in driving sales. Just think about how your social media pages look after you’ve been scrolling on their product page. Those great finds sitting in your cart almost immediately end up on your newsfeed. If you’re not remarketing already, it’s an idea worth considering.

Deciding What Strategies Are Right For Your Business

It's important to note that a single method may not necessarily drive the growth of your business. It is important to use a combination of multiple strategies and methods to achieve the best results possible. But you may also find some strategies aren’t worth the resources they will cost your company.

Growth marketing will look different for every business because not all approaches will help you reach particular goals. Continuously testing and refining your approach can help you identify what works best for your unique audience. The above-discussed growth marketing ideas are just a starting point, and you should continuously experiment with new strategies to find what works best for your business.

As any company experiences growth, there always comes that awkward time. Various responsibilities need to move from in-house to the hiring of outside experts. Though growth itself is a highly desirable outcome, it can be challenging to know when the time has come to let go of absolute control of anything. It’s no different when it comes to the subject of knowing when the time is right to hire a national SEO agency.

In days gone by, for example, your company might have gotten by admirably in-house. Perhaps you delegated the social media responsibilities to someone you did not hire for that specific purpose. As your niche market expanded, competition intensified. Before long, other companies that did not provide equal value to yours were capturing eyeballs and, ultimately, poaching customers.

Sure enough, it’s tough to let go of anything that started out as "your" baby. However, wisdom is to be found by watching for the signs that change is needed. As your market expands, a national SEO agency can help you navigate unfamiliar terrain.

While market pressures vary by industry and location, there are specific vital indicators that anyone can use as a template. More and more consumers are migrating their shopping habits to the laptop or smartphone. As a result, it’s critical that your company not miss out.

Use the following “Top Ten List” as a measuring rod for gathering more data and determining when the time is right to engage with a national SEO agency.

Top Ten Signs You May Need to Invest in a National SEO Agency

1. You don’t have a content marketing strategy.

If you don’t yet have a content marketing plan — or aren’t sure what that even means — don’t spend a lot of time beating yourself up over it.

Many, many thriving businesses were caught off-guard by the dizzying speed with which online marketing has developed. Today, any number of otherwise-successful entrepreneurs are still underestimating the value of a clear, cohesive content marketing plan that encapsulates every single customer touchpoint.

You’re an expert at what you do. However, that expertise may not extend to content marketing, and that too is OK. Keep doing what you do best.

The main takeaway here is to realize that almost every business, regardless of niche, needs a content marketing plan. In our increasingly online world, not having one is running the risk of being buried by your competitors as you expand. Working with a national SEO agency can help you uncover opportunities you might miss otherwise.

2. You’re not showing up in SERPs, not even at the local level.

Search engine results pages, or SERPs, are the de facto marketplace of the 21st century. Whether we like it or not, the simple fact is that an ever-increasing number of consumers are using their smartphones to scan for possibilities before they make a commitment of time, treasure, or talent. Businesses that ignore this reality or delay any sort of content marketing plan simply aren’t likely to thrive long-term.

For example, let’s say you operate a woodworking supply store in Peoria. Think of your city as the bullseye on a target. You might be doing OK if a potential customer in Western Australia doesn’t find your business. Still, you should be concerned if enthusiasts in central Illinois type in the search string “woodworking supplies” but miss your business altogether.

As your sphere of influence radiates outward, you’ll most likely need a national SEO agency. They can help you start showing up in online searches conducted in central Illinois, the entire Midwest, the continental U.S., and beyond.

3. Marketing costs have gotten out of hand.

The old adage went something like this: “Advertising doesn’t cost…it pays.” But maybe you’ve noticed that you’re not so sure that’s true anymore. You can look at your numbers at the end of every month and see clearly that you’ve been spending more and getting less in return.

If your ROI seems to be decreasing over time, it may be that your messages simply aren’t being seen. The simple fact is that audiences are skipping from one media outlet to the next with a flick of their thumb. This phenomenon can prove highly frustrating for companies trying to get their voice heard above the din. It’s especially true when expanding to the national level.

The good news is that this new openness in the media landscape is a lot less pricey than many traditional outlets. Your company might do better spending hundreds for an online placement than thousands for a billboard on the interstate. The key is to “spend wiser,” not spend more. A national SEO agency can help coach you as you shift your marketing budget around.

4. People who want to find you…can’t.

Panic is never a good thing, of course. However, suppose you are out to dinner with friends, and they struggle to find your website or social media channels even as you are sitting across the table from them. In that case, it’s probably time to drop back and seriously reconsider how things are going with your online marketing strategy.

Pay attention when prospective customers struggle to find you online or complete a transaction. Statistics such as website bounce rates or abandoned carts can help pinpoint exactly where you are losing someone. However, you should balance those statistics against anecdotal evidence you and your team gather day by day, week after week.

The temptation, of course, is to dismiss observations and complaints as “user error,” but this is unwise. More likely, it simply means your SEO needs tweaking…or maybe a complete overhaul. What has always worked well may fall flat as you expand into new markets. You may need to work with a national SEO agency as you strive to avoid these common pitfalls.

5. Your website analytics have plateaued…or nosedived.

If you’re interested in growing your business, you should take special note of overall website traffic trends. Reaching a plateau is only acceptable if you are hiking a mountain and need to take a breather. Similarly, a sharp decline in traffic is a serious indicator that something, somewhere, may have gone wrong.

Again, your primary expertise may not be reading website analytics. You want to focus on providing the best product or service at a competitive price. That’s what you should be doing. However, someone needs to be paying attention and drawing meaningful conclusions from your data. If that’s not you, then it might be time to outsource this vital task.

6. Social media efforts aren’t providing the bang you expected.

Perhaps the only reason you opened a social media account was to broadcast information about your business to the waiting world. The reality is that social media should be viewed as primarily a social endeavor. The vast majority of people don’t use social media as a substitute for reading ads. They use social media to interact.

Increasingly, companies are hiring social media specialists. These people are skilled at responding to user posts and elevating the reputation of their company as they do so.

However, many small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are stuck. They're in that space where they are too big to not have social media but too small to hire full-time staff to handle these messaging channels. Rather than act as a logjam, this situation could be a prime indicator that it’s time to bring in outside help. A national SEO agency fully understands this dynamic and can help you leverage it to your advantage.

7. Your online position does not match your level of expertise.

Have you ever listened to someone speaking directly to your niche and thought to yourself, “This person clearly doesn’t know what he is talking about?”

Of course you have. Who hasn’t?

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and pretty much every other platform have given anyone with an internet connection the ability to speak with impressive-sounding authority. The trick these days is to find one’s way through all the noise and static. It's easy to miss voices that ring true with both authenticity and measurable results.

The savvy experts these days are focusing more on helping others solve problems than making sales. They’ve realized that garnering trust will, in relatively short order, translate into a healthier bottom line. Your company might be the best in its niche. However, if your voice is getting shouted down online by pretenders, you'll need help. This is a strong indicator that it’s time to partner with a national SEO agency.

8. Your business struggles to form meaningful partnerships.

Trust-building takes place at both the micro level and the macro level. The micro level consists mainly of individual interactions. These include not only how customers interact with you or your employees but also what they say about you to friends and family.

It’s vital to understand that you simply cannot build long-lasting trust at the macro level if the micro-level foundation is unstable. When your business scores win after win at the individual level, you are far more likely to garner the attention of reputable business partners and investors.

Perhaps you enjoy a solid local reputation but find it tough to get investors and other strategic partners interested. This might be an indicator that “something not good” is happening online. A skilled national SEO agency will be quick to suss out why potential opportunities keep eluding your company.

9. Competitors are dragging down your online reputation.

For years, the successful restaurant chain Wendy’s has been doing a terrific job at using its social media accounts to take potshots at the competition. They’ve done this by using a successful mixture of good-natured humor, well-known facts, and their unique brand messaging to land bullseye after bullseye. The messages are amusing and fun to read, even if you don't happen to like hamburgers.

And therein lies the key to a successful online marketing campaign. Boosting your SEO might be a matter of taking yourself less seriously…or it might not. There are literally thousands of variables that might come into play. Working with a national SEO agency can help you refine your message as you seek to broaden your appeal.

Because you are good at what you do, you shouldn’t feel obligated to become a Messaging Voice Expert. Lit up in an unguarded moment, you might even respond to online potshots in a manner that further degrades your online reputation or unintentionally validates the same critique you are seeking to answer. Frequently it’s tough to respond well, and this is why an outside agency might be able to provide critical distance and a higher-level perspective.

10. Your great local word-of-mouth is AWOL online.

This one is last for a reason. It’s the surest sign that you need a national SEO agency to help you translate your excellent local vibe into a broader online reality.

While an increasing number of people are slow to believe what they read online, that does not (yet) apply to everyone. A lot of damage can take place in a brief amount of time. If you’ve ever read a horrid review of a restaurant online only to have a close friend contradict it, you know exactly what this looks like. Online perceptions often don’t convey real-world reality.

Any reputable national SEO agency should be highly skilled at sniffing out unseen factors that might be affecting the quality of your online reputation. Agile, data-driven decision-making is the “secret sauce” that can help your business elevate both its reputation and its positioning on SERPs. Consumers these days have no shortage of options. However, a skilled national SEO agency can help you bring your product or service to the attention of the customers you are seeking.

Content is an effective marketing strategy to boost SEO rankings, increase visibility, and use writing to build a loyal following. Unfortunately, content writing and content creation that resonates with your audience take up your marketing team's time and effort. This realization often precedes many business owners to seek to outsource their content marketing strategy.

Consequently, the internal costs associated with social media marketing, marketing automation, email marketing, or any other marketing function are why many companies opt to outsource content marketing for enhanced success.

With nearly 5 billion people online and more than 4.5 billion using social media, it's no wonder most companies use content marketing to reach their prospective customers. Harnessing the expertise of a marketing agency for outsourced marketing is becoming more of a necessity than a "nice-to-have."

The internet has empowered today's consumers to conduct their own research on products and brands they want to patronize. As a result, they're more discerning in their solutions to their problems. They know what professional content looks like when they see it. A one-shot blog post no longer cuts the mustard. An effective marketing plan has become absolutely essential and outsourcing content creation has become commonplace.

However, outsourcing content writing and content marketing allow companies to hire a writer to create tailored articles directed at specific audiences to ensure a higher likelihood of conversions.

But marketing agencies are really expensive, right? Well, not necessarily. Outsourcing marketing can actually save your company money even as it leads to an increase in sales. Keep reading to learn why, when, and how small businesses, SaaS companies, and companies of all sizes should outsource content development and content marketing to make the most of this impactful digital strategy.

Key Takeaways

• Outsourcing content marketing allows you to benefit from the content creation expertise of a third-party marketing firm while freeing you up to focus on other aspects of your business.
• From saving you money to increasing productivity, there are many benefits to outsourcing your content marketing to an agency or other content partner to create quality content.
• When you're ready to outsource your content marketing, you can do so by following five simple steps that will help to ensure overall outsource marketing success.

What Does it Mean to Outsource Content Marketing?

Content marketing involves writing and publishing relevant, useful, and engaging content that resonates with an audience's needs. Businesses employ a content writer or content writing services to create blog content, attract a certain following, generate interest in a brand and its products, and convince people to convert to customers.

However, to create meaningful content, companies must know who their audience is, what their needs are, and how those people prefer to receive information. Delivering the right message to the right people at the right time is key to content marketing success. It represents the ultimate marketing goal for any marketing department.

Content outsourcing can include any of the following online marketing staples:

• email campaigns;
• social media posts;
• blog articles;
• website content;
• infographics; and
• white papers.

While many companies choose to write their content, most businesses prefer to outsource their content marketing to content agencies and freelancers. They must trust an external freelance writer, marketer, or content marketing agency to create material for their brand.

This company, writer, freelancer, or another marketing team will learn about your business. Any digital marketing agency worth its salt will seek to gain an understanding of your goals.

The marketing professional will then write content that resonates with your audience and helps drive marketing strategy success. Additionally, by outsourcing content marketing to an agency, companies can benefit from the expertise of a third-party team. Outsourcing marketing frees you up to focus on other aspects of your business.

The video linked directly below provides further detail about how to go about outsourcing your content marketing.

4 Reasons to Outsource Content Marketing

Size, budget, and marketing needs determine whether outsourcing your content marketing is right for your business.

It's important for any business owner to identify particular challenges that third-party agency writers can solve. Here are four reasons to outsource content marketing and how to recognize when it's time to consider making the move to an external marketing expert, agency, or another marketing firm for outsourced content.

1. Save money.

Growing a business requires significant expenses. That's why 70% of companies outsource tasks to reduce overall costs. By delegating your content marketing to a third-party company, you save the cost of hiring a full-time employee to write your blog post. Through outsourced marketing, you can focus more attention on your sales team. Content outsourcing and marketing also eliminates visible and hidden onboarding costs that average $4,425 per employee.

If you don't have the resources to hire a full-time staff member, it's time to consider outsourcing your content marketing to an agency or other external marketing department. Step one, then, is to compare the cost of hiring a full-time employee against that of engaging with an outsource content writing team. Outsourcing digital marketing is not something you ought to do on a whim.

2. Save time.

Maybe you have several terrific ideas for effective content, but you simply don't have the time to put everything into action. Perhaps writing isn't in your wheelhouse or you don't want to add marketing responsibilities to your work week. This is just one example of where outsourced marketing can represent a solid investment.

Hiring an outside writer or agency to take over your digital marketing services reduces your workload and frees up your time to focus on other job responsibilities. If you're feeling overwhelmed or having trouble getting everything done, you may need to outsource your content marketing.

3. Gain access to more talent.

If you don't have enough people in your marketing department to write your content, or you simply don't have a qualified writer to effectively communicate your ideas to your audience, outsourcing to an agency may be a viable option. Outsourcing content creation gives you access to a wider agency talent pool with various skills, training, expertise, and experience. Oftentimes marketing dollars can even be reallocated to outsourced sales, further improving your bottom line.

Choosing an agency with the necessary background to write meaningful and relevant content for your specific audience cuts down on project completion time. It allows your outsourced marketing team to publish expert content that is effective and efficient.

4. Increase productivity.

When your marketing department must multi-task, their stress levels rise. Distractions actually impair brain function.

Not only does this diminish efficiency, but it also impedes your marketing campaign productivity. When you outsource content writing, you relieve your staff's workload and allow them to give undivided attention to specific tasks.

Outsourcing to a digital marketing service helps your team complete projects sooner. They can tackle new projects more quickly, boosting overall business productivity. If workers are spread too thin, outsourced content creation is a viable solution. In fact, an outsourced marketing department might positively reshape the way you do business.

Outsource Content Marketing in 5 Steps

You can make the shift to outsourced marketing in five easy steps if you feel content outsourcing is right for you.

Step 1: Identify tasks to outsource.

Assess your content marketing plan and determine what projects you should outsource. Maybe all content writing needs to be delegated to a third-party writer. Or maybe you have in-house experts who could tackle some of your topics. Whether it's individual assignments, social media posts, or content marketing in general, you must first identify which tasks you want to outsource.

Step 2: Consider ROI.

Identify which areas of your content marketing efforts are costing your business money, time, and resources. This step alone might help you make your marketing outsource evaluation.

You can resource any part of your strategy with low ROI to a professional writer who can quickly and easily complete the task. Make the most of your outsource content writing investment by ensuring your content marketing plans are full of high ROI tasks.

Step 3: Give clear instructions for content creation.

When you assign content creation to a third-party marketing service, it's imperative that you give clear instructions to your content creator about what you want and what goals you're trying to achieve with your marketing effort.

If you're unclear, the writer at that marketing firm may deliver content irrelevant to your audience and must be rewritten. This takes more agency time and may cost more money, negating the benefits of outsourcing to a content writing agency in the first place. Avoid confusion by providing clear expectations to your content agency for outsourcing marketing from the get-go.

Step 4: Supply helpful content writing resources.

An outsourced marketing writer armed with plenty of helpful resources is more likely to succeed at their inbound marketing task, whether that's blog writing, visual content, or other high quality content.

Prior to beginning content production, supply your agency writing team with any information that would be useful in broadening their knowledge of your company, your audience, or the topic of the assignment. The less an agency writer has to research on their own, the lower the chances of the designated content team delivering erroneous or mistaken information as part of your outsourced marketing package.

Step 5: Track progress.

It's important to know whether your hired writers are hitting the mark with great content for your audience. This is where marketing technology (such as Google Analytics) can lend a hand as you make an outsourced marketing decision. Marketing agencies will be quick to ask you for these numbers at your first meeting. Don't attempt to build your marketing plan or brand awareness strategy without them!

Track the progress of your outsourced content with metrics that reveal click-through rates, engagement, and how long people remain on your blog post or web pages to read your content. From these results, you'll be able to tell whether your readers are finding your content useful, which marketing materials are resonating, and what areas need improvement.

Outsource Your Content Marketing Strategy

Outsourcing your content marketing strategy can be difficult at first. Any outsourced marketing should not be viewed as a cure-all. Marketing agencies will need your advice and partnership to generate quality content. However, once you start the outsourced marketing process, you'll see content is just another piece of your marketing activity puzzle to solve.

Struggling to start with your own content strategy? Thinking you might benefit from outsourced marketing services? Outsourcing content creation might be a solid first step in the right direction. Maybe you do need to look into a growth marketing agency to help pick up some of your public relations slack. We're here to help!

Image Credit: Lukas; Pexels. Video Credit: Jason Whaling. (2019, September 23). Stop Working So Hard To Make Content! (How To Outsource Content Creation) [Video]. YouTube.