Should Cannabis Businesses Outsource Marketing or Should They Hire In-House?
The cannabis industry is growing rapidly driven by legalized use and a new wave of demand. The industry’s growth is on pace to reach $40 billion in the US by 2030.
While the industry continues its meteoric growth, many businesses and start-ups are sprouting. Consequently, the competition in this industry is also increasing. Cannabis businesses face a challenge- how do they stand out from other competitors in this burgeoning industry?
Cannabis businesses need to employ efficient, effective, and comprehensive marketing strategies; this is important because they need to be well equipped to scale the competition in the industry. If you have a cannabis business or start-up, the question becomes should we hire in-house or should we outsource to a marketing agency?
We’ll be comparing both options in this article.
In-House Marketing Team
Hiring an in-house marketing team comes with some advantages. The most obvious is that the employees are familiar with business goals and can help you reach them. They know how sales and operations work so it's easier for them to consolidate efforts and come up with ideas that work across departments.
Another advantage is that employees can be trained to do exactly what you need them to do.
However, there are several drawbacks to hiring an in-house marketing team. It is practically impossible to hire someone skilled in all the areas of marketing and even if you do find this individual, they cannot do everything. This means you may need to hire more people to cover all the areas, which means more money spent on talent hire.
Another downside is the time and effort it takes to employ someone capable. To employ the best person for the job, you may need to have some marketing skills and experience on your own to do this perfectly. Then you have to factor in the interviews that need to be done to hire the perfect person. If the person that was hired was not the best fit, the whole process is repeated all over again. It is much more convenient to hire an agency in this regard.
Additionally, employees may decide to move on to other opportunities, which can affect the team’s performance. The resources put into training the individual cannot be recovered. This means another person may have to be employed and more resources will be used to train them.
Marketing Agency
A marketing agency consists of a diverse pool of talent with a specialty in multiple areas of marketing. When you hire a marketing agency, you're hiring a team of experts who have the skills to handle your business' marketing in many areas at once. That means that your company's growth can be significantly accelerated with the help of a dedicated team. There are unique advantages of outsourcing your marketing needs to an agency.
Marketing agencies have extensive marketing experience and have the best talent needed to help your business grow. These agencies have teams that consist of experts who have decades of combined experience in all aspects of marketing, they have the right tools and know all the effective marketing strategies in the cannabis industry. They can also manage multiple marketing channels (SEO content writing and analytics, branding, website design and auditing, social media management) while you concentrate on other areas of your business.
Hiring a marketing agency can be a convenient way to get your marketing needs done. You don't have to spend more time looking for talent and the resources to train them, and you certainly do not have to worry about overhead costs because the agencies are responsible for training their employees. So you get the value for your money and a consolidated effort from different professionals.
A potential problem might be that you may not be directly involved in the creative process. Marketing agencies aim to give you room to apply your expertise in other areas of your business.
Another drawback may be that you might be put on a waitlist. This is not the case for all agencies, it depends on how many clients the agency is juggling at a time.
In-House Marketing Team vs Marketing Agency: Which is best for my Cannabis start-up/business?
You will need to consider which of the two is the most cost-effective option that will yield better marketing solutions as well.
It is likely you would want to hire a marketing agency with a proven track record of delivering results and that they will be able to deliver results on the scale you need, to maximize your ROI.
If you are searching for a marketing agency to take your business from where it is to where you want it to be, you should try KUSHY.
KUSHY is a comprehensive toolbox made specifically for cannabis brands. They employ agile marketing strategies to help your business scale. There are many reasons why brands choose KUSHY. The most important being we consistently deliver brilliant results. We have a variety of plans. If you own a cannabis business/start-up and you want to spend more time running your business, you may try the Done-For-you plans. We help lift your marketing burdens and concerns so you spend time running your business. If you also want to get things done yourself, we have something for you still, you could check out the DIY plans. We have something for every cannabis business.