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Agency or in-house?
Companies wanting to run successful online marketing strategies are better off doing it in house rather than paying an agency to undertake it.
Speaking at the TravelMole Industry Question Time in London last night, Antony Martin, managing director of Rock Insurance, cited online travel agency On The Beach as successful online marketeers, with up to 10% of sales driven by social media alone.
However, he said this was largely as a result of the firm’s decision to run the strategy in house, adding: “They’re not getting an agency to do it, how can you explain to an agency how your business works?
“The people who understand your business are the people running your business.â€
Justin Francis, chief executive for responsibletravel.com, agreed only those running a business can best understand how their business can be marketed online.
He said: “(With pay per click) you bet on thousands (of pounds) of terms where you know you will make money as you know the products, the margins and what’s coming in.
“It is impossible to transfer that knowledge into an agency. My view is it is best done internally.â€
However, Martin did admit those who are implementing their first proper web strategies would be best consulting an agency for their expertise, especially to deliver the start of a campaign.
He added: “If you don’t understand anything about it then definitely use an agency.
“When you start to scrape below the surface it is complicated but it’s not that complicated.â€
Guy Beresiner, head of partnerships for Yahoo, added companies new to internet marketing would profit more from agency advice regarding search engine optimisation as opposed to pay per click.
by Ed Robertson
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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