Key Takeaways
- Local digital marketing is the practice of promoting your business to customers within your defined local geographic location. For contractors looking to compete in the U.S. market, an online presence is crucial.
- DIY marketing empowers you with full control and personalization but requires time, ongoing learning, and a willingness to continually adapt your skills and tools.
- With an agency, you get to tap into niche specialization and proven marketing processes. This can produce quicker results, just be aware that it usually involves increased expense and decreased direct control over your campaigns.
- Consider your time, marketing knowledge, budget, and business objectives. From there, determine whether DIY efforts will be sufficient in your case or whether you could benefit from professional agency support in your local endeavors.
- Whatever you decide, ensure that you take into consideration your local market’s unique competitive landscape. Think about how comfortable you are with marketing technology and your capacity to track and measure performance from your campaigns.
- It’s more realistic for most contractors to begin with DIY options when money is tight. As your business expands and your marketing requirements grow more intricate, bringing on board a local agency will provide the specialized guidance you need to ensure sustained success.
To answer the question of whether you should hire a digital marketing agency or DIY your local campaigns comes down to your time, skill, and goals. If you have to have that hands-on control, then definitely go DIY. You’ll have control to make informed choices at each stage, from configuring Google Ads to measuring performance, and it’s entirely in your hands!
Agencies come with specialized teams that are well-versed in local market trends, data analytics tools, and have developed and tested plans to achieve quick wins. For small businesses in the U.S., local reach changes fast, and knowing how people search or what works in your town matters.
Choosing the proper approach saves both time and money while delivering results that are easier to measure and quantify. The following DIY vs agency section analyzes advantages and disadvantages, allowing you to receive personalized answers to your specific situation.
What Is Local Digital Marketing Anyway?
Local digital marketing means you use online tools to reach folks close to you—people in your city, your neighborhood, or your state. Just like in the real world, you want the people who walk by your shop or live around the corner to realize you’re there. It’s more than just being on the internet; it’s about implementing effective marketing strategies that resonate with your local audience.
Ensure that the folks you depend on to get to your local business can find you easily. They should discover your professional marketing services when they look for what they need. This is crucial for small business owners aiming to increase their visibility in a competitive market.
It all begins with understanding your local audience. That involves understanding their preferences, shopping habits, and the trends they are riding on. For instance, an independent coffee shop in Austin could leverage content marketing by blogging about up-and-coming local music or providing discounts during South by Southwest.
A boutique located in Chicago might pay attention to seasonal colors and styles that cater more specifically to the Midwest. By tailoring your marketing campaigns to align with your community’s needs, preferences, and habits, you create a more personalized experience for potential customers.
The tools you use—like Google search, Facebook, Instagram, or even local news sites—help you show up where your customers spend time. That way, your site appears when someone in the area searches for something like “best pizza near me,” enhancing your digital marketing initiatives.
PPC ads allow you to get targeted offers in front of people within a few miles of your location. Social media posts showcasing participation in local events or collaborations with local businesses and organizations will provide your brand with an authentic hometown vibe, fostering customer engagement.
This method gets you more in touch with your audience. You earn that trust by demonstrating you belong in their digital lives. These tactics help your business stand out as the best option among local competitors while utilizing the expertise of a social media marketing agency.
After all, you know your community better than those larger brands will ever be able to, and by employing a focused marketing strategy, you can connect more effectively with your local market.
Going Solo: The DIY Marketing Route
DIY local marketing puts you in the driver’s seat to promote your brand. You decide what you want to promote, how you want to communicate, and when you want to move people to action. That allows you the flexibility to be bold in ways that suit your company ethos and resonate with your consumers.
Your time and expertise are valuable commodities. If you need more specialized tools or support, expenses add up rapidly.
What DIY Marketing Looks Like
DIY marketing includes everything from managing your social media, creating daily posts, writing your blogs, and designing your email campaigns. Whether that’s loading new ads into Facebook, making changes to your website, or responding to reviews online.
For a small, local contractor, this might look like some before-and-after photos, some quick home repair tips, or even updates on a project within your community. A roofing contractor could showcase their completed roofs or provide advice on prepping for a storm.
We know that many of the small shops we visit often employ Instagram stories and Google My Business updates to keep regulars in the loop.
Common DIY Tasks For Contractors
- Posting on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn
- Sending monthly or weekly emails to clients
- Updating website pages with new services or offers
- Writing blogs or guides
- Replying to Google or Yelp reviews
- Making sure you show up in local searches
- Watching traffic and clicks with basic analytics
Upsides Of Handling It Yourself
You have the freedom to be the one deciding every call, and you can pivot strategies quickly. You get an eye-to-eye view of your market.
First and foremost, you save money by avoiding agency fees, but you will still pay for tools.
Downsides Of The DIY Path
Whatever you want to know, you need to learn a ton, quickly. It requires time to plan, create, and monitor results.
There are certain skills you will be lacking, such as SEO or design. Results can be long-term, and it’s convenient to procrastinate.
Skills And Tools You Will Need
You need to be familiar with how to compose, when and where to post, and how to effectively use hashtags. You have to pay attention to the data—pageviews, engagement, and impressions.
Good tools—Canva, Mailchimp, Google Analytics—are indispensable to getting the work done.
Common DIY Roadblocks For Locals
Even those who want to can barely stay current on pos, or aren’t able to learn new tools. It might feel intimidating to compete against larger firms.
Monthly recurring costs for platforms and software quickly add up, and it’s very easy to get lost.
Calling The Pros: Hiring An Agency
The advantages of a digital marketing agency are myriad when it comes to local businesses. It’s what makes their campaigns truly shine and produce amazing results. Agencies offer a broader set of services than most small teams can handle by themselves, from running ads to building out brand plans.
You gain access to their deep relationships and vast experience. This access to the best software and industry tools accelerates your marketing with a higher degree of precision. For most owners, keeping marketing on track is tough—data shows the average person can stay consistent for about 20 days before things slide. Agencies can assist you in ensuring that you maintain that momentum.
What A Marketing Agency Does
Agencies manage it all, from developing the overarching strategy to managing the day-to-day campaign operations grind. They use tools such as Google Analytics, SEMrush, and social media planners to keep track of what works and shift their strategies at the drop of a hat.
The process is very hands-on and collaborative. Great agencies don’t just work for you, they work with you to achieve your business objectives. For instance, a local contractor might work with the agency to strategize around seasonal ad pushes. They conduct targeted email initiatives and track which approaches bring in the most new leads.
How Agencies Boost Local Contractors
Agencies have their ear to the ground. They identify trends, leverage community happenings, and leverage local search strategies to magnify your brand presence. This is a big step toward reaching the right, real-world customers in your region.
Agencies can help you optimize your ads to increase the volume and quality of calls you get. This results in a better conversion rate and more jobs booked.
Perks Of Professional Help
You get access to an entire team—designers, writers, analysts, ad buyers—without having to hire each of them individually. Their systems and workflows are designed to produce faster results, which in turn saves you time.
You can do what you do best, while the agency does what they do best and keeps the marketing engine humming along.
Potential Drawbacks Of Agencies
The trade-offs include high cost upfront, loss of control over daily operations, and decisions. In some cases, agency objectives might not be in alignment with your goals.
However, their network and skills usually more than offset these risks, particularly as you scale.
Agency VS. DIY: Making The Call
Should you keep your local marketing in-house or work with an agency? Be realistic about your needs, skills, and goals – and choose accordingly. Each one of these options has its own very real trade-offs. You’ll need to consider your budget, your local market’s needs, and the outcomes you aim to achieve.
Here’s a quick guide to help you determine which route is right for you.
1. Honestly Assess Your Available Time
Check your week. How many hours can you set aside for marketing? DIY work means daily hands-on effort—posting, tracking, tweaking. Most owners find they can stick with it for about 20 days before life gets busy.
Agencies, free up your schedule so you can focus on customers.
2. Realistically Evaluate Your Budget
Consider your cash flow. Sure, DIY looks less expensive at first glance, but there are lots of hidden costs—software, advertising, pay-to-play, training, and more.
Agencies take a higher cut, but usually deliver larger dividends with decreased spillage.
3. Check Your Marketing Skills & Interest
Be real about what you know and want to learn. DIY needs steady study and practice. If you like marketing work, start small.
If not, skill gaps can slow your growth.
4. Define Clear Business Growth Goals
Put pen to paper and write out your goals—ensure that they are S.M.A.R.T. Whether you choose DIY marketing solutions or professional marketing services, having defined goals guides your marketing strategy.
5. Compare Potential Return: DIY VS. Pro
Factor | DIY | Agency |
Cost | Low upfront | Higher upfront |
Time | High effort | Less owner time |
Expertise | Limited | Proven skills |
Results | Slow, variable | Faster, reliable |
6. Understand Long-Term Cost Differences
While DIY marketing solutions are less expensive initially, many small business owners find that as their business matures, they hit a dead end. Professional marketing services can scale more quickly, albeit at a premium.
7. Consider Your Specific Local Market
Understand your city’s behaviors and patterns. DIY allows you to connect directly.
Agencies usually have a better understanding of how to cut through in competitive markets.
8. Factor In Necessary Tools & Tech
If you choose DIY, it involves learning new tools and tech—email platforms, ad managers, and analytics.
Agencies have these in place already and understand their utilization.
9. Gauge Your Tolerance For Risk
With DIY, you have much more control over your branding and messaging. You’ll experience the wins and losses at the ground level.
Agencies reduce your level of risk, but that comes with relinquishing some control.
10. Plan How You’ll Measure Results
Establish a system for tracking KPIs, dashboards, and analytics to enhance your digital marketing initiatives. Whether you choose DIY marketing solutions or partner with a professional marketing service, the right data will inform you about performance and necessary adjustments.
When DIY Marketing Makes Sense
For DIYers, for most local contractors, there comes a time when doing your marketing makes perfect sense. In reality, you may be one of many with a limited team, an even more limited budget, and a to-do list that grows every day. DIY marketing has an exceptional place within that frame. It gives you the ability to act fast, keep expenses low, and be in better touch with your audience.
That’s because you get direct access to campaign data and can pivot your strategy in real time. This amount of control is critical for making sure your brand’s voice comes through genuinely. It’s most effective when your marketing objectives are clear-cut and you’re going after a more defined, niche audience.
Just Starting Your Business
Many times, when launching a new business, every penny counts. Hiring a digital marketing agency can stretch your resources thin. When you manage your campaigns, you’ll have more to spend on other essentials, but you can still create brand awareness.
It’s common for new business owners to try things out on the cheap. They market via local Facebook groups, create a Google My Business page, and email their networks. This practical approach can help you identify what works, what clicks, and what needs modification without the time-consuming process of waiting for third-party assistance to arrive.
Working With A Tight Budget
For contractors that are pinching pennies, DIY marketing is an effective solution to get bigger without breaking the bank. Decide carefully where to spend your limited resources. You can run it through basic creative platforms or do minimal media buys on social channels.
Some of the best DIY wins come from creative ideas that don’t need much cash, like short videos, customer stories, or partnerships with other local businesses.
You Enjoy Marketing Tasks
If you like marketing, you’ll find that your interest pays off. The great thing about DIY is that your passion, energy, and creativity shine through in your campaigns. You’re the best expert on your own story, so your unique content will come across best.
As you test out new formats, such as how-to videos or a photo series, you’ll learn more about what draws in leads. This will positively contribute to your reputation in the community.
When To Hire A Local Agency
When your marketing is failing, hire a local agency. This process step saves you an immense amount of time, so you can spend less time wrangling campaigns and more time doing the critical work that campaigns help support. In those cases, you need more than what in-house teams or DIY tools can provide.
Here, local agencies come in with the expertise, agility, and accountability to get you where you need to be—faster, better.
Ready To Scale Your Operations
When the stakes get higher, so should your strategy. They understand how to execute local campaigns that get you in front of brand-new customers without all the time and money-wasting efforts. With hands-on experience, they can help you avoid making those mistakes and get things established the right way from the outset.
Whether you’re launching a new location or line of services, a local agency can help you plan for the launch. They’ll help you take aim at the right audience segment and track initial results closely, helping you make sure you don’t miss a beat.
No Time For Marketing Tasks
Between the demands of running a business, your plate is likely full. Creating the ads, maintaining a consistent flow of social posts, monitoring, and reporting on results—these tasks can add up and require more hours than you have available.
Agencies absorb these responsibilities, allowing you to concentrate on more immediate work. They help keep campaigns running on schedule, so your business never misses a beat—even when you’re busiest.
Need Specialized Local Knowledge
Every local market is different. An agency that’s local to your region understands the larger trends at play, what your local constituents want, and who your true competitors are. Their team brings years of experience, plus a fresh set of eyes, so you get new ideas that fit your market.
Being able to meet in person allows you to quickly establish trust and ensure everyone is aligned.
Your DIY Efforts Fell Short
If your campaigns are unsuccessful, or if adjusting your strategy is just too daunting, an agency can come in and help. They identify what’s not working, recalibrate your approach, and get you back on track to achieve meaningful outcomes.
That outsider view allows them to provide you with truly honest feedback and innovative tactics.
Choosing The Right Local Partner
Finding the right digital marketing agency isn’t as simple as hunting down the biggest players. You need an experienced partner who’s familiar with your industry but close enough to your local market.
An experienced local agency will have a much more nuanced understanding of your community, resulting in a more tailored, authentic, and creative approach. You’ll be working with people whom you can easily get in the same room with.
They know the pulse of your city’s priorities and can develop campaigns that cut through the noise and make a difference. This strategy helps you focus on what matters most.
At the same time, professionals handle the marketing, sometimes for a surprisingly affordable cost that’s appropriate for small- to medium-sized budgets.
Seek Contractor Industry Experience
First, gauge whether the agency truly has experience dealing with contractors. Agencies familiar with construction, plumbing, and electrical works, as well as the industry overall, are the best advocates for this work.
They know how to sniff out the competition’s differentiators. They should show how they have handled campaigns for similar trades, like growing leads for HVAC installers or boosting online reach for local builders.
This familiarity translates into greater understanding of the long sales cycles, seasonal nature of work, and importance of word-of-mouth that exists in your industry.
Verify Their Local Market Savvy
A capable agency does its homework on your region’s customs and currents. They understand what your local competition is bidding on and which channels produce the most effective results.
To illustrate, a campaign for a Dallas roofing contractor would be different than one for a Portland roofing contractor. The agency should prove they watch local trends, know the most-searched services, and use local SEO to target homeowners in your zip code.
Ask About Reporting And Transparency
Transparent, regular reporting engenders community trust. Ask how they plan to report results.
Are they producing monthly reports that feature clear metrics such as the number of phone calls received, website traffic, and jobs scheduled? Open discussions and frequent check-ins allow you to track your spending and understand the evolution of campaigns over time.
Switching Gears: From DIY To Agency
Shifting from handling your marketing to working with a professional marketing service brings new ways to reach your audience and frees up your time. When first starting, most small business owners are going to be DIYing their marketing campaigns. At first, you’ll likely see some low-hanging fruit—perhaps just a few effective posts in social or geo-targeted ads that get the locals buzzing.
As your marketing campaigns scale, it becomes increasingly challenging to stay on top of it all. Evidence indicates that the average owner has only twenty days to devote to marketing before they are pulled into other areas. That hands-on digital marketing work alone can take a big chunk out of your day, diverting you from what your business truly requires.
When you transition to a marketing company, establishing a baseline is just the beginning. It’s about figuring out what you want. Simple, measurable objectives—increased online leads, greater in-store visits, improved star rating—provide an outcome for the team to rally around.
Whether you are running a coffee shop in Seattle or an indie boutique in Toronto, your success metrics will look different. The need to be clear about those marketing goals hasn’t gone away. Agency teams are often well-versed in SEO, paid ads, and trends in the local landscape.
They leverage advanced tools and data you likely haven’t encountered before that allow them to identify emerging opportunities more quickly. You lose a bit of day-to-day control in return. You won’t necessarily see every post or ad before it goes live.
That’s why regular touchpoints are so important. Provide constructive criticism, request more information, and always keep your agency informed about what’s going well back home on the daily grind.
With this iteration and counter-iteration, your business gets a whiteboard approach that combines your deep industry experience with the agency’s executional prowess. When you collaborate firmly, you receive twice as the ideas, work faster, and remain more nimble.
Conclusion
Ultimately, you know your goals better than anyone. With DIY local campaigns, you have the work product, information, and experience all in-house, and you save money. You choose your tools, adjust your ads, and find what’s effective in your city. The bottom line is hiring a digital marketing agency means you improve speed, skill, and stress. You save time, avoid the trial-and-error process, and you get people who understand the tech and trends. Others discover that a combination is most effective—test the waters with DIY on smaller initiatives, then hire the experts for larger-scale campaigns. Consider your time, your skill, and your budget. Let’s break those down a bit. You can iterate, optimize, and scale. If you want more savvy advice, feel free to drop us a line! I’m happy to talk and help you determine what might be the best fit for your situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Is Local Digital Marketing?
Local digital marketing, a vital strategy for many small business owners, focuses on attracting potential customers in your immediate geographic area through various digital channels. This includes effective marketing techniques such as social media marketing and local SEO, targeting individuals ready to purchase your products or services.
2. Is Diy Marketing Cost-Effective For Small Businesses?
Is DIY marketing the best solution for small business owners in terms of budget? While you gain valuable new skills and have more control over your marketing efforts, it requires a significant investment of time and can yield slower results if you’re starting from scratch.
3. What Are The Benefits Of Hiring A Digital Marketing Agency?
Local marketing agencies offer professional marketing services, bringing deep expertise and proven strategies to enhance your marketing campaigns. They save your company time and help you avoid costly mistakes, delivering quicker results that align with your business needs.
4. How Do I Know If I Should Hire An Agency Or Do It Myself?
Consider your available budget, time, and skillset when deciding on your marketing strategy. If you lack the expertise or time, hiring a professional marketing service is advisable. However, if you’re passionate about marketing and eager to learn, the DIY route can be a viable option.
5. Can A Digital Marketing Agency Help With Local SEO In My City?
Yes. A professional marketing service can provide local experts who understand your market. They can help increase your presence on Google, drive more local customers to you, and enhance your online reviews.
6. When Is The Right Time To Switch From DIY To An Agency?
If your marketing results stall, you’re overwhelmed, or your small business is growing fast, it’s time to call in professional marketing services for better, faster growth.
7. How Do I Choose The Right Local Digital Marketing Partner?
When hiring a marketing company, consider their proven results, local experience, and communication style, ensuring they understand your business needs and marketing goals for effective marketing.
Elevate Your Digital Marketing For Local Contractors With Magnified Media
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