That might sound like a loaded question. We’re a marketing agency, after all. (And a really good one, if you’ll pardon us for saying so!) When you want something done right, it’s usually the best plan to hire someone who specializes in doing that thing — and doing it at a very high level.

However, we also understand that the decision to outsource your marketing must make sense for your particular business. Great business owners always consider how their resources should be best spent, and they regularly review those considerations as their businesses grow and evolve. When you decide to pull the trigger and bring in an expert depends on your expected return on investment.

With that said, there are a few clear telltale signs that you’d be best to go ahead and bring in the big guns. Check out the following list and see how many of these considerations apply to your company. It’s likely time to consider employing a great marketing firm if several apply to you:

Stagnant sales: You know there’s a market for your product and service, and you’re sure your customer service, sales team and pricing are stellar. If you’re still not seeing a regular increase in sales, the problem could well be ineffective marketing.

A good marketing agency will offer an evaluation at no cost to you. (That’s what we do!) At the very least, you should get a good idea of what avenues should pursue or strategies you need to refine.

You’re not really doing any marketing: It’s totally understandable if you don’t find you have time to get around to marketing. You’re busy fulfilling orders, paying the bills, putting out fires — taking care of immediate priorities. Unfortunately, that’s also a recipe for disaster.

A company that doesn’t market itself won’t grow — or at least it won’t grow nearly as quickly as it should. When you outsource your marketing, you’re giving it the high priority it needs to be, while still letting you focus on what you do well.

You just don’t like marketing: This one can’t be understated. If you wanted to be a marketer, that’s what you’d be doing. We get it. Marketing your business just isn’t something you enjoy doing. Whenever you have to do it, you find yourself desperately wishing you could be working on something else.

Unfortunately, when you don’t have your heart in your marketing approach, it’s obvious to everyone. Uninspired emails and landing pages, a half-hearted approach to social media and advertising campaigns — it all sticks out like a sore thumb. A good agency enjoys what it does and invests your marketing campaign with the enthusiasm you need to succeed. The difference is incredible.

Something you’re doing is working — but what? The good news is that you’re seeing an increase in phone calls, new leads, and/or website traffic. The bad news is that you’re not sure what prompted the good fortune.

We’re not saying you should look a gift horse in the mouth, but if you don’t know what’s working for you, how are you going to sustain it or refine it? A good marketing agency can track exactly what’s working and what isn’t, letting you redistribute your resources from less successful strategies to the most successful ones.