Think about your target market as a large pie. If yours was the only company in the consumer vertical, the entire pie would be yours. However, it’s likely you have competitors. Competitors want to eat the pie too. They want to take at least a little slice. But, don’t be fooled; they really want a big one. They want one so big there’s none left for your business. They’ll use online marketing tools, such as a social media company, to starve your company. It could be happening right now. If so, this is why your competitors’ service providers are costing you.

Marketing Budget
What costs are associated to marketing? Aside from the actual implementations, leveraging platforms costs money. However, a number of social media platforms are free. Therefore, competitors are probably not paying a whole lot for social help. It is likely most of the cost is warranted by paying for outsourcing. What’s the return on such an investment? It’s pretty good for a number of companies considering the endless potential social media poses.

Your target market is likely using social media. However, like in the introduction, there are limited consumers. Each day competitors are leveraging social media and you’re not, they’re potentially pulling from your revenue. If internal work or that of a social media company is not in your budget, consider it may be in the budgets of competitors.

Engagement
Going back to the pie analogy, most businesses expect consumers to be proactive. It makes sense. However, what happens when one business is also proactive toward a target market while another business is ‘lazy’? The former business wins in that game. A social media company shows clients how to engage targeted markets. For instance, Twitter search options allow brands to target topics and geographic locations. In theory, any brand can use social media to ‘say hello’ to potential customers. Alternatively, those not leveraging social media are waiting, in a traditional fashion, for consumers to come to them. That’s terrible marketing.

If your competitors are actively engaging target markets and you’re sitting back waiting for consumers to come to you, you’re losing money. Get smart.

Branding
Again, consider the analogy. However, this time, let’s picture your company and competitors as pies, with the consumers choosing what best serves their appetites. What constitutes choosing a pie? How it smells, tastes, looks, etc. Any notion connected to your company contributes to branding. Branding exudes character. Competitors that use the help of a social media company are doing a better job of branding.

If you’re not concerned with ongoing branding notions, your competitors will better engage markets, further taking money away from your company.

Jesse Dugan is a part of an elite team of writers who have contributed to hundreds of blogs and news sites. Follow him @JesseDugan.