Marketing Services | 5 Minute Read
When it comes to outsourcing marketing, time is money. But also, time flies. Which means your money is flying out the window if you’re not marketing your business in the most efficient and productive way.
This means using the hours you have available in a way that makes the most of your skill set.
If you’re wasting time working towards goals that are distracting you from your core skill set than you’re not just holding your business back, you’re letting your competition get ahead too.
For many small businesses it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to solve every problem on their own.
Marketing falls squarely into this category.
No matter what industry you’re in or how developed your skills are, marketing is at the heart of your ongoing success.
As an umbrella term, marketing is the process of connecting and promoting your products and services with an audience. Without marketing, the best products and services will still lose out to inferior competition.
Marketing is ultimately what drives sales.
With that said, marketing is extremely broad.
It may include:
- Market research
- Keyword research
- Content development
- Email campaigns
- Newsletter campaigns
- Marketing software
- Data and Metric analysis
- Mobile optimisation
- PPC
- SEO
- Social media
- Website development
And this list is by no means exhaustive!
A marketing strategy for your business will change depending on a wide range of variables from your industry, to your competition, your location to your budget, the list goes on.
On top of this, emerging technologies are constantly changing the broadest definition of marketing.
For a small business this makes it a great challenge to keep up with the latest technological shifts, and close to impossible to tick all the above boxes (and then some) without sacrificing the time and effort that running a business requires.
Which brings us to the first important question…
Can and should I do my own marketing?
Short answer, yes you can, but no you shouldn’t.
The instinctive choice when faced with marketing, which as we’ve discussed is vital for attracting attention, driving sales and fueling the long term success of your business, is to tackle it internally.
On face value this will save you money, and for a small business the effective management of a fixed budget is extremely important.
There is no effective argument to counter this.
If you’re trying to save money, tackling your marketing on your own will save you money, there’s no question about that.
The real question is, what alternative cost does that financial decision have?
The do-it-yourself attitude that’s likely played a great role in getting you to where you currently are wants the challenge. As a business owner, part of you wants to have your cake and eat it too.
However, the major obstacle to adding ‘Marketing Manager’ to your own CV is the creative constraints and steep learning curve required to implement a complete marketing strategy on your own.
The result of trying to wear the many marketing hats required is typically a marketing strategy that is missing key elements. Either through a lack of time or knowledge, the result is a poorly optimised website, a blog that isn’t nurturing leads, and content that isn’t built around long-tail keywords, to name just a handful of the most common outcomes.
On the other hand, if you do spend the extensive time and money required to learn these important marketing skills, your primary business will suffer through a lack of attention.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t!
As is the case with many things, you only get out what you put in.
Effective marketing is an investment that, when handled by an experienced Digital Marketing agency, can:
- increase your visibility
- develop relationships with your audience
- improve brand awareness
- create loyalty and trust
- help build credibility
- generate website traffic, and;
- generally benefit your business with more attention, sales and money.
In an attempt to manage your own marketing you save money, but you risk missing out on these highly valuable by-products that come with a professional marketing team.
With less than 30% of small business using website analytics or tracking code, even if you are trying to stay on top of your marketing needs, without knowing your results it’s a huge challenge to create a winning marketing strategy.
With the cost vs benefits outlined so clearly, there are 7 unmissable red flags that will tell you if you need to outsource your marketing to a professional team.
Have you found yourself saying the following?
“There is no marketing planned or implemented”
“Sales have slowed down”
“I don’t have the passion or skill set required”
“There are no hot leads on the horizon”
“My marketing results are hit and miss”
“I don’t have a way to measure my results”
“I just don’t think I have the budget”
If anyone of these sound familiar, then it’s the perfect time to outsource your marketing to an experienced team. If they have a history of marketing success with small businesses that’s even better.
Still on the fence?
Here are 10 ways that outsourcing marketing will make your business more successful.
#1 You’ll save money
We’re starting with money on this list, because the cost of outsourcing marketing is regularly the main concern from business owners who understand the value of professional help, but are worried about the price.
While this is natural, it turns out that a professional marketing team can actually:
a). Save you money
b). Make more money for you
Let’s start with saving money.
Tackling your own marketing makes it a challenge to effectively use all the digital channels available to you.
You might need help running your social media campaigns.
Or your email marketing.
Or your PPC strategy.
Or optimising your blog posts.
The list goes on.
Outsourcing marketing opens up multiple marketing channels at once.
And with graphic designers working on your website, copywriters penning your words, and PPC specialists crafting unmissable ad campaigns, not to mention the rest of the creative team with their eyes on your prize, you get considerable bang for your buck while paying one fixed fee.
The unmatched value of such a broad skill set can help make it easier for businesses who feel like they can’t justify the expenditure of outsourcing their marketing.
For a small fixed price you get so much for comparatively so little.
But how does this save you money?
Simple.
Marketing is vital to keep your business visible and competitive. We’ve already touched on why you shouldn’t manage your own marketing as it will negatively impact your core business, so the choice comes down to where you want to spend your money.
You could:
a). Hire another employee to handle your marketing strategy.
b). Outsource your marketing strategy to a professional team.
The cost of outsourcing your marketing to an agency is far less than the cost of hiring someone to handle the job for you. For a fixed price you’ll have access to an entire marketing team, without having to find and pay the full-time salary of a new employee.
These types of fixed costs can make a huge difference for a business running on a budget.
Even better, with so many marketing channels in play the likelihood of a return on your investment goes through the roof. So you will more than likely make up for what you spend on your initial marketing team. When outsourcing marketing is viewed as an investment, rather than a cost, the decision is much easier to make.
#2 You’ll make money too
Let’s face it, the main goal of your business is to scale up, attract more work and make you money.
When you outsource your marketing you spend your money in the most effective way.
The impact of a professional team can increase your visibility, attract more clicks to your website, create compelling sales funnels, transform your social media, the list goes on and on.
With a streamlined approach implemented by an experienced marketing team, you’ll be working towards the growth you’re after with proven marketing strategies.
With the long term goal of increasing your exposure, customer base and leads, your bottom line will thank you.
That means saving on the cost of a full-time marketing salary for a new employee, with fixed price agency contracts significantly lower.
And an influx of work to keep business ticking over, helping you recoup the cost of your investment which then turns to profit.
The best part? You keep every dollar! With the cost of your marketing team fixed, any money you make on top of that cost is yours and yours alone.
#3 You become more efficient with your time
It’s a simple equation. When you hire a marketing team to work for you, you free up hours of time that would have gone towards doing the job yourself.
Many small business owners know the difficulty of managing the 24 hours in each day they currently have. That’s without the added workload of advertising, promoting and optimising their business online.
Time is inherently valuable.
If you weren’t sure about hiring a full-time employee to handle your marketing, or bringing on an experienced marketing team, you may have tried to handle your own marketing.
If this sounds like you you’re not alone.
In fact, 71% of small businesses do their own marketing. But according to Forbes the businesses that are happiest with their marketing results outsourced their marketing to agencies!
While the initial cost of outsourcing marketing can be a concern, it’s important to take into account the amount of man hours you have saved by handing off your heavy marketing workload.
If you use that free time to complete more work for your clients then it’s money in your pocket already.
On top of this increased efficiency comes the increase in work you’ll get when your new marketing strategies begin to take effect, and that’s money in the bank.
By becoming more productive you’ll lower the risk of burnout on your end, and increase the chances of your marketing attracting more customers and more work on your agency’s end.
In one simple move, outsourcing your marketing has given you back substantial working hours which you can use to make money, lowered your risk of burnout, saved you the full-time salary of a specialist marketing employee and given you access to the creative skills of an entire team for a fixed price.
Someone call up the dictionary, value just received a new definition!
#4 You’ve got someone invested in your success
Outsourcing your marketing is a classic case of spending money to make money.
When you bring on an expert team you’ll be enjoying two broad benefits as time passes.
Firstly, the changes your marketing team makes will improve your digital presence and attract new business. Whether it’s a social media facelift, a targeted email marketing campaign or a locally based Google AdWords strategy, the professional touch will give you the best chance of seeing results. With more business you’ll be able to grow, continue your marketing efforts, and start the process again. It’s all about that snowball success!
Secondly, your digital marketing team must constantly innovate and improve to maximise your return on investment, or they’ll risk losing your business!
By establishing a working relationship built on deliverables you’ve got someone in your corner.
They’re genuinely interested in seeing you succeed, because that means they’ve succeeded too. By continually optimising your marketing strategy to squeeze every dollar from your customers they’ll only work harder as time goes by.
Win-win!
#5 You’re future proofing your business
Building a business takes time. It’s these growing pains that cause roughly 20% of businesses to fail in their first year. 30% in their second year. And 50% in their fifth year.
These figures show it can get harder as time goes by, not easier.
By bringing in an experienced marketing team they’re able to hit the ground running. This allows your business to tackle the unique problems facing your marketing efforts immediately.
You won’t waste time researching or strategising. Those problems will be absorbed by your new marketing team while you focus on the day to day running of your business.
That’s efficiency 101.
You simply point your business at the problem and your new marketing ninjas will take care of the rest.
#6 You get more than just marketing skills
As we mentioned, the cost you incur to hire a marketing team is more than made up for by the collective skills that come with professional marketers.
By outsourcing marketing you get niche talent, that goes without saying.
More than that you get the broad skill set of your entire agency.
That includes dazzling web development and design. Sparkling copywriting. Graphic design. SEO specialists. Pay-per-click experts. Interns who know how to make THE perfect coffee.
They’re all part of the professional team and all yours when you pass them the responsibility of your marketing.
Aristotle was definitely a closet marketer when he remarked that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
With shared experiences and skilled cogs moving together, your marketing machine can move mountains and becomes a force to be reckoned with.
#7 Your brand becomes clear and developed
We live in an age where people make the majority of their purchasing decisions without ever leaving the couch.
If your marketing strategies aren’t improving the look and feel of your brand and creating a cohesive brand identity, you risk missing out on valuable business.
With consumers reading reviews and browsing online before they commit to a purchase, the first impression your business makes will be a lasting one.
Your website loads slowly? They’ll look elsewhere.
Your content feels like it was written with no clear goal? You won’t engage them.
Your brand look and feel is all over the shop? They’ll find a business who’s got it together.
It’s one thing to think your brand is clearly defined, but another thing entirely to convince consumers of the same.
Outsourcing marketing provides detailed market research to see what works in your industry and what doesn’t.
By helping you to identify your ideal tone of voice, your marketing team will make sure your business becomes a brand, and that brand is saying everything it should.
#8 You content production never slows down
At the heart of successful marketing is consistency.
Which is why self-managed marketing can be a challenge for most businesses who need time off as owners, or time off for the employees they hire.
With staff levels changing, and the day to day routine influenced by so many variables, internal marketing inevitably suffers.
A clear example of this occurs in producing and publishing content.
Using your business blog to produce content is a great way to show off your latest products, events or insights.
At the same time you can optimise your blog posts using keywords. These keywords will go towards helping you rank on Google and connect you with the desires of consumers who search for those same words.
With Google’s desire to rank the most relevant and useful content, you can’t simply stop blogging over Christmas or your annual holiday.
When your output levels drop, Google will notice. Combine this with your competitors who don’t slow down and this can lead to a loss in rankings and your visibility plummeting.
When you outsource marketing to an agency you never have to worry about your content production, they’re paid to keep working over Christmas!
The figures back up the importance of consistency with B2C businesses who publish 11 or more times a month receiving four times more leads than those who blog five times or less. Your marketing team picks up the slack when you take a well deserved break.
That means the wheels keep turning and your business stays in motion. The perfect way to power ahead of your competition and stay there.
#9 You’re on the cutting edge of marketing trends
With digital marketing trends constantly in a state of flux, outsourcing your marketing ensures you’re always on the cutting edge.
As a business owner it’s tough to stay on top of the latest news in SEO, content marketing, social media, PPC and so on.
Your marketing team makes it a priority to be ahead of the curve, in fact it’s part of their job description!
Any marketing team worth its salt goes above and beyond to stay educated, knowing that knowledge is power.
So while you’re focussing on growing your business, your marketing team will be researching the latest trends, tools, tips and technologies to get you ahead.
They don’t have to be concerned with why your apprentice mysteriously calls in sick after a big night out, they focus on the bigger picture – turning your marketing machine into a money making machine!
#10 You get a valuable outside perspective
An outside perspective can do wonders for your business.
When you know your business inside and out it can be difficult to spot opportunities before they pass by.
This is a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees.
Being able to see your business from the perspective of a consumer is a valuable skill that is easier said than done.
When you bring on a marketing team they are by very definition consumers. Which makes it easy for them to identify the juiciest marketing opportunities as they arrive.
To successfully market to your current audience, and expand your reach to connect with a new audience, you’ll need to step outside of your shoes and walk a mile in the shoes of your customers.
With a marketing team working for you they’ll be able to see your business from the view of a customer, and that’s priceless.
From content strategy to copywriting, website design to search engine optimisation, Google AdWords to email marketing, a professional team can help you find the best way to grow your business the moment an opportunity presents itself.
Final thoughts on outsourcing marketing…
With the continued shift towards a user friendly, optimised and sleek online presence as a precursor to success, it’s less a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ for businesses yet to make their marketing a priority.
While this can be daunting for small businesses who feel though they don’t have the resources to compete with their competition, the truth is it doesn’t have to be one or the other.
With digital marketing broken down into so many moving parts, many businesses can find lasting success by outsourcing marketing strategies that are most important to them.
Whether that involves SEO, PPC, social media management, email marketing or a combination of marketing disciplines, by using your own skills as a business owner, and pairing them with the professional marketing skills of an agency, the good times are never far away.
If you’d like help supercharging your marketing strategy, our marketing marvels can help!
