Scalable Marketing Expertise for Your Organization
For businesses without an in-house marketing team or for those who want to expand their marketing capabilities, outsourcing is a great option. By leveraging the talent of marketing experts who specialize in exactly what you’re looking for, you can crank out powerful marketing campaigns without spending a fortune.
But how do you know when it’s time to outsource your marketing?
Outsourcing Marketing: Join the Crowd
Maybe you’re feeling burnt out and exhausted because you’re not doing what you love. Maybe marketing feels overwhelming, or you’re just not sure what step to take next with your business. Or maybe you know exactly what you want to do but are nervous about finding the right person or agency to execute your vision.
Finding the right consultant, agency, or company to outsource your marketing to is a big decision that will require time and money. But don’t let that stop you. Did you know that 56% of B2B companies in 2020 outsourced their marketing and maintained an in-house team? If they can do it, so can you.
Let’s look at the benefits of outsourcing, when to do it, and what qualities to look for in your partner so you can feel confident about your decision when the time comes.
How Outsourcing Can Benefit Your Business
Outsourcing relieves stress, alleviates burnout, and provides you with more time and energy to do what you love.
A word of warning: outsourcing will require putting trust into someone else or another team. You may have to let go of certain elements of control. It’s going to require time and money. Don’t be too nervous though, the benefits tend to outweigh the costs, especially if you devote enough time before hiring to set up a successful partnership.
Benefit 1: Save Time and Energy by Outsourcing Marketing
Outsourcing can save you time and energy, allowing you to do more of what you do best. Imagine the extra time you’d have with family, friends, and pets. Or, let’s be real, fewer stress-filled workdays.
The specific amount of time saved with outsourcing depends on the business and the style of outsourcing such as hiring for a specific task or hiring for a large number of projects.
For example, you could hire a copywriter to generate social media captions instead of staring at the keyboard pondering what to write for 30 minutes. A skilled copywriter could write a week’s worth of captions in that amount of time.
Another bonus to outsourcing is fewer meetings. Often, in-house time gets eaten away by meetings so not as much work gets done. The average American spends 4.5 hours a week in meetings and 4.6 hours a week preparing for those meetings according to a Clarizen/Harris Poll. That’s at least 8 hours a week taken up by meetings. With the right consultant, there’s less of a need for meetings leaving more time for work.
Benefit 2: Direct Access to Marketing Experts
Perhaps the biggest benefit of outsourcing your marketing is that you can work with an expert. No more having to master web development, Google Ads, and copywriting on top of your full-time job. Let someone who specializes in your area of need do it for you.
When you partner with a true marketing expert, they’re able to save you time and get the job done right. They’ll free you up to focus on your own business “to do” list and sometimes can even help expand your business offerings.
“Where the work can be done outside better than it can be done inside, we should do it” says Alphonso Jackson, former U.S. politician and vice chairman at JPMorgan Chase. We have to agree. As the cliche goes, ”Work smarter, not harder.” You’re an expert at what you do. Find someone who can do what you can’t and let them fill in that piece of your puzzle.
Benefit 3: Spend Your Marketing Budget – Smarter
It may sound counterintuitive to hire someone to save money but with outsourcing specific marketing tasks, it’s possible. On average, organizations report outsourcing results in a 15 – 33% cost reduction.
For example, you’ll save on payroll by outsourcing for specific projects rather than paying a full-time employee with benefits, vacation, overtime, and more. An in-house marketing manager salary ranges from $97,000 to $186,000 a year.
When you hire a marketing consultant, you’ll probably pay by the hour or by the project. (We charge by the project so everyone is on the same page about the cost from the get-go.)
Because you’re not paying your outsourced talent’s vacation or benefits, you can save tens of thousands of dollars every year.
Another example of saving money by outsourcing stems from the costs involved with training new employees and finding those new employees. The costs involved in finding a new employee are estimated at approximately $4,100 per new hire. Skip all that when you outsource.
Now that you know the three major benefits of outsourcing, let’s talk about when to outsource and if it’s practical for your business.
5 Signs That It’s Time to Outsource Your Marketing
Alright, so you know outsourcing is a great option when you want to power up your marketing efforts. But when is the right time to pull the trigger?
Sign 1: You Need Marketing Advice
Perhaps you’re not sure of the next step to take in your business or unsure of how to perform a specific task such as updating your landing page or sending a welcome email. This is a sign it may be time to outsource your marketing.
To start, determine in what area you need the most help. Make this your starting point. Don’t overwhelm yourself with the thought that you need to fix all areas of your business in one swing. Once you’ve determined your largest problem area, start the hunt for a virtual consultant or a group located near your area. Also, asking your business peers for recommendations is always a great place to start.
Sign 2: Hiring a FTE Isn’t an Option
Hiring full-time employees doesn’t always make sense. If your business only needs two blog posts a month, outsourcing is far more budget-friendly than hiring internally.
Outsourcing allows you to work with a wide range of talent and expertise for more thought diversity in your team. Areas you could outsource within marketing include strategy, digital marketing, content marketing, SEO, automation, and graphic design.
Sign 3: You’re Running Behind
If you’re having a tough time staying on top of projects, this is another sign it could be beneficial to outsource your marketing.
There’s no shame in needing to outsource. In fact, the global outsourcing market is estimated to be worth around $90 billion. Within that, businesses of all sizes are outsourcing the work of marketing, accounts, IT, HR, and other departments.
Identify where your “time sucks” are and outsource those problem areas. Perhaps you need a content management system to speed up your buyers’ journey. Or maybe social media turns into an endless void. Whenever you have a recurring task that eats up more time than you’re willing to give, outsource that task.
Sign 4: You Need a Comprehensive Marketing Strategy
Even if you already have a marketing strategy in place, a consultant can take it to the next level by bringing in their expertise and another set of eyes. If you don’t have a strategy, consultants will be there to aid in developing processes to reach your goals and serve your clients in the best ways possible.
Sign 5: You’re Not Happy with Your Current Marketing Results.
Finally, maybe you’re just not satisfied with your current business results. Outsourcing your marketing could be the trick to getting results and achieving your goals quickly. Not to mention, these experts can provide new suggestions to get better results.
Consider setting up a few consultations with different marketing consultants to determine the best fit for your business. See what the different consultants have to offer and how they would help you reach your ideal results.
If one or more of these signs resonated with you it’s a good indicator your business could benefit from outsourcing!
