Why Outsource Your Marketing

If you’re a small business owner, outsourced small business marketing is one of the top ways you can grow your business. 

Have you read The 1 Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib? If not, you need to. It’s one of our top small business marketing book recommendations. Dib offers practical wisdom about marketing like this quote from the introduction (one of my favorites): 

“Struggling business owners will spend time to save money, whereas successful business owners will spend money to save time….You need to ensure the stuff you spend your time on makes the biggest impact. This is called leverage and leverage is the best kept secret of the rich….By far the biggest leverage point in any business is marketing. If you get 10% better at marketing, this can have an exponential or multiplying effect on your bottom line.” 

No one wants to struggle, and I’d wager that most people want more money. I’d also wager that, unless you’re a small business marketing firm, you didn’t start your small business because you just love marketing. This is where outsourced small business marketing gives you the leverage to make your marketing at least 10% better. 

WHY outsourced small business marketing

Marketing is one of 10 small business functions that the U.S. Small Business Administration recommends outsourcing. Here’s a few reasons why:

Save time

Small business owners and employees wear multiple hats, and that means marketing often gets done at the expense of other tasks, put on the back burner, or not done at all. But marketing plays a crucial role in growth. And outsourcing marketing to a team of experts can give you time to focus on your passion while growing your business.

Save money

That seems like a non sequitur – spend money on an outsourced marketing team to save money. But it’s true. Hiring an outsourced team is ultimately less expensive than hiring another employee to market your company. Hiring employees comes with a price tag. Toggl found that hiring a new employee can cost small businesses between $4,000 and $7,645. Employees cost a lot of overhead – not to mention the cost of turnover. Hiring an outsourced team avoids those costs.

Increase profit

It can be tempting to simply assign marketing tasks to an employee you already have. But if marketing isn’t their best skill set, you’ll keep running into the same problems: it won’t get done or it won’t get done well. Marketing has the potential to really help your business thrive. But trying to save money by handing it off to an employee who’s not equipped with the necessary skills will prevent your company from thriving the way it could. Plus, asking employees to perform tasks outside their skill set can lead to employee frustration, burnout, and turnover – which costs money instead of making money. A team of marketing professionals can help you see that “exponential or multiplying effect on your bottom line” Allan Dib spoke of.

Support your current team

We can all use a little help sometimes. An outsourced marketing team can provide the support your internal team needs. No one knows everything about everything, nor can they do everything. So if your team has a project that they don’t have the knowledge or bandwidth to fulfill, an outsourced team can help fill in that gap.

These are just a few of many reasons why hiring an outsourced small business marketing team could be a great idea for your business. You can also check out this article on Start It Up for more reasons why hiring an outsourced marketing team is a great idea.

WHEN outsourced small business marketing

Feeling Burnout

Burnout is extremely common among entrepreneurs. It’s stressful running a business. You might be headed toward entrepreneurial burnout or already be there if you’re struggling to feel interested in work, trying to do everything yourself, or feeling exhausted all the time.

Outsourcing your marketing tasks can take tasks off your to-do list. Plus it provides a fresh, enthusiastic perspective into your company.

Experiencing Extreme Growth

If your company or product is suddenly taking off, keeping up with all the additional tasks can be overwhelming. Working with an outsourced marketing team can, again, take tasks off your plate. And it can also help you control your growth when you need to.

Launching a Product or Expansion

If you’re planning to launch a new product or expand your business, working with an outsourced company can make a big difference. It can ensure that regular day-to-day marketing tasks don’t fall to the wayside. And the additional expertise and skill sets can help ensure the success of the venture.

HOW to outsource your small business marketing

Some of the top complaints leveraged against outsourced marketing are that projects aren’t done well, they take longer, and communication is poor. These issues certainly can arise, but they’re completely avoidable. Here’s how.

1. Have a strategic marketing plan

Outsourced marketing will be more successful if you and your outsourced team have a clearly outlined marketing plan that includes messaging, target demographics, key tactics, and more. This will provide cohesiveness to the efforts and will ensure that projects are in alignment with your expectations and brand story from the very beginning.

If you don’t have a cohesive marketing plan, you need one. Read our blog on small business marketing strategies to find out why. Then schedule a call with one of our consultants so we can help you develop yours.

2. Vet the company

Spend time looking for the right company for you and your business. They don’t necessarily need to have specialized knowledge on your industry, but they do need to have a system for transparency and communication. Get an understanding of pricing, extra fees, and if you will own access to all the assets and accounts they set up on your behalf. You need to like their portfolio, and their approach to marketing needs to align with yours. It can take time to find the right company for you, but it’s worth it.

3. Stay local

Especially if you’re concerned about communication with an outsourced marketing agency, staying local can be the right option for you. In our company, many of our marketing clients are local to the Northern Shenandoah Valley which means that, although we often meet over video calls, meeting in person is an option.  We’re also well-connected in the community and can leverage relationships with other trusted small businesses when our clients need referrals for services beyond our marketing and bookkeeping.

Grow your small business with outsourced digital marketing

Good marketing can mean the difference between a small business that limps along and a small business that thrives. If you’d like to see the kind of growth that allows your company to thrive, consider outsourcing your marketing. To get started, schedule a no-obligation, 30-minute marketing consultation with one of our consultants. We’ll discuss your sales goals and develop some preliminary marketing ideas.

Are you ready to grow?