If you are interested in the topic “Outsourcing Marketing”, then you are thinking about the effective promotion of the business. Entrepreneurs often avoid increasing their own workload and increasing costs associated with hiring additional employees. They are not always clear about the goals and objectives of marketing, so they focus exclusively on sales. But competition grows, customers’ priorities change, and unforeseen circumstances arise. Who would have guessed that an epidemic caused by the coronavirus would affect small businesses so much?
The global trend in modern marketing is to do more with less. New services are appearing that automate the routine work of the marketer, and new tactics are being formed to reach the target audience. As a consequence, the number of statistics is growing, which makes entrepreneurs feel their inability to manage the marketing strategy. What to do and how to translate costs into investments? Delegate marketing tasks to outside specialists.
What is marketing outsourcing?
It’s the planned transfer of marketing functions to outside marketers. It is a contractual process with a third-party marketing service provider to perform those promotional tasks that the entrepreneur deems too difficult to perform in full or cost-effective to delegate.
Marketing is inextricably tied to the promotion and sale of goods and services. Therefore, freelance marketers are assigned tasks that are inextricably linked to the sales process (more accurately, linked to the sales funnel).
Why is marketing outsourced in small businesses?
There are many reasons to outsource this important function in a company to outside professionals. First and foremost, entrepreneurs consider the effectiveness of the marketing strategy and the economic feasibility. The benefits of external marketing are determined by the following criteria:
- Professionalism of outsourced marketers: more tactics, more technology, more data, better results
- Outsourcing eliminates hiring your own staff, which leads to lower overhead costs
- Outsourcing marketing is a strategic partnership that eliminates various biased recommendations because the work is focused on return on investment
What kind of business is marketing outsourcing suitable for?
Growing a business using marketing requires an investment. And marketing outsourcing is not suitable for all businesses. This form is useful if you understand that:
- Outsourcing is useful for companies looking to grow through greater flexibility in promotional tactics
- Outsourcing makes it easier to manage costs and can show a significant return on investment
- For non-specialists in marketing, it’s a great way to test promotional tactics that work without a long-term commitment
- No need to hire a full-time employee, the benefit relies on the experience of the marketer
- Outsourced specialist has experience with more communication channels, which allows for greater reach to the target market
- Outsourcing of marketing does not instantly require the transfer of all promotional functions, it usually starts with advertising and content
What marketing function can be outsourced?
This depends on the company’s capabilities; you can transfer only one function, or the entire marketing area. For example, look at the list and choose for yourself what can be quickly outsourced:
- Marketing strategy development
- Content marketing
- Social media marketing
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Email marketing
- Display advertising
- Website development
- Branding and graphic design
- Public Relations (PR)
- Situational Market Analysis
How marketing is outsourced
Any experienced marketer doesn’t get to be “ahead of the game”! Before offering a ready-made solution or a channel of communication, he must understand the starting point of your business. The goals and objectives of promotion are discussed with the entrepreneur first of all, not the benefits, for example, of contextual advertising or Instagram promotion. The marketing practitioner forms a marketing strategy and outlines a set of tactics.
The entrepreneur needs to understand:
- That the marketer has heard the goals and objectives of the business
- has prepared a plan of action
- justified channels of communication with consumers
- offered obvious indicators to clearly understand the effectiveness of the marketing actions
In what cases can marketing outsourcing be useful?
Outsourcing a marketing function can be a prerequisite for success if:
- The entrepreneur has no in-house knowledge of marketing
- too much work has accumulated for the marketer
- it is necessary to reduce the growing costs of marketing
- Your own marketing is not producing results