
10 Reasons to Outsource Your Marketing Needs
While it’s said that people will come if you build something, that’s never really been the case.
That’s all the more true in the internet age, where more than 1.1 billion websites are online — although fewer than 194 million are active. With so many websites available, it’s unrealistic to assume that your target customer will find and patronize you.
After building “it” — whatever “it” is — you need to reach out to your demographic, sell them on your unique value proposition, and then convince them to buy from you rather than someone else. That takes a lot of work, and not all businesses are up to the challenge.
Whether because there are already too few hands on deck or the marketing skill set is lacking in-house, you might want to hire a third party specializing in helping businesses with marketing.
Reasons You Should Outsource Your Marketing Needs
Here are 10 signs that you should consider outsourcing your company’s marketing needs.
1. Limited In-House Expertise
One telltale sign you should outsource your marketing needs is that you lack in-house marketing expertise and experience. Marketing takes a specialized skill set. If you want to reach prospective customers online, your digital marketing strategy should be on point.
An agency offering marketing services will understand the ins and outs of search engine optimization and ensure your marketing strategy nets the desired results. You’ll have access to experts who know the marketing process inside and out and have experience working with businesses like yours. It can be a cost-effective way to pick the brains of marketing savants.
2. Inconsistent Marketing Results
How much should your company spend on marketing? One source says B2C companies should earmark between 5% and 10% of revenue on marketing, while B2B companies should earmark between 2% and 5%.
However much your business spends on marketing, the goal should be to get the most out of your investment, so that you achieve the right results. It will be hard to do that if you are not dedicating enough to marketing or are using your budget inefficiently.
But you don’t just want to get the right results once in a while. You need consistency. So, if your business’ marketing performance is more of the hit-and-miss variety, outsourcing your marketing needs can make sense. A professional marketing services provider will spearhead digital marketing campaigns, monitor analytics, and make changes as necessary.
3. Overwhelmed Team
If your company is already short-staffed, it might be asking too much to ask employees to take on marketing responsibilities. That’s especially true if you don’t have a dedicated marketing department. It’s never a good idea to stretch your staff members too thin — particularly if you’re burdening them with responsibilities they’re ill-equipped to take on.
In such a scenario, you should consider the benefits of retaining the services of a marketing company. Outsourcing doesn’t have to mean being completely hands-off. It’s about getting the help you need.
4. Budget Constraints
The average marketing salary in the U.S. works out to $67,677 annually. But what should a company do if it has a shoestring budget and can’t afford to staff a marketing department? The option of foregoing a marketing team is a no-go since every company needs marketing.
If you lack the funds to build a marketing team from the ground up, you might outsource your marketing needs to a qualified third party that can handle that responsibility for you.
5. No Clear Marketing Strategy
Marketing won’t work if there’s no clear direction. It’s a good idea to consider outsourcing your marketing if your efforts have fallen flat. A third party can help devise a strategy and execute that plan. The right marketing strategy will be a game-changer for your business.
6. Fresh Perspective
It’s been said that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting different results. If what you’ve been doing on the marketing front hasn’t worked, isn’t working, and probably won’t work going forward, outsourcing your company’s marketing strategy makes sense. A different approach might turn things around.
Hiring an experienced, results-driven, and focused third-party service provider can offer fresh and unbiased insights.
7. Faster Results
Yet another reason to outsource marketing to a third party is that you’ll get faster results than if you do it yourself.
There’s no guarantee you’ll get good results if you do marketing in-house. It’s hard to guarantee results if your company lacks in-house marketing experience and expertise. You might feel like a hamster on a wheel — running furiously but getting nowhere.
But a dependable third party with a verifiable track record of success will get you results sooner rather than later. They’ll develop, execute, and fine-tune marketing campaigns that get relatively fast results.
8. Reduced Risk
If you do marketing in-house but make mistakes during the planning and execution stages, you’ll waste time and money. However, such errors are common in businesses lacking in-house marketing savvy and expertise.
You can greatly reduce risks by hiring a reliable third party to spearhead the marketing campaigns. The third party will leverage its marketing expertise to reach your target demographic and maximize results.
The last thing you want is to waste your marketing budget. You want to make the most of it, and a marketing services provider can help.
9. Better ROI
Another reason to consider outsourcing your business’ marketing needs is to achieve a better return on your investment. You don’t want to merely throw money at marketing campaigns. You need to get your money’s worth.
An experienced third party will employ the right strategies to maximize your ROI. It won’t just plan and launch marketing campaigns. You can count on the third party to assess performance and make changes as needed.
10. Global Reach
Yet another benefit of working with a company offering marketing services is the global reach. The service provider can launch campaigns that help your business expand into new markets at home and abroad.
You can’t treat marketing like an afterthought. That said, you don’t have to do it in-house if it makes more sense to outsource your marketing needs to a third party. It’s about doing what’s best for your business.