When is the right time to outsource your marketing and still generate results | Executive Hurdles

During my time working as a Marketing Director and Managing Director ensuring marketing budgets, labour costs and ROI are met is a constant challenge. As business owners, executives and professional marketers, we are constantly scoping how to ensure the best possible return on investment can be achieved.

After discussions and experiences with many brand partners and customers, the past three years in the professional and personal world have been very challenging for businesses and employees with the back drop of uncertainty in markets and customer demand. These challenges have been driven by the global pandemic and now the cost of living crisis with rising inflation and interest rates. These factors are putting additional pressures on the P&L with business owners needing to consider redundancies and lose some of their key skills from their business in order to survive if their revenue starts to decrease. According to CityA.M. Raised interest rates and borrowing costs have led to a 60 per cent increase in planned redundancies.

This blog aims to share how business owners can still generate results with a reduced marketing team and budget but also encourages employees who have been made redundant on how they could reposition their skills to help them find new work during these testing times.

What is outsource marketing and how can this strategy help businesses?

Hinge Marketing cites Outsourced marketing is the practice of contracting an organization’s marketing functions to an outside firm . What this means is when businesses use the expertise of an external freelancer or agency to manage their entire marketing strategy or specific elements within it to support their strategic or tacial goals. This could include anything from content creation, campaigns, email marketing, lead generation search engine optimization or website design. I have worked in previous roles where content production for SEO and Lead generation has been outsourced and in other roles, where social media management has been outsourced to help build a brand community to help increase prospects to market to.

Outsource marketing has become increasingly popular as a cost-effective strategy during the pandemic and is becoming more of an integral part of businesses’ overall strategies as they navigate through these unprecedented times. Outsourcing can be seen as a short-term fix for businesses but can also help those on shorter-term projects, such as launching a new product and website or conducting a lead generation campaign.

When should you outsource your marketing?

The most important question to consider when deciding whether to outsource your marketing is – do you have the capacity in-house? If there is not enough in-house expertise, skill, time and resource to fulfil the project then outsourcing is the best option.

The team at Gartner suggests that marketing leaders shold ask 7 critical questions before considering to outsource their marketing requirements vs developing or retaining your inhouse team.

In my own experience, a driver for me when leading teams has always been to try and upskill the immediate team first as this has benefits for both the team members in their continued professional development and the business in the long-term through a more competent team which can support a lean management approach. However, I also appreciate the time factor for generating results with many companies can be short term, so performance vs development is a real pinch point for business owners or managers to consider at this moment in time.

In addition, if a company has made recent job and budget cuts in marketing but still need to achieve its commercial targets then outsourcing is a viable option to consider. Outsourcing your marketing can support commercial targets to be achieved by providing experienced and efficient professionals to deliver projects in a timely manner.

What are the Pros and Cons of outsourcing?

Pros:

- Cost savings - Outsourcing can help to save costs compared to employing additional staff. This is especially beneficial for businesses in the current climate which are unable to make long-term commitments and are looking for short-term cost savings, which gives companies access to various experts without hiring them individually according to Forbes.com.

- Speed - Outsourcing your marketing may be quicker than building internal teams or running in-house campaigns. This can be especially useful for businesses with time-sensitive objectives and targets.

- Expertise - Outsourcing your marketing to an external agency or freelancer can provide access to a team of experts who have the knowledge, experience and capability that you may not possess internally that can help generate results you need.

Cons:

- Sharing control - Outsourcing marketing may mean that you are giving extra control of your project or strategy to an external agency.

- Quality - Finding the right outsourced partner and ensuring quality is maintained throughout the project can be a challenge.

- Communication - Managing communications between teams can be difficult when working with external partners, especially if they are based in different countries or time zones.

The above Cons above can be managed by having an effective communication and guideline strategy in place to ensure that objectives and expectations are clear from the outset.

What does outsource marketing mean if you have been made redundant?

If you have been made redundant then outsourcing your marketing can provide a way for you to use your skills and experience in the short-term whilst looking for more permanent employment. Outsourcing can also help by providing additional income and an opportunity to test out new ideas and gain experience of working with different clients.

A good tip to try is identify a niche within the marketing industry that you have experience and knowledge in and use this to promote yourself. This could be running LinkedIn ads, setting up affiliate links or managing social media accounts for people who don't have time or expertise to do it themselves. Alternatively, you could offer your services as a consultant to businesses who may need help but cannot afford to hire someone full-time.

Whilst the current job market is difficult, outsourcing your marketing can provide short-term opportunities for those who have been made redundant and are looking to use their skills in a flexible way.

See freelance platforms like Freelancer.com to see how you can get started today.

How can Executive Hurdles help Executives with their outsource marketing?

At Executive Hurdles, we can help you identify the goals and objectives of your outsource content marketing and lead generation strategy to help you create and implement a plan with a reduced team or budget. Our team of experienced professionals can provide advice and support with everything from understanding your customer persona to planning a content campaign marketing calendar, tracking leads, integrating sales team, developing a customer journey and evaluating results. We can provide you with freelance support to ensure that you get the best return on investment for your budget.

If you're still not sure if the time is right to outsource your marketing have you considered how you can upskill your existing team in a cost effective way? If this is a better option, then Executive Hurdles provides team coaching to help marketing, content and sales teams increase their skills and knowledge to help generate more leads and convert more sales.

Book a consultation today to understand how Executive Hurdles can help you generate results with a content marketing lead generation plan and integrated funnel.

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Conclusion

Outsourcing marketing can be a great way to save time, money and gain access to experienced professionals who are experts in their field. It is important to ensure that you have clear objectives and processes in place so that you get the best return on investment. Executive Hurdles can help Executives with their outsourcing needs by providing advice, support and the right resources to ensure their strategy is successful.

Outsourcing can provide a great opportunity to those who have been made redundant, allowing them to use their skills and gain experience in a flexible way without committing to long-term employment. This could also be beneficial for business owners who are looking for an efficient way to meet their marketing objectives.

Overall, outsourcing marketing can be a great way for businesses and individuals to achieve their goals quickly and cost-effectively. It is important to ensure that you have the right processes in place and that you take the necessary steps to find suitable professionals that can deliver the results you need.

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