There is an old and ongoing struggle with two schools – you can outsource advertising but never marketing, and on the other hand, outsourcing marketing is the only sensible practice.
This includes two separate questions we are going to have a look at first:
- Outsourcing advertising or marketing and
- Outsourcing in general.
Outsourcing advertising
Outsourcing advertising should be easy and there are no questions about this – we have been doing this forever – hiring a graphic designer or an agency to design a new logo or another studio preparing a flyer or a new product brochure. Or having a journalist writing press releases,
Artists make graphs, photographers take photos and videos, producers create TV and radio advertising. There is nothing special about this.
But – here is a big but – should you outsource marketing in general?
Outsourcing marketing
The argument against is – marketing is an integral part of strategy, sales and business management and as such – far too important to be given and trusted outside the company.
Partly, behind this thinking is an idea that a person employed by has some spectacular marketing management skills that a hired person is lacking. And that being said, we can understand how peculiar this attitude is. I would see this totally the other way around – a hired Marketing Manager (or agency) probably has more experience, more diverse background and has seen quite a lot and in different organizations.
Here we come actually to another point – how can an organization develop its skills and expertise if it does not use outside experts and outsourcing. But let’s talk about that later.
But here is a very important underlying truth in this topic I very much agree about – you can not outsource responsibility. The company outsourcing its marketing has to keep control of where its marketing is going to. It has to make final decisions, stand for budgets – and in today’s digital world, it needs to understand what its money is used for.
Can we call this a draw?
About outsourcing in general
You will have reasons to outsource and reasons not to outsource. The question of outsourcing rises from situations like:
- You are an entrepreneur responsible for just about everything and marketing has been too long on your to-do -list without great success
- You are a startup where everyone is keen in developing products and services, but someone should do some marketing as well
- You are a small company and there is no sense in having a marketing team
- Your marketing team is small and/or lacks specific skills and experience – like digital marketing
- You know your own team could learn the basics of new marketing methods, but you also know outside experts would gain better results
- You need an outside opinion on or advice for what you do
- You need extra assistance to handle a specific project
- You understand you need fresh new approaches for success
Some marketing activities that are often outsourced:
- Strategy development
- Business and product naming
- Branding
- Slogans and taglines
- Email campaigns
- Blogging and Copywriting
- Newsletters
- Ebooks
- Social Media Management
- Photos and video production
- Website design and redesign
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Conversion Rate Optimization(CRO)
Sometimes it is good to have some activities in your own hands and outsource something else. A startup may have its own copywriters and Social Media Marketers but may outsource photo and video services.
Personally I believe outsourcing is an essential part of modern business management – and especially for small companies, where you need expertise, you would not otherwise be able to obtain. Or let’s simply say outsourcing gives you competitive advantages you can’t otherwise get. But still, let me try to analyze this a bit deeper as objectively as possible.
Six pros of outsourcing marketing activities
1. Put your effort where it should be
As a startup, entrepreneur or SME your main focus should be on what you offer – products and services. Unfortunately, in reality, it is in finding the money for next salaries and taxes. Still, marketing should be one of your main responsibilities.
How about leaving the marketing to people who have time for that and are already experienced in it. And free yourself from such managerial headaches as arranging day-offs, sick days, fires, vacations, increasing employee motivation and so on. Less management, more output.
Let us not forget about space availability. By outsourcing, you get more space in the office both physically and figuratively. You could e.g. outsource digital marketing and let your marketing team concentrate on market research and analysis only.
2. Get experts in your team
Outsourcing to a digital marketing agency means that you are engaging a whole team of experts into your business.
For example, an expert content writer who can generate SEO friendly articles, experienced webdesigner familiar with user experience and analytics, a digital strategist who can find your smallest target group, art director to design a great brand identity and so many more. Skills and experience a small business can not employ or should not employ – using those resources to something more essential and productive.
3. Optimize your resources
Business management today is very much projects. Extremely difficult to plan and forecast. One day you are going to need an army of experts and the other day just a guerrilla troop or a small task force.
Naturally outsourcing helps here. And not just by satisfying the proper resource need but taking care of everything behind that – finding and hiring right people for right periods, finding other projects for them when needed, adjusting holidays, etc.
4. You can expect high-quality results
Working together with a marketing agency, you can expect the best results possible. Expertise, experience and the wide skill-set is not everything that counts – their strong motivation to please the client is as essential.
All good marketing agencies are quality-oriented. Their success is based on that and they know they can easily be replaced by better ones.
Quality is not limited to marketing services only. Customer service and communication quality as well are equally important. Outsourcing in marketing is increasing, competition in the industry will be tighter and clients will have more choices to choose from.
5. Outsourcing helps cut costs
Pay only for what you need. A long term outsourcing relationship with a marketing agency may be more effective for you than keeping a full-time team of employees. You pay onlu for the job needed and done.
6. Get a new perspective
Things are done the way we have always done them. Outsiders can offer a fresh new perspective to the things you do. They are able to suggest new ideas and perhaps even more important – ask those stupid questions, they may be more objective and suggest more constructive criticism.
Five cons of outsourcing marketing activities
1. Risk of poor service
A standard advertising or marketing agency actually can not offer good quality services to small clients. Because of their big expenses, they are forced to concentrate on big companies with big marketing budgets. It makes sense, doesn’t it?
OK, still, some agencies take really good care of all their clients, although that is not such a great business. I have to admit that. But As a small business, you need to be aware of this situation.
Crafters Creative has developed a new and modern and streamlined service structure, where can both avoid unnecessary expenses, make good business deliver great services and save your money. Read more on our website.
2. Risk of losing control
First of all, you need to know what is happening in your marketing. There are many new methods that are not so easy to understand in detail. Take care that you have the necessary understanding of all actions – goals, processes and costs. If you doubt, ask and require all coaching needed.
One step leads to another. Your agency and experts are eagerly suggesting new steps which is great. But remember to “hold your horses” and see that you have plans made and followed and based on your strategy.
And most importantly, see that you have control about the money used.
3. Know the people
Your employees are constantly under your watch. You are used to meet them daily, know their thinking and comment their work and tasks.
If you are a hands-on manager it is good to understand you might have a challenge with outsourcing. However, there are ways to go around this. You could manage to discuss things online either via email, Skype or project management software. You just need to find a person who is ready to document progress all the time, from anywhere.
And naturally, there is a possibility to meet face to face every now and then or even more constantly.
4. Outsiders may care less for your business
This point is arguable, too. Outside marketers may not know as much about your business as in-house specialists do. Also, they may not care as much for the company as the insiders do. Outside marketers may view your assignment as just a task that should be completed carefully and on time, nothing more. There is naturally the other side in this coin as well.
5. Double costs
The agency team has to get their knowledge of your business, products and services some way to be able to do their work. Normally that is your employees, existing materials and discussions.
If your employees are not ready and used to this kind of cooperation, or if the topic is especially demanding for the agency, this process can prove to be very complicated and expensive – it takes a lot of work and effort from both sides. You might avoid this by having your own experts preparing the texts and materials for the agency for finetuning before publishing.
After looking at the pros and cons of outsourcing marketing activities for a small business, let us sum up things that you should or should not outsource:
Things you should outsource:
- Important marketing activities that may support your business and that require specific skills, experience, newest technologies and fresh methods
- Activities that can be performed off site (overseas outsourcing)
- Short term and specific activities that cost less with outsourcing than with hiring an employee
Things you should NOT outsource:
- Core competences meaning core services you offer to the customers
- Low-cost activities that your team is able to perform without much management
How is coaching related to this topic?
If coaching is in the center of working methods of your outsourcing agency your team can learn more and get new skills and experience – for free. This also means that your team can handle more and more demanding projects and tasks in the future.
Summary
My advice for an SME company is to try outsourcing at least several marketing activities. You just need to find the balance between the two: outsourcing and using the in-house marketing potential of your company. Outsourcing smartly will give you results you could not reach by yourself, develop the skills of your own team, ensure that marketing is done and done properly and best of all – give you free hands to concentrate on the quality of core services you offer.
