Should you hire marketing resources in-house or should you look to outsource that capacity?

An outsourcing strategy brings new people to the table to give you a fresh perspective on your business, growth potential, and how to reach your market effectively. There are plenty of reasons for outsourcing, but the most important are time and money.

What does outsourced marketing offer?

As you build and grow your woman-owned business, you need experts in your corner. When outsourcing marketing tasks, you’re hiring laser-focused team members who concentrate on driving new business, increase brand awareness, and ultimately, produce revenue. Having an external contractor gives you a fresh perspective, additional expertise, and frees your time.

5 Reasons for Outsourcing Marketing vs Having it In-House

1. Get a Competitive Boost

One of the reasons to outsource marketing is to rely on experts. Marketing companies know current trends, how to reach your target audience, and leverage your marketing dollar for the largest impact. They must stay on the leading edge and give your small business a competitive boost in the marketplace.

For an in-house team to be competitive, it can be expensive to acquire the same knowledge, talents, experience, and capacity. Many times large companies hire an in-house team for convenience, not because it’s the best option.  For the small business, getting that quick competitive boost at an affordable cost may mean looking at service providers to help.

2. Return on Investment (ROI)

Hiring the right company saves you money. As a small business, every dollar counts and money spent on marketing specifically must bring a healthy ROI. Having cutting-edge marketing improves sales and is one of the prime reasons for outsourcing marketing. You’re paying an outsourced marketing firm to perform. If they don’t live up to your expectation, they lose your business.

An in-house team can be more expensive than outsourcing marketing and has different incentives to perform.  Being a “client” to an outsourced firm can be an easier path than providing continual direction and oversight of in-house resources.

3. Focused Time From Experts

Your outsourcing strategy hires the focused time of experts. Marketing projects such as redesigning a website, rebranding, or media programs take a significant amount of time. You may not need a full-time employee to complete your marketing plan.

Your outsourced team frees your time to concentrate on other aspects of your business. Piling more work on in-house employees is less efficient than hiring experts who will complete work more quickly.

4. New Perspectives on Your Business

Another reason to outsource marketing is to reach a broader audience. A new perspective ties in with having a competitive boost, and is a key to get out of marketing ruts.

If you rely on an in-house team, they are influenced by your company culture and approach marketing in a static way.

5. Flexibility and Scalability

As your business grows and changes, you need the flexibility offered by an outsourcing strategy. A marketing firm adapts to the changes you need when you need them. 

Also, when outsourcing your marketing, you gain team members with different backgrounds and perspectives. Diversity increases flexibility in marketing campaigns.

As your business grows, an outsourced marketing team can scale with you and provide scaled costs.  Scaling in-house resources can be much more difficult.

How to Build an Outsourcing Strategy

Every dollar needs to get utilized to build a stronger business. Instead of throwing money at the wall to see what sticks, you need to have an outsourcing strategy.

• What are your marketing strengths?

Always play to your strengths. If you love an aspect of your business, then keep doing it!

• What are your marketing weaknesses?

We all have areas that need to be bolstered. Do you hate the email list? How about writing or creating new content? What you don’t like to do is what the outsourcing strategy should be focused on. Marketing is so important for your success, and it’s worth investing money for your success.

• Make a budget

Marketing is not the place to deeply slash your budget, but you still need to be able to afford your outsourcing strategy. Make a plan for your marketing budget to gain a greater ROI. Expect changes in your budget as your business grows, and readdress it often.

If you decide the reasons for outsourcing marketing activities outweighs hiring an in-house team, we have more ideas for you about Hiring the Right Small Business Management Services.  At Sohuis, our goal is to provide resources to help you grow your business. Come check out our workshops and experts. We look forward to meeting you and cheering for your success.