Outsourced Marketing

Outsourcing is nothing new. Anyone who has dealt with customer service from large corporations has most likely experienced outsourced customer service, This is a common department that gets outsourced to companies overseas. We both know that costs is a major reason why they outsource customer service. Thus, costs play a role in a business’ decision to outsource. But, that is not the only factor. And, customer service certainly is not the only aspect of a business that gets outsourced.

What Is Outsourced Marketing?

Outsourced marketing is the practice of leveraging external resources to take over or complement existing marketing initiatives. It typically involves hiring a third-party company to handle anything from strategic planning and day-to-day operations all the way to content creation, website design, analytics, advertising and more. In essence, outsourced marketing allows businesses to get outside expertise – without having to hire full-time employees – in order to better optimize their efforts.

Put Another Way…

Outsourced marketing is like having your own personal marketing team without the overhead costs. Outsourcing your marketing needs to a third-party allows you to get expert, experienced help when and where you need it—while keeping within tight budgets and timelines.

At its core, outsourced marketing is about dividing your tasks among the best professionals for each job. Rather than bringing an inexperienced employee onboard or learning how to do things yourself (which can be expensive and time consuming), you outsource specific goals that require expert knowledge. This will not only improve the quality of your overall strategy but also free up staff time for other projects.

Additionally, utilizing this strategy often reduces overhead expenses by relying on partners who are already well versed in various areas of expertise rather than requiring additional hires for new skill sets; which means you pay less money for higher quality work!

Who Uses Outsourced Marketing?

Not surprisingly, many businesses are realizing just how beneficial outsourcing can be: it’s estimated that North American companies spend around $214 billion annually on outsourced services! Not only can it help make businesses run more efficiently but also bridge any gaps in experience or capabilities with seasoned professionals who know exactly what they’re doing when it comes to executing complex strategies and plans at scale—allowing organizations large and small alike access powerful tools without breaking budgets (or stressing themselves out too much).

If you landing on this page, chances are you are a small business owner. Small to Mid-sized companies tend to take advantage of outsourced marketing services.

Partial Outsourcing

Now, it is not necessary to outsource your entire marketing department. One type of outsourcing that is gaining popularity is called fractional marketing. Fractional marketing services are utilized by businesses who only want to outsource a “fraction” of their marketing. They may have in-house resources for some aspects of their marketing, but need to hire an outside professional for a specific marketing channel.

For example, you may have an in-house team for SEO, social media and email marketing. But, you need to find a white label PPC service to take care of the paid advertising. This would be a form of fractional marketing.

What Are The Benefits Of Outsourced Marketing?

Here are five reasons why you should consider taking advantage of outsourced marketing services.

1. Increased Efficiency: One of the most significant benefits of outsourced marketing is increased efficiency. When you partner with an experienced outsource marketing team, they immediately understand your business and can quickly identify areas that require optimization. This means you don’t have to spend valuable time and resources training someone internally on how to market your business effectively – it’s already done for you.
2. Accessibility & Resource Pool: Outsourcing also allows businesses access to a larger resource pool when they need additional help managing their marketing initiatives. This means it’s easy to find talented individuals who are well-versed in any given area like SEO, content creation or advertising campaigns, as an example – something that may be challenging if managed inhouse due to time and budget constraints.
3. Cost-Effectiveness: Depending on what type of service the company provides and its level of expertise (and depending on the project) outsourcing tends to cost much less than using internal resources for managing projects or other tasks related to marketing activities such as product launches or website design/maintenance etc.. In addition, there are no extra costs associated with external teams; as compared with expanding an internal team which will incur additional labour costs overheads etc.
4. Reduced Risk & Flexibility: By outsourcing certain aspects of their business operations a company can reduce risks associated them launching new products & services by entrusting such tasks with experienced professionals outside the organization who have far more knowledge about those respective fields – this minimizes risk considerably while giving greater flexibility when offering new offerings faster than had been possible before with limited funds available at hand
5. Focus On Core Business Processes: Last but not least one major advantage in favor of outsourcing comes from being able to focus more energy into core processes like customer service delivery , developing innovative solutions for customer needs rather than having staff dedicated (internal) towards running complex campaigns – outsourced teams bring specialized skillsets that tend towards better outcomes from running campaigns due enhanced understanding. All these points considered together make outsourced marketing a solid potential choice for many organizations looking outwards towards getting scalable growth solutions both short term & long term .

What Are The Drawbacks Of Outsourced Marketing?

Here are five reasons why you you might not want to employ some outsourced marketing services.

1. Communication Difficulties: Outsourced marketers may have language and cultural barriers, leading to misunderstandings and poor communication. This is only a potential issue if you outsource to people who are not native speakers of your language. Additionally, not being under the same “roof” can cause issues. If you are someone who likes to be able to quickly talk to an employee down the hall so to speak, communicating with your outsourced team could be frustrating.
2. Loss Of Control: You may experience limited control over the execution of the outsourced marketing strategies. Many outsourced marketing specialists have very specific ways of implementing their marketing efforts. You can follow along at a higher level and get high level reporting on performance, but the day-to-day tactics and strategies are generally not something you would be aware of. For some people, this isn’t an issue. They are more concerned with the results and leave the details up to the outsourced marketing specialists.
3. Time Differences: If you are located in a different time zone than your outsourcing team, it can create scheduling and coordination problems. You can always mitigate this by ensuring your outsourced marketing team is available for during your desired time zone and working hours.
4. Difficulty Building Relationships: Outsourcing can make it difficult to build strong relationships with the marketing team, leading to less collaboration and teamwork. This is a bit of a drawback from our new “Zoom” business world. As more businesses connect and communicate online with employees and strategic partners online, they can lose that personalization that comes with meeting face to face.

Types Of Outsourced Marketing Services

Below are some typical marketing efforts that are commonly outsourced.

1. Marketing Planning & Strategy
2. PPC (Pay-Per-Click advertising)
3. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
4. Social Media
5. Email Marketing

Should You Outsource Your Marketing?

One way to consider this question is to list the alternatives to outsourcing. Obviously, you can hire someone in-house. Go get some W2 employees. Or, you can do it yourself.

If you think it is the best use of your time to take on the email marketing or Google Ads account, then maybe those are not candidates for outsourcing. If you find yourself doing any of the above marketing tactics, but you think your time is best served doing something else to grow your business, then you have a choice to make: in-house or outsource?

Additionally, if you are running your paid advertising and you are confident someone else can do a better job and get better results, then you have a choice to make: in-house or outsource?

Outsourcing vs In-House

Understanding the strengths of your current, in-house marketing team is key. What do they excel at? If it happens to be planning and strategy, then leverage that and keep these marketing efforts in-house. If you have a robust PPC team on staff, but are lacking in SEO, then outsource the SEO.

Take an assessment of the current strengths and weaknesses of your current marketing team. This will help guide you in making a decision on what, if anything, you should outsource.

But, I am the marketing team

Now, I realize some of you may be sportin’ many hats. As a small business owner it is common to be juggling many aspects of the business including the marketing. If you have the budget and you are deciding whether or not to hire in-house or outsource, consider the following.

Are you someone who likes to understand the details of all aspects of your marketing? Do you lean a bit towards the micro-managing style of management? If so, you may find having someone in-house easier to work with. Now, they may not find it easy to work with you but that’s a topic for another day!

Is there one aspect of digital marketing you want to really push and believe will be one of the biggest drivers of growth? For example, have you done your research and found that SEO is where you want to spend a high percentage of your marketing dollars? If so, then maybe SEO should be in-house and things like PPC and email marketing should be outsourced.

Are you a big picture owner who is comfortable letting people do what they do best so long as they get results that make you happy? If so, then you may be just fine outsourcing the bulk of your marketing and relying on reporting and analytics to measure the performance of your outsourced marketing team.

The Wrap Up

At the end of the day, if used properly outsourced marketing can help your bottom line. If done right – outsourced marketing could provide massive benefits both financially and operationally along with providing organizations access to high level marketing specialists. In turn, this frees up valuable time and resources which could then be directed towards core business initiatives instead.