Author: Stacey McClenathan, CEO, Bee-line Communications, Inc.
Whether your business is based on providing products or services, all businesses should have a carefully crafted marketing plan to generate awareness and most importantly, convert that awareness into sales. While the tools of the trade (social media, digital ads and website creation) have become more accessible in recent years, there are distinct advantages to outsourcing your marketing efforts. Here are a few of these advantages:
Marketing will be planned and handled by focused experts
Marketing is often a role within a small business that is additive to other positions. While you may have employees in your business who can operate social media or update a website, tactics take a back seat to the importance of creating a comprehensive marketing strategy that articulates where your business will compete, and what tactics it will use to attract and engage customers. Crafting a marketing strategy involves several disciplines within the marketing mix, and companies could benefit from employing an outside resource with the collective talent to advise your business on a plan that is appropriate for your business, its aspirations, and your budget.
You will get a bigger bang for your marketing buck
When you hire an employee, you have payroll for one person, and you are compensating one person for their professional talents. When you outsource marketing, you are paying one fee with access to several people with professional talents and disciplines that complement all kinds of marketing disciplines such as graphic design, copywriting, analytics, web development – and strategy. It’s a team approach that is destined to get a better result than depending on this comprehensive skill set to exist in one person.
You will have the benefit of outside knowledge and benchmarking information
Marketing agencies work with a variety of clients and offer outside perspective and counsel on what tactics work best for different types of businesses. Perhaps the social media approach you envisioned working does not have a good success rate for other like businesses in your industry, or the open rate you are getting on your emails is not all that wonderful. An outside partner can provide that perspective.
You can count on a bigger ROI and continuous improvement
Marketing partners are for hire, but also for fire if you don’t get the results you are looking for. Good partners can chart out the return on investment you should be getting for your marketing spend and can quickly pivot once your planned marketing tactics are in motion to get a better result. They will be guided internally at the agency and manage the creative disciplines on your behalf to continually improve the efforts.
How you handle and manage marketing is a pivotal decision for your business. Make sure to weigh all the pros and cons of how you staff and source this important function.
Stacey McClenathan is founder and CEO of Bee-line Communications. Bee-line Communications is a boutique, full-service marketing agency based in Illinois. To learn more visit buzzwithbee.com or contact Stacey at staceym@beecommunications.com.
