As recently as a decade ago, only a few services were likely to be outsourced. Indeed, the very word—outsourcing—was sure to evoke enormous impersonal call centres. Suffice it to say, things have changed. Due in no small part to the advent and improvement of internet tech, the popularity and diversity of outsourced services have grown. According to data recently published by Statista, in 2010, the global market of outsourced services represented just over 45 billion U.S. dollars; seven years later, it had nearly doubled, amounting to $89.9 billion.
Now that outsourcing has become a viable option for IT, finance, and sales services, it’s worth asking whether your marketing should be done in or out-of-house. The website Entrepreneur lists content marketing as one of five tasks for small businesses to outsource. Hop Skip takes this a step further. We believe that no matter the size of your shop or the services required, you can benefit from outsourcing your marketing. Here’s why.
Benefit #1: More time to run your business
We often see marketing sitting with the company admin person or witting with the VP of sales and marketing. VPs cobble it together as time allows (which it usually doesn’t). Admins, on the other hand, have time and interest but lack the strategic insight to get tangible results.
In a report on content marketing based on feedback from 600 respondents, 51% listed finding the time to produce quality content as a challenge, and you can add to that the time necessary to strategize and plan, build budgets, execute, and report. Let’s look at an example. For every client at Hop Skip, we build an updated marketing strategy annually. This work is necessary for an informed and effective strategy, and has to be done prior to writing articles, creating sales collateral or posting to social media. Marketing is not a side project, and successful marketing takes time.
When it comes to marketing staff, outsourcing is obviously not the only solution. Your business might hire an in-house marketer. This brings us to the second benefit.
Benefit #2: Cost-effectiveness
If you’re thinking of making a hire, your first choice is probably a mid-level or senior marketer. This will cost you, not only in salaries, but also in recruitment and interviewing, benefits, and signing bonuses. On the other hand, cutting costs by hiring a junior marketer will necessitate training, daily directions (i.e. strategic and tactical know-how by their manager) and oversight. And they may well move on in a year or two, taking your investment with them. Salary-wise, in Ontario, a mid-level marketer at a small company will be paid between $50K and $70K, plus benefits, whereas a junior hire will range from $35K to $50K, plus benefits.
It’s for these reasons that hiring a fractional marketing department becomes even more attractive. An outsourced team is scalable, doesn’t need direction or oversight (it’s our job to report to you) and generally costs the same as a junior hire.
Benefit #3: As-needed expertise
An internal marketing team may well be expert in your industry, products, or services, but are they up-to-date with the latest trends? Do they come with breadth of experience and lessons learned from other sectors?
When you outsource your marketing, you’re gaining access to a team that has worked for multiple clients across sectors—and they have knowledge of best practices, industry trends, and proven results to show for it. When you outsource your marketing, this means that there’s no oversight required from you, and you will always be kept up-to-date through frequent reporting, including data on return on investment (ROI) derived from your key performance indicators (KPI) and focused on business growth.
A solid, actionable marketing strategy is integral to the health of your business. If you are looking for cost-effective ways to engage top experts who can take your marketing plan from concept to completion and save you time in the process, outsourced marketing may be the right option for you and your business.
