Outsourced Marketing for Growing Businesses

May 2018

All businesses – no matter the size – must engage in business development and marketing. Unless you are an experienced marketing professional, the chance that you can run your business and execute an effective marketing program is slim. Time and time again, business owners believe they understand marketing enough to handle it on their own. “Handling” your own marketing does not necessarily mean you are “doing” all of your marketing – maybe you are – it also means you may be hiring a variety of vendors to help with your marketing. The problem is, when you do this, you are still “acting” as a marketing director, but you lack the expertise of a marketing director.
 
Common Scenarios
Most small- to medium-sized businesses and professional services firms find themselves in one of the following scenarios:

• You are handling marketing yourself and know you need to get out of the weeds and focus on growing the business.
• You are getting some marketing activities done, but do not have a formal marketing plan or budget – you are task-driven vs. strategy-driven.
• You feel overwhelmed by how much marketing has changed and find it hard to stay on top of what needs to be done to get ahead.
• The employee “assigned” marketing has other job duties, does not have a marketing background and does not have the skills and experience to take your business to the next level.

To Hire In-House or Outsource
Once you realize your current approach to marketing is not adequate, the question is do you hire a full-time marketing professional or outsource the function? According to The Creative Group’s 2018 Salary Guide, the average salary for a marketing director is $102,500 and a marketing communications manager $72,500. And, with today’s low employment rates, competition is stiff and retention can be difficult. Hiring a junior-level marketing coordinator, while cheaper, does not always pay off. For a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time marketing director, you can outsource your marketing to a skilled consultant who will help you develop and implement a strategic marketing program. This person acts as an extension of your team, overseeing branding, marketing planning, budgeting and the execution of the marketing plan. 
 
In addition, a seasoned marketing consultant also understands how to select and manage the other partners and vendors necessary for the successful execution of your marketing program: creative, website development, search engine marketing, printing and more. Most business owners simply do not have the marketing background necessary to appropriately vet marketing vendors and end up overpaying for services and/or selecting vendors without the right skills. 
 
If you are tired of playing marketing director in addition to running your business, hiring a marketing consultant can be a great option to take your business to the next level.