No matter the size of a business, marketing should always be considered a priority. Having an established and effective marketing strategy is critical to future business growth and success.
There are many elements to the marketing strategy, from SEO to lead generation, to social media and content creation. All of which can be difficult to juggle if you don’t have a full-time marketing department. For that reason, many organisations look at the benefits of outsourced marketing to an external agency.
What is outsourced marketing?
When you outsource your marketing you’re effectively handing over marketing activity to a third party. Outsourcing your marketing can be utilised in two ways; working in conjunction with your in-house marketing team or completely replacing the need for an in-house team.
It’s important that an outsourced marketing agency understands the business objectives and what they want to achieve from the marketing activity. A proactive outsourced marketing agency will then compile a strategy before they start any marketing activity on your behalf.
Once the strategy is agreed, the outsourced marketing agency will implement the planned activity. An effective agency will measure and report on results, adapting the strategy as required to ensure ROI to the business.
Why should you use an outsourced marketing agency?
Outsourced marketing is useful for any business that’s looking to create and/or execute a strategic marketing strategy that will help them engage with their target audience in a meaningful way. This process takes time, skill and experience and could be something you’re missing if you’re a new business or having to re-shape your existing business.
At Capella Synergy, we’ve looked at the benefits of an outsourced marketing agency, and why you should consider using one.
Growth of the business
Outsourced marketing is valuable for businesses looking to grow. They offer more flexibility and scalability than can sometimes be possible with an internal team.
It saves on internal resources
When deadlines are tight or workloads are full, it can be easy to rush your marketing efforts. And if you’re falling behind on deadlines, you won’t be keeping ahead of the game. Marketing is always changing and you need time to stay ahead of the latest trends to keep your marketing fresh. What’s more, when implementing new marketing initiatives, it can take time to train employees. This may lead to missed opportunities in securing sales or leads. By outsourcing your marketing, you can re-allocate internal resources where they are most effective whilst allowing your agency to look after the marketing requirements. A proactive marketing agency will be on top of the trends, hit your marketing deadlines, implementing the most effective strategies at the appropriate times whilst saving you money on internal training.
Gain instant results
If you’re not getting the results from your existing marketing campaigns, then with an outsourced marketing agency you have the disposal of their marketing professionals to give you a broader skillset. Not only will this give you a fresh perspective, but will provide a clear strategy that should get the desired results. If you’re already losing ground with your current marketing efforts, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying out an agency for instant results.
You gain a fresh pair of eyes
With an internal marketing team, they may fall into the habit of doing the same thing, the same way, for some time. They might struggle or be reluctant to change. Even if you hire new people with a fresh perspective, they can easily adopt the mindset of the existing team. Outsourcing your marketing will ensure your business doesn’t get stuck behind the times. They will provide an honest and unbiased opinion about your company’s existing strategies. The outsourced marketing agency won’t be afraid to make changes to ensure your marketing strategies are current, allowing your company to do things differently.
Access to the latest technology
Marketing has a tendency to fall down the priority list, especially when it comes to resources and technology. Your team may well be working with a combination of incompatible marketing technology tools – which sets you back even further. It can be expensive to invest in technology, and even more of a cost to train your employees on the latest technology. By investing in an outsourced marketing agency, you instantly benefit from their technology and their expertise.
Minimises employee turnover
High employee turnover rates can affect company’s business in a bad way since it requires additional time and funds to hire and train new experts. Young marketeers will want to experience new products/services that means there’s the potential to stay with you for a couple of years before moving on for new challenges. By outsourcing your marketing requirements, you overcome employee turnover in this department and reduce your costs for internal training.
Lack of marketing expertise
Some companies may not have the data-driven expertise internally that is needed to implement an effective marketing strategy. Your business may be too small, or you’re re-structuring which has left you with internal resource that doesn’t have the time or expertise to manage your marketing requirements. With this in mind, outsourcing could prove to be a cost-effective alternative to recruiting and training.
A gap in your marketing resource
Outsourcing doesn’t need to be all or nothing. It may be that you have an internal marketing team, but there may be a gap in their experience. For example, they may be on top of social media management and writing content, but do they understand what an effective SEO or PPC strategy looks like? Or, do you lack creativity and need a designer to fill the gap? If this is the case, you may want to consider outsourcing only certain elements of your marketing to enhance productivity.
Measurable ROI
Sometimes it can be hard to keep track of spend and return on investment (ROI). Especially when you run ad-hoc marketing campaigns. Whatever marketing strategy you go with, the ROI needs to be worthwhile and measurable. Even the most competent internal team can lead to an ROI that doesn’t quite justify the hours spent.
Outsourcing makes it much easier to measure this ROI as it’s their responsibility to demonstrate the investment you have made with them and key deliverables. This level of insight is vital in continuing to improve your marketing efforts. As the cost of outsourced marketing is largely linked to results, projects won‘t go unfinished if an employee is absent.
An extension of your team
At Capella, we pride ourselves as being seen as an extension of each of our clients’ teams. No matter the size of the business, we make a conscious effort to get to know the business and its employees. This way we’re confident that we can represent the company effectively.
Consistency is key
Whether it’s print or digital you need clear and consistent messaging. When it comes to your marketing deliverables, the right agency will ensure you have a consistent tone of voice throughout all your marketing activities.
It costs less
Outsourcing marketing teams recently became common among start-up companies. A marketing agency rate is usually much smaller than only one executive salary. For this cost, start-up companies get an experienced team of marketing experts, which is definitely considered a bargain. In addition to this, companies also don’t need to pay for marketing software or technology as this would normally be covered by the agency.
Are you ready to reap the benefits of outsourced marketing?
So we’ve looked at the benefits of outsourced marketing, are you ready to make that leap? If you want to find out more about how we can tailor our services bespoke to your business needs, get in touch.