Small Business Owners - Should you be Outsourcing Your Marketing?
Katie Batchelor
Is trying to get to grips with the online marketing and social media side of your business taking up all your time and energy?
It’s a common problem that many business owners face. How do you get the word out about your business without it taking your focus from the business itself?
Sounds familiar? Then outsourcing your marketing is the right decision for your stress levels and the good of your company.
Outsourcing your marketing saves time
Enterprise League advises that “lack of sleeping influences our potential”, meaning that if business owners eat into their personal time, trying to do too much by themselves it can have the opposite effect than we desire. Working too hard can make us less productive. You have always heard that the harder you work, the better the return, right? Not exactly. That is only true if you are 1: an expert in every task you undertake and 2: operating at your peak efficiency. The truth is, that most small business owners are not marketing specialists. If you were, you would be running a marketing company…like us. But if that isn’t your marketable skill, then why attempt to do it yourself? You didn’t start a business to learn about blog trends and backlinks. You wanted to make a success of something you’re passionate about. So, do that and work smarter, not harder.
Let me put it this way, if your passion was weaving fabric by hand and you decided to turn it into a business, your first port of call would be to buy a loom, or thread with which to weave, or both. What you wouldn’t do is Google “how to build a loom from scrap wood” or “how to make thread out of kitchen leftovers” because if you don’t have the proper materials then you won’t be able to create a quality product to sell and then there is no business.
Similarly, if no one hears about your product or the service you provide, then there is no business. You wouldn’t try to take on an aspect of your production that you’re not an expert in, so why do some business owners think that marketing is so easy to pick up, that they could just do it themselves? Marketing is a whole career and you probably didn’t start a garden maintenance company with the hope of spending more time stressing over how many likes you’re getting on Facebook. Sensibly, you’d let us do that while you get on with your trowel, otherwise there is no business to market.
Outsourcing your marketing saves money
Yes, really. Think about it. If you want to hire someone to handle your marketing and social media, you can. Of course, you’d have to consider the implications of that. If someone is on your PAYE salary, you must also factor in maternity, sick pay, holiday pay and bonuses. You must then organise collecting their national insurance through PAYE and declare them as a new employee to HMRC. Enterprise Leaguewrites that “Hiring a full-time employee is not just about money and paying social security, but also comes with other responsibilities”. They’re absolutely right.
To take on a new employee, you would need to set aside time and spend effort training them and helping them settle into your company. They might need equipment like laptops or extra training that you may need to provide. Or you could decide that payrolling someone to handle your marketing is way too time-consuming and expensive and contract a specialised company to handle your marketing. That way you won’t have to worry about the long-term implications of affording a new full-time member of staff.
You may feel that you still have to “train” whomever you find to do your marketing at first because they don’t know how you like things, but a good marketing or social media company will know what’s good to grow your business and will deliver on the goods after a short time, making it way more cost-effective for you in the long run.
Outsourcing your marketing gives a fresh perspective
Click dimensions blog writes that “outsourcing is a great way to break out of [a] rut by giving you access to individuals who have a fresh perspective on your business and can offer new ideas for innovating your marketing efforts.” When you’re a business owner then you live and breathe your work. But there is such a thing as being too close to a project to see the less obvious avenues open to you. That’s where outsourcing your marketing can help.
A good marketing team or freelancer sees where there is room for growth and improvement. If you can’t seem to get a good handle on your social media, advertising and marketing or you just don’t have the knowledge to make it work, outsourcing that side of your business is a really good idea. If you can’t see the wood for the trees, then you have next to no hope seeing the path ahead for your company. But a marketing specialist will be able to find the right route to grow your business and increase your return.
The key reasons why you should consider outsourcing your marketing
It’s common knowledge that any expenditure is worth it if it results in your business flourishing and being more productive because you get your money back that way. You’ve heard the phrase “you have to speculate to accumulate”, the same goes for marketing. So, it’s more cost effective to contract a marketing specialist than payroll one, but what is the cost of not getting anyoneto handle your marketing?
Well, best case scenario, you get the word out about your business with some success on your own. Maybe you take an intensive course on online marketing or social media for small businesses to learn more. That’s a good start, but it cannot replace or replicate the years of experience and knowledge of constantly changing trends that a marketing specialist has. After a year, the knowledge you have on marketing will be practically antiquated and ineffective. What’s more, your time is the most precious commodity you have as the owner of a business and anything that takes your time and focus from your customers and your services isn’t helpful for your overall success.
At Deearo Marketing, we are committed to helping you to grow your business for a very reasonable price. There is no ‘one size fits all’ formula for marketing strategies because every business is different. We pride ourselves in executing a tailor-made approach for every project. We believe that bespoke marketing solutions should be cost-effective and easy to access.
Thinking about outsourcing your marketing? Let’s chat!
