Why outsourcing your marketing is better for business
We like to think about marketing as a tool that drives the eventual generation of revenue; and revenue is what business is all about. Your marketing is so essential to your revenue because it generates the customer need for your product or service, which then turns into sales (and then revenue). Still with us? Read on to find out why marketing is super important to your business, and why outsourcing it is one of the keys to your success.
You get it, marketing is really important
By now, you probably know that we think marketing is an essential part of your business. What you might not know is that marketing isn’t just some Facebook posts and an email here and there; you really need a cohesive approach, which starts with finding the customer’s need for your product or service. This is where you should enlist the help of a marketing expert; they’ll help you to understand things like the importance of your brand perception, the role your customer service plays, consistency with your messaging, and how to approach people in such a way that will put you in a position where people trust you and your brand.
Marketing should be part of your business startup strategy
We absolutely love a good (business) forecast here, so let’s talk about forecasting the investment required to outsource your marketing to the experts. If you’re putting X dollars into marketing, you need to think about what it needs to generate for you week by week in terms of revenue (more commonly referred to as return on investment). We quite often see lovely pictures and charts that come from marketing companies, saying “Oh, look at all these leads we got for you! Isn’t this wonderful?”. The problem is that there’s not necessarily any new customers being generated from that activity.
You need to always make sure that when you’re spending money on something like marketing, which is critical to your business, you’re always measuring the return on investment. For example, how much does it actually cost you to get a customer? If you spent X dollars that month, how many customers did you get off the back of that? Is that cost relevant compared to what you’re charging for your product or service? These are just some of the things it’s worth thinking about.
Make room for marketing
If you don’t have room in the budget for a marketing person, we recommend you start small. There’s an old (slightly offensive) saying that we always come back to; how do you eat an elephant? The answer is – you don’t try to eat the whole elephant at once – you need to take little bites out of it!
To start small with your investment in marketing, you might have your logo and brand messaging refreshed, and not even look at something like PR for donkey’s years. It’s about prioritising what’s best for your business, and what your immediate needs are to help you get the best return. Working with a marketing consultant or a specialist can help you understand the bigger picture, and what bits you’re best to bite off first based on your industry and business needs.
Employees vs contractors
You might be wondering if it’s better for your business to employ someone full or part-time, or to work with someone externally, such as an agency or a contractor. Wonder no more! We think it’s important to keep costs as fluid or variable as possible – especially if you’re just starting out or your business is new – which means using a contractor. The logic there is that when you hire someone in-house, it’s going to be a fixed cost, and you’ll be paying that person over Christmas and January, when they’re likely to not even be working a lot.
Whereas if you’re using someone who’s a remote-based contractor, you’re only paying them for what they’re actually doing, and you can have quick online check-ins when needed. As the amount of money you’re investing into the contractor grows, and possibly gets very close to what an in-house person would cost you, then you can look at the benefits of employing someone.
If you’re keen to learn more about employees vs contractors, we wrote this blog recently to help you understand the difference between contractors and employees, the benefits of both, and which one might be right for your business.
Measuring your marketing
You can easily put a number on your marketing ROI with things like social media and digital marketing, but there might be certain things that you can’t necessarily measure or quantify, e.g. brand awareness. You might not necessarily be able to quantify it with numbers, but you can quantify it with words. Things like, “How did you hear about us?”, or “Where did you come into contact with our business?”. There are lots of tools available and ways to do this now, so every form of marketing is measurable in some form.
How do you know how much to budget for your marketing outgoings? As a start, we generally recommend somewhere between 1% and 3% of your income.
Final marketing tips
A simple tip is to always make sure you’re getting what you’ve asked for, and never be afraid to ask those ‘dumb’ questions (and there’s no such thing as a dumb question)! If you’re working with a marketing contractor, it’s likely that marketing isn’t your area of expertise, and that’s what you’re paying them for.
It’s also really important to give your marketing contractor as much information as possible, to make sure they really understand your business and its needs. As a general rule, too much information is better than too little information.
*No elephants were harmed in the making of this blog, and we definitely don’t condone eating them!
Contact us today to discuss how we can help your business now and in years to come.
