Small businesses get caught between the rock of needing to market their products and services and the hard place of not having the budget for marketing staff. So they lean on the team members who have marketing experience even if they don’t really have the time or particular skills needed. They let marketing go on a day-to-day basis—and try to ramp up when they’re launching a new product or service or frantically trying to meet a sales goals.
These tactics are detrimental to the bottom line. But what’s a small business to do?
Enter outsourced marketing.
With outsourced marketing, you save money by not having a full, in-house marketing department. Plus you make money by consistently gaining leads and driving repeat business.
Outsourced marketing can be a best friend to small and mid-sized businesses. Here are three ways it helps boost your bottom line.
Consistency Pays Off
Marketing is about relationships. It’s not enough to have leads. You need to nurture those leads to get to the sale. And then you keep going to turn those sales into repeat sales and word of mouth and die hard fans.
To get there you need a strategy. A strategy is a comprehensive plan to get you toward a goal—and all the actions to complete the plan.
Building the relationships that build your business takes consistency, and your strategy is your blueprint for consistency. It isn’t enough to publish a blog post here or there. You can’t just throw up a Facebook ad or show up at one convention. You need to be a regular presence. You need to follow up on interest. You need to be doing the right things and doing them regularly.
An outsourced marketing team can develop that strategy—and help you implement the plan, so that you know your potential customers are being nurtured consistently.
Outsourced Marketing Optimizes Talent
Implementing your plan takes not only time, but talent. Depending on what you want to accomplish, you may need experts in coding or web design or print design. You may need copywriters or SEO specialists or a product photographer.
You can’t afford to have all these people on staff for the odd times you need them. Your current staff might be able to fudge it for some activities, but if it isn’t their area of expertise, it’s going to take longer—and not be done as well as if you had an expert handle it.
Hiring a freelance photographer or copywriter is one way to go. You can spend time seeking out the different specialists you need, getting bids, making decisions in each case. Or you can work with an outsourced marketing group who has vetted contacts with various specialists. You choose your marketing firm and they bring in all the experts you need to get the job done.
Your Staff Can Focus on Other Things
Obviously marketing isn’t the only thing happening in your business. You’re serving clients and filling customer orders. You’re creating new products or seeking out new offerings. You want to spend time on the essence of your business.
And you can do it without losing sight of marketing. Marketing isn’t the reason your business exists, but it is critical for its success. Marketing is the reason marketing firms exist. Outsourcing marketing lets you and your staff focus on other things. You grow your business; your outsourced marketing team helps you get the word out. Hand-in-hand you bring in more business.
Outsourced marketing is simply a smart choice for small and medium businesses. It allows your in-house staff to do what they do best and brings in the talent you need, when you need it. And it supports bottom line growth by keeping your message strong and consistent to build solid growth.