In part one of our three-part blog series on successfully outsourcing your marketing function, you’ll learn why transparency and flexibility are the foundational characteristics of great marketing firms.
Company leaders devote so much time and energy to day-to-day operations, R&D, and accounting that marketing initiatives frequently fall by the wayside. Instead of spending time on generating new opportunities and focusing on the brand’s image, paperwork often takes priority. Hiring a marketing firm is a great solution. It’s not foolproof, however—while outsourcing allows businesses to do what they do best and leave the marketing to the professionals, many firms don’t provide transparency about what exactly they are working on. Others often demand high retainers regardless of the ebb and flow of their work. Clients want to know what they’re paying for; whether it be campaign performance analytics or how website traffic has increased after implementing an SEO strategy. Working with a transparent and flexible marketing firm saves time and money, allows you to keep up with rapidly changing buyers and technology, and provides access to a wide variety of industry experts at every stage of your company’s growth.
Save Time & Money
In a typical mid-sized company, an internal marketing team is headed by a marketing leader (Chief Marketing Officer, VP of Marketing, etc) and supported by a handful of full and part-time employees. According to Payscale.com, the median salary for SMB marketing leaders is $160,000 per year. When you start to factor in the total cost of employing the rest of the team, an internal marketing team can run a company over half a million dollars per year. Keep in mind, this is not including the other expenditures required for success, such as CRM, marketing automation software, and sales expenses. Many firms who cannot afford this hefty price tag neglect marketing initiatives, and in turn miss out on the potential to access new customers who may be excellent targets for their products and services.
Internal teams do have one big advantage: oversight. Leadership always knows the stage of each campaign and how initiatives align with their KPI, plus they can continually update strategy and execution. Many marketing consultants collect their retainers and seem to disappear, leaving businesses to hope their campaigns are being executed and analyzed well. The best, however, keep businesses constantly informed on where they are in a campaign, how well—or poorly—initiatives are going, and what adjustments are being made.
A lean, modular team can also grow, and change along with a business. It’s not uncommon to use an outside firm to manage one aspect of marketing, then later need a full-service marketing provider—or vice versa… Many marketers are either too specialized to be full service or too big picture to provide single services. Working with a chameleon firm that can add or remove staff and services as needed is a more financially responsible way to continue being competitive.
Keep Pace with Changing Technology
Things change quickly in the world of technology. In 1982 the PC was created by IBM, eleven years later electronic mail made its debut, and in 2007 Salesforce changed the way sales prospects were tracked by introducing a cloud-based CRM platform. As mentioned above, executive teams are busy making sure that everything internally is running smoothly; how could they possibly be tasked with staying up to date with the changing features of CRM and marketing automation software? The latest Social Media trends? Which SEO keywords net the highest volume of searches? A flexible firm will have teams dedicated to the constant evaluation of the most cutting-edge tools and trends, in everything from email marketing to analytics tracking to social media automation.
Access Industry Experts
Polished industry experts often spend the latter years of their career as consultants, charging hundreds of dollars per hour just to tell you what’s wrong with your business without actually doing anything.
As a firm focused on both strategy and execution, &Marketing is anchored by a team of senior advisors and a partnership with Apprenace that expands capabilities far beyond the competition. Our senior advisors bring decades of combined experience in strategy, sales, business development, healthcare, business law, and organizational development. The team is also bolstered by a network of 25+ industry experts (entrepreneurs, freelancers, and other members of the ‘gig’ economy). The expertise of these industry leaders is complemented by a partnership with Apprenace. & has the unique advantage of utilizing Apprenace interns to expand technical capabilities such as UI/UX design and backend development, as well as sales facilities like cold calling & email marketing. Since interns are continuously monitored by Apprenace’s leadership team, the work is always being done correctly and with the fresh perspective that can only be brought to the table by young professional interns. As buyers and decision makers are changing, a youthful standpoint in our corner is paramount.
The Perfect Partnership
The ideal marketing firm acts as a business partner. SMBs deserve better than a marketing firm that’s set in their ways, uncommunicative, and unable to take on a variety of different tasks. Luckily, &Marketing’s nimble team structure, dynamic leadership, and affordability make us a great option, no matter what your team’s sales and marketing initiatives may be. You’re great at running your business, there’s no doubt about that. Our experience & impact prove that we’re great at marketing. Let’s be great in unison. Talk to us about growth: it’s us & you together.
Read part two in our series to learn more about how great outsourced marketing firms provide both strategic support and help execute marketing plans on a day-to-day basis. Visit the blog here: How Great Marketers Plan for Success
Read part three in our series to learn how great marketers stay vested in their client’s success through win-win scenarios. Visit the blog here: Win-Win Pricing: How Top-Tier Marketing Firms Define Success
