Whereas marketing is critical for small businesses, it doesn’t come cheap. Small businesses often face the dilemma of handling their marketing in-house or outsourcing it to agencies and freelancers.
Inhouse marketing appears cheaper in the short run but requires internal expertise and time. However, outsourcing yields much bigger benefits, which facilitates your business growth in the long run.
So, yes, your small business should outsource your marketing. Here are 10 reasons why.
1. To Save Time
Often, small businesses operate with less than five staff. Sometimes, it’s a one-man show.
As per Jessica Shee from iBoysoft – Considering all the functions required to run a small business, you may never have time to do effective marketing. You will be forced to put it on a back banner. This not only affects lead generation but slows growth.
However, your efforts can run faster and more smoothly when your business outsources marketing functions. Another team bears the burden of online channels, campaign management, and graphics, so you don’t have to.
You can then use the time you save to handle other elements of the business, like product development.
2. Make up For Knowledge Gaps
Mitch Harad from Overdraft Apps says that – Not every business owner is a great marketer. And that’s okay! That’s why there are businesses that specialize in this. If you are one of these, hire an external marketing team.
You can use external professionals’ expertise without learning it yourself. You also do not need to train your existing staff, which can be expensive and time-consuming.
An external marketing team will most likely give you a better copywriter, graphics, web designer, and social media manager, all in the same package. That way, you have a fully functional marketing campaign in no time.
Also, specialized marketing agencies probably have better expertise to produce excellent work.
3. Reduce Costs
Shreya Patel from Lowest Flight Fare thinks that outsourcing your marketing efforts saves you money. For example, reports suggest that outsourcing marketing instead of in-house would cost you more than 10% less yearly in the US.
An internal team will require you to hire full-time employees with salaries and benefits, training, etc. And these may not always have the specific skills needed for some campaigns.
However, you can work with skilled professionals on retainers and on a case-by-case basis. They deliver the results you need without the long-term overhead costs of working with them full time.
4. Reduce Managerial Burden
Having a large in-house team poses high managerial burdens on business owners. For a small business fighting for survival in the first few years, you want to avoid this. How? Outsource your marketing
By leaving the marketing work to external professionals, you free yourself from the additional managerial burden. As such, you can then focus on your product/ service and other critical elements of your business.
It also gives you peace of mind, knowing that professionals are handling your business’s publicity.
5. Provides Fresh Perspectives
While your in-house marketing team may do excellently in the short run, you will need a new perspective from time to time. That is why you should consider outsourcing your marketing efforts states Lulu Albanna from WealthyRichCeleb.
External marketers will always offer fresh perspectives on your brand and campaigns. They are better positioned to provide objective criticism on issues your staff might have missed.
Furthermore, an external team is more likely to conduct objective due diligence when proofreading and approving deliverables. These efforts make your campaigns more effective in the long run.
6. Guarantees Reliability
A small business should outsource marketing efforts because external marketing teams tend to be more reliable.
Inhouse employees often work on the clock and are limited on weekends, and vacations, as mandated by law. All these could slow down work, especially in the face of emergencies, thinks Jennifer Curtis who runs She Cooks She Eats.
On the other hand, marketing agencies always make provisions for such occurrences. They have more employees on hand or on rotation to ensure that they are always available for your marketing needs. Additionally, they have better expertise to solve problems faster.
7. Provide Better Tools
Steve Rose from MoneyTransfers says that Marketing agencies invest heavily in tools and technologies for their activities like Adobe creative packages, Writing tools, etc. These may prove costly for your business to acquire for an in-house team.
For example, it costs over $900/year to acquire Adobe creative cloud for business.
Hiring the external team gives you access to their expertise and tools cost-effectively. They usually already have this software in place.
Furthermore, you will not have to train them to use the tool. This, in turn, facilitates your marketing campaigns.
8. Increase Competitiveness
Henry Ford from Skilled Golf advises that the ever-evolving industry trends require small businesses to stay informed to remain relevant. That process requires constant audience listening that your small business may not have the capacity for.
Yet, outsourcing your marketing efforts passes this burden to the external team. They stay in touch with current trends, do research, and advise you accordingly.
That way, your business stays relevant without compromising on your core competencies. And you remain competitive in the market.
9. Facilitate Analytics and Tracking
Marketing efforts also involve time-intensive tracking processes. You often do not have the time or resources to do this effectively as a small business. But a marketing agency does.
Therefore, you must consider outsourcing your marketing efforts to guarantee the efficiency of this process. Remember that your future marketing campaigns may not be successful without appropriate tracking and measurement.
10. Enables Scaling
For a small business with limited staff and resources, growth is often a harrowing experience. You must increase capacity in every department simultaneously while remaining competitive. That can be both expensive and counterproductive.
Therefore, you should outsource your marketing efforts. Marketing drives your activities in the market as you grow. It is much easier to increase the scope of work with external marketing teams than with in-house employees. The latter will probably need more training, compensation, etc., which takes time.
Final Thoughts
Marketing is a critical function for the growth and success of your start-up. While it isn’t cheap, outsourcing your marketing efforts will help your business operate more effectively, generate more leads and scale faster.
The key task is to find a marketing agency with varied experience in your niche. These will provide valuable advice and execute your campaigns faster and more efficiently.
