Should you outsource your marketing or hire marketing staff? In this blog post I’ll outline the pros and cons of outsourcing marketing.
Outsourcing your marketing is not right for every business. There are advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing. Here are some pros and cons:
Outsourcing Marketing – Pros
Senior-level marketing expertise – make sure your outsource marketing person has experience to bring to the table.
Save money – if you are getting a senior level marketer on an outsource basis, having that person part-time is more cost effective than hiring full-time. (For examples, read the outsource marketing cost-analysis article I wrote on my website.)
An outsider’s marketing perspective – research shows that the outsider viewpoint is often more creative than insiders. Be open to hiring someone with experience outside of your industry. (Read my blog post, How to Get More Creative with Your Marketing for more detail.)
Outsource Marketing – Cons
Your outsource marketing resource is not on-site full-time – your outsource marketing person may be on-site some of the time, but you won’t have access to them every moment. This probably means you will have to manage marketing in a planned and systematic way, and schedule calls, meetings and working sessions in advance.
You may have less ability to react immediately – now more than ever, marketing has to be agile and flexible, changing gears as technology and customer needs change. Doing the same things without change doesn’t work in marketing. Make sure you have marketing metrics and research that you follow so that you know what and when to change, and make sure you build into your outsource marketing relationship a way to handle emergencies and extra work change requires.
Marketers, business owners, what is your experience with outsourcing marketing? Please comment below.
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