The benefits of outsourced marketing for small businesses

Businesses thrive and grow by focusing on what they do best. Their ability to deliver is what drives customer trust and loyalty, which in return impacts profitability In the digital marketing age, it’s no longer just about who you know, but more importantly it’s about who knows you. And marketing, if done well, can get you in front of your potential customers, build loyalty with your existing ones and create a strong brand that drives sales. Additionally, whilst being a support function, marketing has the ability to pay for itself, often multiplying the initial cost and creating long term growth.

Outsourced marketing provides businesses with a chance to tap in to a pool of marketing tools, tactics and talent when internal resources are limited. Companies that use outsourced marketing services will often see a greater return on investment (ROI) and positive impact on business growth. These five benefits can help businesses maximize that ROI: 

1. Subject matter expertise

Your business is best at its core services. For a marketing agency, that core service is marketing – they have the experience, knowledge and skillset to create and deliver an effective marketing strategy. In a constantly changing world, keeping on top of the latest marketing trends requires ongoing training which can impact businesses not only financially, but also at the expense of time. What’s more, if the person who has been trained leaves the business, the cost is much higher. Outsourced marketing experts are in a position to provide and use the latest insights to implement a successful strategy, without the extra resources required.

2. Variety of skill sets and experience

Just like businesses, individuals are successful by focusing on what they do best. For any business, hiring an employee means finding someone who is best at what they do. Outsourced marketing provides the opportunity to leverage the expertise of various team members. In house, you are likely to utilize one employee, five days a week. Compare that to an outsourced provider who can give you access to five different experts five days a week. The cost of resources might in some cases be higher, especially when engaging with senior experts, but the cost is focused on results. Additionally, for managers this results in less time spent on developing, motivating, and training teams, which in turn allows them to focus on other core business areas. 

3. Practical market insight

We learn by doing and the more experience we have, the better positioned we are to succeed. By providing marketing services to a variety of clients, marketing agencies have a deeper understanding of the latest market trends and insights and can use those to create competitive advantage for your business. They have the data and benchmarks on what success looks like and are able to set realistic objectives, which means less time spent on marketing strategies that are less likely to generate results and instead focusing on tried and tested approaches designed to create new business opportunities.

4. Focus on measurable results

The purpose of marketing is to generate new business opportunities which can drive business growth. Many businesses however, struggle to measure return on investment, which often is the reason that marketing is treated as a ‘nice to have,’ instead of a core business function. Working with outsourced marketing providers allows businesses to measure results that matter and track progress on ongoing campaigns. As a result, businesses can focus on activities that are aligned to their marketing and sales objectives, using their own brand’s data and best practices.  

5. Cost efficiency

The true cost of employment is much higher than the salary your employee is receiving. In addition to the benefits, time away from work or training that employers are paying for, a lot of time is spent on projects that don’t generate results or are abandoned before they are finished, often when an employee leaves the job. The cost of outsourced marketing is linked to results, and projects do not go unfinished due to an employee being absent. Businesses are paying for the skillset and time of a team that has the insight, skills and knowledge to deliver a result driven campaign, linked to your objectives. 

The evolving landscape gives businesses the advantage of the knowledge and skill set of subject matter experts, so they can focus on what they do best. Whilst the perception of marketing might seem as an add on to the core business functions and organisations are often quick to cut their marketing spend when budgets are tight, getting it right is critical for business success and enables growth, as well as builds customer and employee loyalty.