IS OUTSOURCING THE FUTURE OF MARKETING?

Today, most people would agree that thriving businesses need to invest in marketing to attract new clients, maintain existing relationships, raise profile and stand out from the crowd.

With 2020 being such an extreme and difficult year, many businesses struggled financially, and marketing may have been the first thing to be cut or stopped.

But marketing has never been so important, particularly in the current climate. In response, businesses should maintain their usual marketing budget and even think about increasing their marketing activity.

This is easier said than done, however, especially when faced with a global pandemic!

Marketing is no longer about who you know but what you know!

With ever-evolving developments in marketing, particularly in the digital side, outsourcing allows you to hire the right specialists for certain tasks, such as social media management, website development, content generation and branding. Having a generalist marketer onside, too, will mean each aspect is planned and managed to fit with your overall strategic goals. Experts take less time and can bring new ideas to the table.

In 2019, a survey revealed that 42% of UK businesses outsource their marketing and a report undertaken by HubSpot revealed that two-thirds of B2B companies outsource a portion of their marketing. The Coronaviruspandemic has made businesses look again at how they operate, with a recent survey suggesting 32% of businesses not currently outsourcing would consider outsourcing marketing.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing recently reported on the benefits of freelance support to marketing departments and businesses. Having an internal person or department may narrow and restrict opportunities, due to each individual’s skill set. Freeing up the need to invest in their ongoing training, or hire a bigger team, means you can leverage opportunities from outsourcing or hiring freelancers as the need arises.

Advantages of outsourcing marketing

• It's a cost-effective solution!

Outsourcing provides the right expertise and skillset but at the same time reduces overheads.

• Access to specialists

With more technical and creative expertise now required for marketing, such as search engine optimisation (SEO), user experience (UX) testing, video editing and animation, outsourcing allows you to access the best talent when you need it, providing a better-quality product and a more efficient turnaround time.

• External insight and opinion

No matter what job role you have, it can be easy to get blinkered and miss opportunities. Outsourcing can provide a fresh outlook, new and different ideas, which can help to reiterate why you are doing something, rather than doing it just because that’s the way you have always done it, or someone else in the firm thinks it is a good idea.

• Achieve results and ROI

With more pressure for accurate analytics, results and return on investment (ROI), outsourcing to a specialist means they are accountable for their work and how it impacts your business. With the right expertise to support a business owner or help an internal marketing department, outsourced marketers can deliver real results.

Why wouldn't you consider outsourcing?

Recently, we had a reassuring conversation with a business leader, who said they finally 'understood the benefits we brought as an outsourced marketing agency. Having hired an internal marketing director, they had struggled to manage all the various aspects and disciplines of their marketing needs in turn limiting the delivery of the growth aspirations of the business.

Cal Partners works as an outsourced marketing department for firms in the professional services and healthcare sectors. With a team including three CIM Chartered Marketers, we adopt a strategic approach, make things happen, take the stress away from having to think and manage ways to raise your profile and grow your business. Over many years, we have worked with a wide range of clients - managing, delivering and deploying a successful marketing strategy - allowing them to get on with the day job, but at the same time keeping ahead in an increasingly competitive environment.

2020 was the year we embraced remote and flexible working and it looks set to become a permanent fixture for many this year too. Outsourcing marketing might be seen as a trend, just like working from home, but surely one that will soon become the norm.