There are a handful of us at EAG Advertising & Marketing who are or have been small business owners. We know the internal struggle business owners battle every day. Entrepreneurs at heart, we can be control freaks, fighting the if-you-want-it-done-right-do-it-yourself mentality. But we’re also educated enough in business to know smart people surround themselves with smarter people and let them do their thing. It’s a struggle that permeates every aspect of running a business, even advertising and marketing.
Advertising and marketing drive sales, which affects the bottom line. They also are how you represent your company to the ones you want to win over, customers. A logo, website, brand language, graphic design for print and digital media—all visually reflect your business. Marketing strategy works behind the scenes to wring the most ROI from your advertising tactics, to support your sales and growth. There’s a lot at stake, so it’s not surprising if you’re holding on to advertising and marketing in-house to control it, creatively and financially.
Therein lies the problem. Keeping all marketing activities in-house most likely means your business is missing out on opportunities. Here’s why in a nutshell:
Advertising and marketing have become complicated between content marketing, digital advertising, social media management and more. To develop a comprehensive strategy around what will work best for your industry and market, as well as have the time, knowledge and resources to execute all the tactics involved and analyze the results—it’s just too much for one employee or small team to handle.
How do you know when it’s time to throw in the cards and outsource marketing? Having provided outsourced marketing in Kansas City for more than 400 business, the tell-tale moment is usually when you notice one or a combination of any of the following:
The ROI doesn’t reflect the amount of time and money that went in to the marketing activity.
Real-world scenario:
Your in-house marketing person or team set up a digital ad campaign through Google. So many hours went in to designing the ad, coming up with a great call to action and creating the audience. However, the click through rate was dismal and the sales or leads it generated were not worth the time and money spent on the campaign.
Why outsource?
EAG Advertising & Marketing has digital marketing campaign experts on staff whose only job is to devise and execute digital advertising. That requires staying on top of the cutting edge of digital marketing best practices, from design and copy to landing pages and optimization for better results and ROI.
READ MORE: Outsourcing Marketing Yields a Positive Return on Investment
Your marketing manager is overwhelmed or outsourcing marketing activities to the point that it’s costing you a fortune.
Real-world scenario:
Your website is tragically outdated. Your business is getting slaughtered in the search engine rankings. You need website design and development and search engine optimized copy, plus ongoing content to promote in e-newsletters and social media. Without the time or knowledge to handle everything, your marketing manager hires several freelancers who aren’t only expensive, but also have no insider understanding of your business and culture.
Why outsource?
Searching for a marketing manager who can single-handedly perform copywriting, graphic design, search engine optimization, website development, lead generation, email marketing and so much more is like searching for a unicorn – unfortunately, they just don’t exist.
Much less on an expert marketing level. A great marketing manager alone will run you upwards of $75,000 a year in salary, plus benefits. That money put toward an outsourced marketing agency gives you access to a whole team of professionals in their fields.
READ MORE: How Much Should I Spend on Marketing?
Marketing tactics are working or not working and you don’t know why.
Real-world scenario:
Over the course of a quarter, your sales and leads are up. Fantastic! You want to keep up the momentum and your numbers, so you take stock of your advertising and marketing initiatives. Sales emails were sent regularly. Social posts were made. Salespeople were active on LinkedIn. You or an employee presented to an audience at an event or conference. And, you took advantage of special pricing on a digital ad on an industry-related website. That’s a lot of activity to evaluate and analyze. Exactly what was the effort that performed best? Probably more than one, so what was the magic combination? And, is it replicable and sustainable?
Why outsource?
Advertising and marketing can’t be a “try it and see if it sticks” strategy. Each part of the strategy must be reviewed and measurable. Once upon a time, marketing was notorious for being difficult, if not impossible, to truly measure. Today, with website user tracking in real time, email marketing software, customer relationship management tools and digital and social media ad tracking, it’s possible and expected to be able to review exactly how your target audience and customers are interacting with your marketing efforts.
You feel like your business is always the last to the marketing party.
Real-world scenario:
Your company’s busy season is here. You, your marketing manager or small team have a laundry list of marketing tasks to do, but more pressing work kept pushing them down the priority list. Now, you’re receiving marketing materials from your competitors, and you feel they got a jump start while your business isn’t even on the starting line.
Another scenario… big news is happening in your industry. Everyone is talking about it, and your competitors are leveraging the news to get in front of your target audience, probably even your customers. From your company, people are hearing crickets. Handling day-to-day business takes up most of your team’s time, so addressing breaking news is either impossible or means overtime.
Why outsource?
EAG Advertising & Marketing operates no differently as an outsourced marketing firm as we would if we were right down the hall from you. This means experts are on top of whatever you need, which is our job as an outsourced marketing firm. From developing long-term marketing strategy and executing each part on time to taking advantage of time-sensitive opportunities, EAG keeps small business marketing on schedule.
Ready to Explore Outsourced Marketing?
Smart play. By developing and following a cohesive marketing plan and working as a team or an extension of your team, EAG Advertising & Marketing makes better use of your budget and time by filling in gaps and executing tactics. You gain personal access to a team of seasoned experts who are up to date on the latest trends and have experience in your industry, and yes, even small business ownership.