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To Hire or Not to Hire: The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Your Marketing Efforts

Every business, from the smallest venture to the largest corporation, needs a marketing team. You simply cannot exist and consistently make revenue without a marketing team bringing in a steady flow of customers. While many businesses have their own marketing team, some teams are too small while other businesses don’t even have a marketing team yet. These are the pros and cons of outsourcing your marketing efforts.

Pro: Full Team of Experts

There are many different types of marketing strategies. There is direct mail, email, PPC, TV commercials, billboards, blogging, social media, and much more. If you hire a marketing team, then you likely have people who are doing their best to fulfill their roles, but they have shortcomings here and there. For example, you might request someone to do direct mail marketing when they only know blogging or social media marketing. It’s all in an effort to get more customers, but they are done in very different ways and require different skills.

Outsourcing ensures that you have access to numerous experts who know their specific marketing strategies inside and out. If you could change the text from the image below to this: This gives you a full team of experts who can deliver the best results, including the use of ability tests during the hiring process. You can get more information here, This applies equally well to small business and local business marketing such as tradesman or trades business marketing.

Con: Risk

When you hire someone, you are able to meet with them in person and you can check their references. That’s much harder when outsourcing. You can see their website, speak with former or existing clients, contact them through email or video chat and you might be able to meet with someone from the company, but you won’t meet the whole team.

This adds an element of risk to outsourcing. You have to go based on their word and track record. As long as you’re diligent in researching the company, then you should be fine. Drafting a contract should always be a priority especially if they will be subject to confidential information. In this manner, they will be liable for any contract disputes.

Pro: Great Results

An employee has numerous protections against being fired. They can coast by and do just enough to avoid being written up. An outsourced team doesn’t have the same protections. If they don’t do a great job, then you can easily cut connections and find another team.

Due to this pressure, outsourced marketing teams prioritize making their clients happy. They will do their absolute best to deliver amazing results for your company, which results in much more revenue and exposure.

Con: Potential Communication Problems

This is a potential problem that depends on the outsourcing team. Some outsourced marketing teams are amazing with communication and will get back to you in minutes. Others may rarely communicate with you, which can result in massive issues down the road.

A lack of communication could mean that due dates aren’t properly followed, marketing doesn’t follow your needs, or numerous other problems. You want to ensure that the outsourced team is good with getting back to you and understanding what you are trying to convey.

Pro: Objective Point of View

This might rub some managers the wrong way, but it’s good for business. Outsourced marketing teams are full of experts who know what is and isn’t good marketing. They aren’t focused on making managers happy as much as they are creating good marketing materials for your business.

Employees can get very caught up in making managers happy rather than creating good marketing materials. This objective point of view can ensure that the marketing really works for your business.

Con: Less Personal Interest

Your employees have a personal, vested interest in your company. This is their livelihood and they have pride in ensuring that the business grows and thrives. That’s not the same for an outsourced marketing team.

You are a client to them. They care about their client relations and certainly want to make you happy, but it’s not the same level of interest an employee would have. It’s hard to say whether or not this will affect your performance or your relationship with them, but it’s worth noting.

Pro: Cut Costs

Outsourcing your marketing cuts costs significantly compared to hiring the same number of experts and employees to cover all your marketing needs. There are two reasons for this. First of all, you have to pay taxes and benefits for employees. This usually accounts for about 30 percent above the employee’s wage. You don’t have to worry about this with an outsourced team. You’re only paying for their services.

The second reason is that you only pay the outsourced team when they are doing work. If you have an on-site writer, then he or she is paid even when there is no work to be done. They are getting full-time pay regardless of how much or how little work is done. An outsourced team is paid when you need work and that’s it.

Con: Loss of Control

An outsourced marketing team is responsible for meeting deadlines, generating good marketing for you, and ensuring that they get results for your company. This is similar to having an in-house marketing team, but the major difference is that you don’t have any control over the day-to-day operations. You can tell them what you want to be done, but they control how it’s done and how they go about it.

Sometimes this is a good thing. It frees you up from having to worry about their progress and allows you to focus on things right in front of you. At the same time, losing control is difficult for many managers and owners. You still have the reigns in some regards, but it’s less than with an in-house team.

Conclusion

There are numerous pros and cons associated with outsourcing your marketing efforts. The best aspects are that you are hiring a team of experts that give you an objective view on marketing and are able to provide amazing results at a discount. At the same time, you’re losing control of your marketing team and there is the potential for communication issues.

It’s ultimately your decision, but many large companies are seeing the benefits and are willing to live with the few pitfalls of outsourcing. If you want a team of experts driving your business forward, then consider outsourcing your marketing.

Steve Max
Steve Maxhttp://www.webzando.com/
A long time digital entrepreneur, Steve has been in digital marketing since 2010 and over the past decade he has built & executed innovative online strategies for leading companies in car insurance, retail shopping, professional sports and the movie & television industry.

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