“There’s no way we have time to post that often.”
“I don’t know how to edit videos.”
“Where do I even start with creating and buying ads?”
“I have no idea what to say each week.”
“We have no content to use or systems to produce enough.”
“Do I need to know tech to go Live?”
These are the kind of questions that have business owners running to seek some help with their marketing activities. But problems come in depending on who they ask for help.
Many business owners think marketing actions are daily task-focused to-do items and think anyone can help just get the tasks done for the day or the week.
Nothing is further from the truth!
Because they have had success outsourcing basic activities like site development and tech, or bookkeeping and payroll, they probably think they can easily outsource marketing also. They may look to get support from ad or digital agencies, junior staff, interns or even their cousin to help.
This is a really bad idea. Here’s why:
Marketing is a core capability. It’s not a peripheral activity.
Marketing is integral to customers
and the entire core of the business.
Marketing is a function that you want to own—because when you build up your marketing assets, you make your business more valuable. Marketing creates assets like content, relationships, messaging, brand building and partnerships. Marketing builds for the long-term and is so much more than a daily task. Marketing activities are an investment into the growth of the company, not an expense.
Most business owners and entrepreneurs aren’t marketers.
In fact, many hate marketing.
But if you are in business, then you must be marketing or you have no business.
You must learn to market and sell your products and services. If you are driving your company’s decisions, you must participate in the preparation and outcomes of your strategies. Stay closer to marketing and financials even if they are not your forte, the results will show.
It’s not easy to win at business these days.
It’s competitive out there in any industry.
You have to work and you have to work smart.
You have to own control of your messaging, conversations and sales.
Once you really learn about your customers and know you have a system and processes that work to gain new sales, then you can scale by outsourcing some parts of the process.
Once you get it all right, you can hire a company to run what you have already figured out.
The right agency or consultant can help you grow it even better!
If you outsource your marketing you are giving away your brand to someone else to manage. They can never know your products or your business as well as you do. They just won’t care about your business as much as you do.
If you work with an agency, your business will stop growing anytime you stop working with them. Short-term growth is more the goal than investing in slow growth for a solid future.
If you work with a freelancer, they will have little invested in your success and will be working on their timetable, not yours.
So what’s the best solution?
Keep your main marketing strategy in-house, and build up your assets and skills over time. If you need some immediate support, make sure that your marketing spending is tracked and showing results. Ensure that you keep your content assets and intellectual property.
If you need help building your internal marketing capabilities, there are many options to uplevel your skills and you can easily find the right fit for your business.
You might work with a coach for leadership training, enroll staff in online courses or workshops, or bring in subject-matter experts to help build out your in-house marketing teams. You can work on hiring new staff, implementing new tactics, and solidifying your processes.
This is what can take you to the next level.
So don’t just outsource all of your critical marketing functions. Own it!
Owning it in-house does not mean you need to do it all alone. If you get the right help for the right activities, you can deepen your success.
If you need on-demand marketing consulting, schedule an Action Plan call and let’s talk about how we can help you own and grow your marketing.
Ardent Skills 