Balancing the different aspects of a business is much like carrying the groceries into the house without bags: lots of different shapes and sizes (when it comes to projects), and something is bound to get dropped.
When you outsource to B2B marketing services, you’ll work with an agency that provides the expertise and bandwidth to execute your long-term strategy. But should you trust the shopper to plan the meal and execute the cooking, too?
Not only does working with an agency come with a lower cost in terms of payroll, it provides significant savings of both time and money by allowing you to skip the hiring process and training for individual staff members.
However, outsourcing gives a significant element of control to an outside agency – a level of trust that only some people are willing to accept.
Here, we will explain your three options for outsourcing B2B marketing, which include:
Deciding to outsource can take a lot of weight off your in-house marketing team. It provides them additional flexibility and scalability by providing additional hands to handle project tasks. It also provides access to expertise and skills the team may not yet have in its own wheelhouse.
In terms of cost-effectiveness, you’re getting access to that additional …
… all within the cost of adding a single team member. And there’s no need to train an agency, other than on the nuances of your products and services.
However, working with an outside agency has potential downfalls too. These can include issues with communication since you aren’t all within walking distance (or on an office chat app like Slack) when a quick conversion would be useful. Also, quality control can be a potential concern until everyone is up to speed on what makes your product/service and its customers unique.
Are you in the initial stages of implementing a marketing strategy? Have you expanded to the point where you’re weighing the pros and cons of adding marketing employees to your payroll? Either way, now is the time to consider outsourcing internet marketing tasks.
When you outsource B2B/inbound marketing efforts, you see the following benefits:
Outsourcing can take different forms for different companies. You can save 30-50% of the cost per full-time marketing employee by working with an agency that specializes in inbound marketing (AKA content- and customer-focused marketing).
The scaled options (from lowest to highest impact on your employees’ time and your budget) include:
You may already have marketing staff or believe that adding more in-house teammates is the best idea – but you have big marketing plans and aren’t sure you can afford to hire a full team. That could mean that working with third-party experts is your best way to achieve your marketing goals.
Or maybe you just don’t want the internal headache. Do you feel an outside agency can handle all of the marketing projects you’d like to see come to life this year and beyond?
There are three options when considering fully outsourcing your marketing:
Think of the DIWY approach as a mentor or role-model peer waiting eagerly to help you build and grow. Either way, you aren’t handling the marketing efforts on your own, but you have the flexibility to say when and with what you need help. Eventually, you may be able to reduce your reliance on your mentor (if you wish) and handle campaigns with full confidence in all you have learned.
There are a lot of different areas of marketing that need your attention – typically more than you can realistically fit into a day. (Or learn in a month … or year.) For example, SEO is an ongoing process of trial, error, evaluation, and adjustment:
That’s just one example of where you may need shared services or coaching to maximize your long-term success. Likewise, content strategy is an area that requires:
With a DIWY approach, your agency will not only handle the heavy lifting of lead generation efforts for you, it’ll also coach you on how to handle this solo. It’ll show you how and why the approach works and guide you in how to apply the best approach to your business’s and customers’ needs. Just like a kid riding a bike, ultimately you’ll take the things you learn and go out on your own.
Inbound marketing consists of a lot of activities spread across a lot of channels each with its own best practices. No one is going to be efficient at all of these potential tasks, particularly not an in-house marketing team with limited staff and even less time. Working with an experienced agency gives you access to the expertise needed to:
Depending on the agency, an inbound marketing coach might offer training in:
Coaching allows you to maintain control but receive the guidance you need to achieve your target ROI (return on investment). Also, working with an experienced agency means access to tools that have proven successful in the agency’s own day-to-day. You can brainstorm with the agency to determine areas where your staff needs the most guidance or resource allocation. It’s easy to adjust this in the future as needs change or goals are met.
Before working with an agency, decide on:
Choosing the right agency to support your on-site marketing staff can be challenging. We have some additional resources that can help:
Asking how to outsource digital marketing is the right question. Working with the right agency for your current growth and capacity needs is the right answer.
Remember that the options are flexible and can be adjusted to the best fit for your marketing agency. You can opt for a plan where the agency operates independently with your direction or one where they work with you to complete tasks. You can also opt for a plan that includes coaching to more effectively prepare your in-house team for the future.
Before you hire a web marketing coach, set the table for your company. Figure out – for today and tomorrow – who’s best suited to build the recipe, buy the groceries, and put out a winning product.