Marketing leaders often lack the necessary resources to execute changes within their organizations. It’s a reality endemic to many companies that want to see clear results from their marketing spend. As a business leader knows, you need the resources to make your company successful, but these resources need to be used intelligently.
Outsourcing some of your marketing can help complement skills and talent you already have, while saving your company money.
1. Complementing Existing Employee Talent & Skills
A marketing-as-a-service company offers services that can mesh with your employees’ skills and talents. It’s important to understand the difference between talent and skills and how they impact profitability and competition.
Skills are learnable, while talent is innate.
When thinking about skill sets like computer programming, for example, you can see how software and artificial intelligence are already replacing certain skills. However, a computer programmer’s talents for being detail-oriented, and using that inborn ability to put these details into an appropriate context, are critical to any organization.
This isn’t specific to computer programming, as The Gallup Organization notes. The market research company’s extensive studies show how implementing in-house talent to drive business performance and create positive outcomes works towards creating profitability.
Companies don’t need to invest in reskilling employees. Companies should utilize employees’ existing talents and skills. Using skills that support employees’ inborn talents is a much better strategy than pushing employees to learn new skills for which they may not have aptitude. Employees need skills to match their talents, and can learn to excel in positions for which they are well-suited.
MaaS companies understand this and can provide skilled talent at a fraction of the price your business would pay to develop it. Need content for an online advertisement or company blog post? Need someone who can manage your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts?
The marketing-as-a-service company can provide this, usually for much less than you could in-house. It just makes sense to budget in-house for what your company already does well and to outsource for those other services.
2. Accessing Data
Data is important in any business. Data about who bought what, where, and when helps a business strategically develop cohesive plans for marketing.
Information is key to understanding any business, so when you outsource your marketing resources, you will, of course, need to allow access to your data.
The right data solutions for your business are the ones that stretch your marketing dollars furthest while increasing your revenue.
Evaluate your company’s needs.Have poor execution and missed deadlines have hurt sales or distribution networks? Is poor communication causing inefficiencies that affect your bottom line? Are there specific complaints coming regularly through your customer service department?
A MaaS initiative shouldn’t be just a tactical solution. They’re not a bunch of mercenaries to market or make sales or write content. It’s about having an overall strategy for promoting your company. It’s about your brand.
Any firm with whom you partner must understand operations and the current systems in place to care for clients. It’s not about the numbers so much as people. It’s about understanding why things happen. For good things, you want them to happen again. And, when things don’t go so well, just look at the data to prevent worst case scenarios.
3. Looking at Success
Choose the marketing partner that’s right for your business. It’s important to look at the marketing track record on whatever platform you rely on most. If your business mostly comes from your company website, and you hire an MaaS company that focuses on e-mail marketing, don’t be surprised if you’re disappointed with the results.
It’s about people—your customers more specifically. If they’re used to engaging through social media, and you hire a firm that concentrates on text messaging, you’re likely to lose sales. Yet don’t be afraid to try new things while continuing what helped build your business. Perhaps you want to expand the channels you use while maintaining your tried-and-true marketing methods.
Hiring a marketing partner with a decent reputation managing text campaigns, but a stellar marketing mystique regarding Instagram, may not be bad strategy. Look at the channels your customers use and the types of content with which they engage. Listen to your MaaS partner.
Remember, change in marketing is not necessarily a bad thing.
4. Knowledge Transfers or Permanent Outsourcing
Look, too. at what the firm can teach your company. Valuable new skills can give you a strategic edge. Teaching account managers how to handle negative publicity on social media platforms, for example, can only help with your branding.
Or perhaps you plan to permanently outsource the work. If you’re looking to a MaaS firm that concentrates on marketing on all levels and is good at it, why not let the company take over that entire function?
This goes back to companies concentrating on what they do well, and outsourcing what they don’t. Whether you’re looking to add value through training or permanently outsourcing, make sure it’s good for business.
5. New Initiatives vs. Fixing Things
Another area to consider when choosing a marketing partner is whether it’s an innovator or a fixer. Which does your business need?
If you’re looking for new ways to advertise and expand into other markets, you need to find someone to work towards that goal. Do the research when searching for a MaaS partner to make sure they gel with your brand.
For those hiring a firm to help fix something, it’s also important to pick the right company. Maybe you just need a professional to clarify your message, and that’s okay.
Conclusion
Picking someone to partner with when marketing your business makes sense. You can reduce spending while gaining the advantages of hiring experts. Expand your marketing to adjust to your distribution capabilities. Change and shift with your industry and learn from your mistakes. Be capable of quick moves to adjust and keep your business competitive.
According to Domenic Colasante, CEO of 2X Marketing, the following four reasons tell you why including a MaaS partner in your 2020 marketing budget makes sense to your bottom line:
- Reduce cost and gain operating leverage
- Expand and scale the marketing function
- Shift focus and evolve
- Agility
You can read more about those 4 points here.
