Lately, we’ve been talking to a number of companies that have been wrestling with a core question: What marketing should I do myself versus what I might hire out for? Every company is different and each has its own pain points so it’s hard to say what any one company should do.
How do you best answer this? First, think about the following:
- What’s your own “feel for marketing”? Do you have a sense about what to do, what strategies work and/or what you’ve seen work before? Do you have a sense of which channels are important and which are not?
- Do you like marketing or certain aspects of it? Are you skilled at particular areas when it comes to marketing – for example, writing, design, creating your own videos? Or, think about the converse: What do you absolutely hate doing that you want someone else to help you with?
- Do you have budget to spend to bring in more marketing expertise? (If you don’t this will inevitably limit what you can do regardless).
- What do you have the time (and the expertise) to do?
Answering these questions for yourself will go a long way toward helping you make the right decisions to maximize your marketing ROI and performance. That said, we know sometimes businesses that can’t gauge many of these things for themselves. So, here’s a quick walkthrough of different marketing channels and what we would say about small businesses taking on each as a baseline. First, let’s cover those areas that we think businesses should definitely hire out for.
Marketing Activities We Recommend You Outsource
No. 1: Advertising/Paid Media. We’ve seen many small businesses attempt to take this on themselves. But, to us, it’s a rare company that can execute this well. Indeed, a lot of the companies we know that try to save money in this area and do their own advertising, but end up wasting money and not getting the ROI they need. Our advice: Leave this area to professionals. Regardless if it’s social advertising, programmatic advertising (display, native, video) or search advertising, most of the platforms require specialized expertise. Can you learn it? Of course. But each will take time and each has nuances that, if you’re not careful, can mean a lot of wasted spend. Learn more about our paid media/advertising services here.
No. 2: Email Marketing Automation Set Up. Over the last several months, we’ve set up a number of email marketing platforms on behalf of companies. The reason we recommend you outsource this is that, on many of the platforms, setting up the right integrations (especially those with a CRM and your website) can often be a challenge unless you know what you’re doing. And in some cases, it may require additional technical expertise, such as a developer. In addition, we don’t know many companies that have been able to execute email marketing automation (with the right journeys, messaging, inclusion, or exclusion) on their own either. Why not hire a firm to help you set this up the right way the first time? Especially when it comes to building out templates, setting up segments and tagging, or other areas. Learn more about our email marketing and automation services here.
No. 3: Advanced Design/Video. Many small businesses have to compete in an industry where design/creative is a critical aspect of marketing. In those cases, a bad-looking design or video might be the difference between a prospect becoming interested in a product or service or not. Unless you have a designer/graphics developer/videographer in-house, we certainly recommend you outsource this area to an agency or a freelancer.
No. 4: Long-Form Content for Downloads. If you’re in the B2B space, it’s a lot to ask a small business to write a 10-to-20-page downloadable content piece, which is also designed well. A lot of marketing agencies (like Marketing Nice Guys) can help you with the development of long-form content. On the flip side, one advantage small businesses now have is ChatGPT, which can create content (even whitepapers or e-books) and write that quickly. You still need to make your own edits but it certainly is a tool that can help you get started.
No. 5: Website Design & Development: Can you do a website on your own? Of course. WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify (for e-commerce) make it relatively easy to set this up without hiring an agency. That said, we often see businesses that set up their own sites and not follow some basic UX principles. So, all the work they might do on the marketing end to get people to the website ends up being for naught if the experience isn’t a good one. Another reason to hire an agency or freelancer for your website: Search engine optimization. Unless you or someone on your team understands the basic principles, you will be losing out to a competitor that does (or one that hires for that expertise). Learn more about all of our website design and development services here.
Marketing Activities We’ve Seen Small Businesses Successfully Tackle Themselves
No. 1: Content Development. Creating content is an essential aspect of marketing, especially if you have limited funds or a lower budget. It helps to attract and engage potential customers, establish thought leadership, and build brand awareness. For many small businesses, short or quick content is an area that they can take on themselves. A good example might be creating their own blog posts, developing graphics through a program such as Canva, or even doing their own videos for social media. One of the benefits of creating content in-house is that it helps businesses to establish their voice and tone. It also ensures that the content is authentic and relevant to the target audience. Additionally, businesses can save money by not having to pay for external content development. That said, every business is different and some just don’t enjoy it or have the capability of creating their own content. If you do need help, you can learn more about all our content development services here.
No. 2: Social Media. Most people know how to post on social media for their own personal accounts. If you understand the mechanism behind that, this is (for the most part) something most of you can also do on behalf of your companies. There certainly are some differences. But in general, as a company, you are the expert in the industry you’re in and it’s really a question of creating the social content you need to stay engaging and top-of-mind. In-house social media management allows businesses to have more control over their messaging, engage with their audience in real-time, and save money on external agency fees. However, businesses should ensure they have the time and resources to manage social media effectively. Social media is a 24/7 channel, and businesses need to support the different platforms they’re on regularly, as well as be responsive to their audience to maximize their impact. Think you still need help? Learn more about our ongoing social media management services here.
No. 3: Ongoing Email Management: Once your email marketing templates and segmentation are set up, ongoing management is an area that most businesses can handle themselves. Today, nearly all the email marketing platforms we’ve seen are relatively user-friendly and provide businesses with the tools they need to create and send emails rather easily. In addition, all the platforms allow you to analyze results and some offer AI tools to help maximize impact and performance. The key here, of course, is to make sure you allocate the time to do it. If you still need help, don’t hesitate to reach out to us to support your ongoing email management as well.
Conclusion
Obviously, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to what you outsource versus what you decide to take on yourself. If you do decide to do it yourself, make sure you have all the fundamentals down (or have the mindset that allows you to keep learning new things). One quick resource is our recent book, Small Business Digital Marketing Handbook (Dec. 2022), which you can pick up at Amazon and other bookstores. Alternatively, feel free contact us anytime and we’ll be happy to walk through a free consultation with you to help you make the right outsourcing decision.
