Don’t Eliminate Marketing – Just Outsource it!
Don’t Eliminate Marketing – Just Outsource it. Your Results Might Even Be Better!
I don’t have to tell you that these are trying times. Unemployment, the housing market, layoffs, foreclosures, blah, blah, blah.
When business owners and managers go looking for places to cut expenses it usually ends up in two departments- HR and marketing. HR is asked to cut people and payroll and the sales and marketing department is asked to cut everything!
As hard as it may be to do, marketing is the last budget you should cut. The old saying applies more today than ever before – nothing happens until somebody sells something!
So what’s a company to do when they’ve cut everything else? If you must cut marketing budgets, cut strategically.
Lead generation and follow up marketing are the lifeblood of every business so try to keep as many of those funds intact. If you are going to cut your ad budget, try compensating for that in other ways.
Traditional advertising certainly is not as effective as it used to be, so why not “go guerrilla.” Guerrilla marketing by definition is something that has a low cost, but a very high ROI if done correctly. An example of that is social media marketing.
Joining social media websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube cost you nothing in cash but can literally double your lead generation efforts. People that tell you that you can’t generate sales through the use of social media marketing are just plain wrong.
Businesses all of the world have already proven that social media marketing can increase sales if done the right way. The problem is that most companies think that social media as another form of advertising which it is definitely not. Social media is about building relationships, participating in conversations and providing helpful information to friends, fans, followers and connections. The natural result of this sincere interaction can and does lead to increased sales.
As a lead generation consultant and social media marketing strategist, I help my clients map out a plan that fits their timing, budget and resources.
Cutting Marketing departments, budgets and personnel might be a financial necessity, but the need to find more prospects, service your current customers and build your brand must continue.
One alternative is to outsource some or all of your marketing needs. I am not talking about hiring an ad agency or PR firm which you may already be using, I mean actually having many of your marketing functions handled by an outside person who’s not on your payroll but is dedicated to handling all your marketing as though they were an employee.
Many marketing consultants like me have worked at both large and small companies and have a wealth of experience that you can tap into at a fraction of the cost of an employee. This usually translates into 20 – 30 +/- hours a week devoted strictly to your business or working on a project by project basis.
Hiring the right part time outside marketing “partner” means that your marketing efforts continue without the overhead, health insurance, office space, etc. that come with regular employees. The money you save can either go right to the bottom line or directly back into the marketing budget.
Is hiring an outside marketing department right for every company? Of course not, but the bottom line is that your marketing absolutely must continue. If you can’t afford your own employee marketing department, then hire part time marketing one until the economy turns around.
For more information on the type of projects that you can outsource click here.
To Your Continued Success,
Dave
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