Some businesses choose to manage their entire inbound marketing program in-house: from campaign and persona development, to asset production (e.g. ebooks, infographics, blogs, landing pages, etc.), implementation, tracking, optimizing, reporting, etc.
However, unless a business is in the inbound marketing industry itself, it invariably reaches a point where it’s more efficient, cost-effective and strategic to switch to an outsourcing model.
Based on our experience working very closely with many businesses across industries and sectors, here are the four most common signs that it’s time (and sometimes, well past time!) to outsource their inbound marketing:
1. Resource management headaches and challenges.
Inbound marketing involves coordinating and managing a team of skilled resources, including copywriters, SEO experts, web designers, web developers, graphic designers, editors, social media gurus, project managers, etc.
Most businesses simply don’t have the internal systems, processes, tools or personnel to manage these resources efficiently and effectively – or in most cases, they don’t have the in-house resources themselves! As a result, businesses run into endless headaches and challenges, largely as a result of skills shortages and imbalanced workloads.
2. Excessive time investment.
Like any other professional function, inbound marketing is not an instant “just add water” effort that can be taken care of during breaks and lunches. It requires a significant time investment; especially since it’s an ongoing commitment vs. a one-time event.
Yet with this being said, businesses that find themselves spending excessive amounts of time on any aspect of inbound marketing – whether it’s preparing a blog post, developing an idea for an ebook, deciding what to put in a newsletter, and so on – should see this as a major warning sign.
What’s more, business leaders and managers who spend excessive time on inbound marketing are distracted from doing their day-to-day job – which can put the entire organization at risk.
3. Poor (and sometimes rather embarrassing) quality.
No matter what we do for a living, the fact is that if we operate outside our area of specialization and skill, then no matter how much time we invest, we simply won’t be able to an exceptional job. Furthermore, our process of getting from start to finish is bound to be on the amateur side (which is a nicer way to say “sloppy”).
This truth is illustrated – sometimes vividly – by businesses that, despite their best efforts and intentions, simply don’t have the in-house skill, processes and capacity to run a professional-grade inbound marketing program.
As a result, their assets (e.g. ebooks, infographics, etc.) aren’t where they should be in terms of quality, presentation and production values. This not only directly undermines the success of their campaigns, but more broadly, it damages their brand.
4. Excessive costs with little or no return.
We all knew this was coming, but we saved it for last because it’s really the culmination of the above three warning signs.
Inbound marketing is an investment. And there comes a point here the in-house effort simply isn’t generating ROI, however this is measured (i.e. each campaign will have metrics and KPIs to measure performance at various stages of the campaign life cycle).
Not surprisingly, businesses that recognize that they’re actually “digging a deeper money pit” by doing things in-house have the easiest time switching to an outsourced model. Typically, their only regret is that they didn’t do it sooner.
The Bottom Line
If your business is seeing any of these warning signs – or all of them – then give us a call today. We’ll work with you and your teams to develop a plan that helps you take full advantage of your in-house strengths, while we augment any gaps with our flexible, cost-effective and results-based inbound marketing solutions.
Looking for more inbound marketing tips? Download our eBook "Guide to Inbound Marketing Best Practices" below!
Topics: Inbound Marketing
