Let’s start with this: unlike other kinds of outsourcing, the concept of outsourced marketing isn’t new.
In fact, it’s been the norm for decades, and for a simple reason: most businesses – and virtually all small businesses – don’t have the in-house resources or expertise to drive a cost-effective, results-based marketing program.
What’s more, it’s common for businesses to plug into outsourced marketing even if they have an internal marketing staff. For example, here at Leap Clixx many of our customers have a roster of marketing executives, coordinators, administrators, and on. We work in alignment with these professionals to help them get better results. We don’t replace them: we amplify their efforts.
And of course, as you’d expect we have other customers who don’t have a formal in-house marketing department or designated marketing staff members, and we essentially serve as their integrated marketing team. It’s literally as if they hired us to run their marketing program, but at a fraction of the cost and none of the risk of doing it in-house. What’s not to like?
Choosing the Right Outsourced Marketing Partner
Unless you’re a large enterprise with a 6+ figure annual marketing budget and a roster of marketing professionals – including experienced specialists like data analysts, writers, designers, video producers and so on – then it goes without saying that it’s smart and strategic to outsource your marketing. That’s step one.
But the next step is making sure that you choose the RIGHT outsourced marketing partner. Not all of them are created equal. In fact, not all of them are legitimate marketing firms at all. Knowing what to look for – and what to avoid – will directly impact whether you get the results you want, or face excessive costs, risks and headaches.
And so, with this in mind, here are 3 questions to ask any prospective outsourced marketing partner to ensure that you’re heading in the right direction:
1. What’s your capacity?
Plenty of outsourced marketing firms – we’ve actually say most of them – don’t have the capacity to serve their customers’ needs. This is a major red flag, because it means that deadlines and milestones will constantly get missed, and response times will be unacceptable.
2. What solutions do you offer?
Many outsourced marketing firms will go on (and on…and on…) about their services. But so what? You don’t need services. You need solutions – especially because unless you’re a marketing specialist, you don’t quite know what mix of services you need.
Sure, you may have a general idea of what’s in store, such as blog posts, ebooks, a great website, and so on. But your real focus is on solutions to your key marketing problems: generating more web traffic, getting more qualified leads in your pipeline, helping your sales team boost win rates and increase deal sizes. The right outsourced marketing partner understands that you need solutions, and will help you build a customized game plan that uniquely fits your needs.
3. How will you learn about us?
Many outsourced marketing firms (and especially consultants!) want to jump right and start “doing stuff” – not because they’re anxious to get started, but because they don’t have the skill or the systems to learn about your needs, customers, marketplace, competition, and other aspects. But without this critical information, how will your marketing deliver results? The fact is, it won’t.
Learn More
At Leap Clixx, we proudly offer our clients a full range of cost-effective, results-based outsourced marketing solutions. We have the proven capacity, extensive solutions, and we invest quality time to learn about our customers before we launch their projects, programs and campaigns. To learn more, contact us today and schedule your free consultation.
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Topics: Inbound Marketing
