Advantages and Disadvantages of Outsourcing

The purpose of this section of our website is to help you understand the advantage and disadvantages of outsourcing your marketing/consulting efforts. There have been many published articles on the benefits of outsourcing for business owners because of the difficulty associated with hiring and retaining good employees, finding the resources to compensate these individuals once they join your business, and staying ahead of the innovative marketing curve which happens to be changing rapidly. Therefore, please assess whether or not outsourcing is the missing piece for your business.

Advantages

The advantages are substantial with the outsourcing model, but here are a few that will help you determine if outsourcing is right for you…

1. Experts- When you outsource your efforts, your odds of having an expert represent you are drastically improved because organizations that offer these services are responsible for finding, training, and retaining these employees. In addition, it is almost impossible for a small business owner to create an environment that is conducive for an expert to grow with incentives, promotions, and eventual stock options. Therefore, when an expert does join a small business, the time is often short lived because they will reach a point where they want something that you are unable to offer.

2. You don’t need to hire and train- One of the most substantial challenges for business owners is the interview process and then translating this into a successful new hire with a training platform. In the outsourcing model, this is completely managed by the outsourced organization.

3. Team-based approach- Marketing is something that requires constant brainstorming and “bouncing ideas” off one another. Without the ability to collaborate, the marketing is untested and the results will be uncertain. In the outsourcing model, we create an environment that yields the most creative and comprehensive ideas because we have many experts working together, sharing concepts, and executing based on what the team has created.

4. We Do it For You- One of the reasons business owners thoroughly enjoy the outsourcing model is because they can choose their level of involvement (which can be extremely minimal if desired). Many business coaches say, “You need to find ways to make money when you are sleeping in order to experience extreme financial abundance.” Our philosophy is, “Your marketing needs to occur when you are sleeping, vacationing, on the weekends, and when you are not thinking about it if you want your clients to begin thinking about you.” This is the reason why outsourced marketing has become the growing trend for small businesses.

5. Consistency- Whether you decide to go on a diet, work on your relationship, or market, in order to get the results you desire, you need to be consistent withyour efforts. This is why most business owners fail in marketing because their efforts are haphazard at best and the outcome is scattered. Marketing CAN’T take place only when you actually think about doing it; and instead, needs to be planned, comprehensive, and delivered through a variety of conduits. In the outsourced model, we will assure that your campaigns are regular (aka every month), creative (ever-changing), and emolectual.

6. Inexpensive- In order to succeed in marketing, you need an EXPERT. This is someone who not only really understands 21^st century communication, but also invests the time to learn about your industry, ideal client, and consistently develops new ideas. Someone like this comes with a high price tag (regardless of where you live in the world because everything is relative), because they will demand a decent salary, bonus structure, benefits, vacation time, and possibly future stock options. Most small business owners are not equipped for a hire of this nature, but within the outsourcing model, you are able to gain access to a TEAM of experts for a small,ALL INCLUSIVE monthly fee.

Disadvantages

Everything in life has duality, which means that for every positive there is an equal and opposite negative reaction. Therefore, please read the follow points which are the disadvantages of marketing.

1. Trust- If you consider yourself a micromanager who needs to feel in control of everything your business does, then outsourcing might be difficult for you. This is often the reason why many business owners plateau at undesired levels because of an inability to delegate. If this is a characteristic that you possess and you are unwilling to change, then outsourcing might be a personal battle.

2. Unique local cultural differences- This only becomes a problem if the business owner does not communicate this to their outsourced marketing team, but since the outsourced marketing firm does not reside in your area, we do not necessarily understand the cultural differences. Therefore, if you are not going to share as much information as possible about your community, then it is probably a good idea to hire an internal person to manage your marketing.

3. No Employee In-house-If your business requires someone to work in the office where they are not only going to do your marketing, but they might act as an administrative assistance, answer phones, do your billing, clean the office/business, AND do your marketing, then outsourcing is definitely not for you. Please keep in mind that marketing requires 100% attention. Therefore, if you are stretching your employees thin and you are not getting the results you desire, it might be time to reconsider your initiatives.

Okay, now you have the facts and the question that only you can answer is, “Is outsourced marketing right for you?” If you are ready to take your business to the next level or if you are unsure and would like to do more research, please complete the form below in order to schedule a free 30 minute engagement consultation with one of our expert success consultants. During this call we will give you a handful of golden ideas that you can either run with and create for yourself OR we can begin working together.