Allocating money for marketing is one of the most crucial investments a business can make. You could have the best service or product in the world, but potential customers won’t know you exist without the right marketing.
Maybe your Instagram posts aren’t getting the engagement you’d like, your Facebook ads aren’t converting, and your newsletter open rate has gradually gone stale. Perhaps you can’t even find your website on the first [or second] results page when your potential customers search for your services. If your company lacks the knowledge and experience to sustain its marketing department, outsourced marketing can be a cost-effective way to bolster your marketing efficiency.
This article will explore the benefits of outsourced marketing and how to get started.
Key Points
- Outsourced marketing refers to hiring a third-party company to complete various marketing tasks.
- Outsourced marketing is used by various organizations and individuals, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), startups, large corporations, nonprofit organizations, and professional services firms.
- Some marketing activities you can outsource to a third party include content marketing, PPC campaigns, and influencer marketing.
- There are numerous reasons to outsource your marketing: you are planning for growth, you don’t want to commit to a long-term contract, you want to run integrated campaigns, and your website is outdated and lacks content.
- Top marketing agencies with remarkable outsourcing services include O8, Vajra Global, and 365 Outsource.
What Is Outsourcing in Marketing?
Outsourced marketing refers to hiring a third-party company to complete your various marketing tasks. Marketing an e-commerce business involves many initiatives, such as creating email campaigns, SEO-optimized content marketing, and concocting savvy social media marketing strategies.
Each of these initiatives requires a different skill set, and you may not have the resources to hire a full in-house marketing team. When you outsource marketing, you hire a third-party marketing company to complete some or all of those tasks. That allows you to access the expertise of individuals specializing in each area to save the time and money to acquire those skills in-house.
Who Uses Outsourced Marketing?
Outsourced marketing is used by a variety of organizations and individuals, including:
- Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs): Often, SMEs lack the resources to maintain a full in-house marketing team, so they outsource to access specialized skills and expertise.
- Startups: Startups frequently outsource marketing to scale quickly, manage costs, and focus on core business activities.
- Large Corporations: Even large companies with established marketing departments may outsource specific tasks or campaigns to gain fresh perspectives specialized skills, or handle overflow work.
- Nonprofit Organizations: Nonprofits often outsource marketing to maximize their limited resources and ensure professional quality in their marketing efforts.
- Professional Services Firms: Law firms, accounting firms, and other professional services firms may outsource marketing to professionals who understand how to reach and engage their target clients.
How Much Does Outsourcing Marketing Cost?
The cost of outsourced marketing varies depending on how much you want to outsource. The first step is to decide your budget. Outsourcing is often very cost-effective and certainly costs much less than employing marketing experts. Cognique will tailor a marketing package to fit almost any budget, and advice combined with a friendly chat is always free of charge.
What to Expect When You Outsource Marketing Activities
Here are some marketing activities you can outsource to a third party and what you can anticipate from outsourcing them:
#1. Outsourcing Content Marketing
Many companies outsource their content by having agencies and freelancers write blog content. Or create content like videos, infographics, ebooks, and case studies.
And content marketing is an excellent place to begin if you want to outsource your digital marketing because:
- It’s easy to find talented content creators. You can find freelancers and agencies on Fiverr, Upwork, Semrush Content Marketplace, and Semrush Agency Partners.
- Planning and creating content is time-intensive. Outsourcing frees up your time to focus on other things.
- It’s easy to scale content marketing when someone else is doing it. You can start small and increase the content you need as your digital marketing strategy evolves.
If you want to outsource your content marketing, the more information you can provide your agency or freelancer, the better.
Creating a content brief for your agency or freelancer can help. This content brief should include:
- What is the goal of the content? For example, it could generate leads, increase brand awareness, or promote your business as a thought leader.
- Who the target audience is
- What keywords do you want to include (if relevant)
- The main points you want to cover
- How long the content should be?
It’s also important to agree on how much time should be spent on each piece and how many deliverables there will be. This is to ensure you get the amount of content you expect. You can start generating content ideas for the third party to execute using Topic Research.
Just enter a seed keyword (a broad search term related to your business) and click “Get content ideas.”
#2. Outsourcing PPC Campaigns
Some businesses outsource pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns on Google Ads, Microsoft, and social media. This includes setting up campaigns, designing advertising assets, and optimizing campaigns for the best results.
PPC advertising is a good marketing channel to outsource because it allows you to take advantage of specialized knowledge that you might not have in your company. However, it’s important to understand what you want to achieve from your PPC campaigns before working with an agency or freelancer.
That might be:
- Improved brand awareness
- More leads
- Increased sales
This will steer the third party in choosing which platform(s) and campaign types to use.
#3. Outsourcing Influencer Marketing
An outsourced influencer marketing specialist will identify potential influencers to work with, create engaging campaign ideas, and help you measure the success of your campaigns.
The more details you can provide to your agency or freelancer, the better the results they’ll be able to generate for your organization. So, make sure to provide them with a brief that contains:
- The goals you want to achieve. For example, more sales, increased website traffic, backlinks to your website
- The social media platforms you’re most interested in
- The target audience you want to promote your business to
- Information about the product or service you want to promote, including unique selling points
- Your budget
You can also provide additional information about any previous influencer campaigns you’ve carried out. And examples of influencer campaigns you like.
Read also: How to Create the Best Influencer Marketing Campaigns: A Comprehensive Strategy Guide
Why Outsource Your Marketing?
There are numerous reasons to outsource your marketing, but it comes down to cost and effectiveness for most businesses. Using an outsourced team can cost less and deliver a better return on investment (ROI), as outsourcing generally gives you access to a broader pool of expertise.
Growing your business through marketing will require investment—this could be your time, the time of your staff, or the budget to outsource your marketing activity. The option for your business depends on your and your team’s expertise and growth ambitions. Outsourcing your digital marketing could greatly benefit your business, saving growth, saving you time and money, and helping you achieve a better return on your marketing investment.
Outsourcing isn’t right for every business, but it could be beneficial for you if:
#1. You Are Planning for Growth
Planning for business growth? Outsourcing your marketing can help you get where you want to be quicker, with fewer overheads than employing full-time staff to cover all marketing specialisms. Outsourcing is particularly useful for businesses looking to grow as it provides more scalability and flexibility than an internal marketing team.
#2. You Don’t Want to Commit to a Long-Term Contract
One of the biggest benefits of outsourcing your marketing is that there’s no long-term commitment. Most firms operate on short or rolling contracts, so you can try out marketing activity without committing to long-term, allowing you to test it and see what works for your business. I recommend trialling any marketing activity for at least six months; this allows you to understand your business properly, prepare a marketing plan, and start seeing early results.
#3. You Want to Run Integrated Campaigns
If you want to run multiple campaigns across online and offline channels, an outsourced team will deliver both at a much-reduced cost. Using a team with a broad range of skills means you can launch integrated campaigns confidently, which is tricky to do with a smaller in-house team.
#4. Your Website Is Outdated and Lacks Content
Is your website showing signs of age? Maybe the design is outdated, it’s not responsive, or it simply doesn’t reflect the power of your business. Outsourcing your marketing and website to the right agency gives power to your online presence. Poor website content makes it harder for customers to find you when they need you and negatively affects search engine ranking. You’ll also be limited to what you can share on social media or email newsletters. Worse still, there’s no way for visitors to get to know and trust you.
What Are the Benefits of Outsourced Marketing?
Before you commit to outsourcing, consider what you want out of the relationship and what you’re willing to put into it.
Outsourcing our marketing was a game-changer for our small business some years back. During that period, I juggled product development, customer service, and marketing; when we first started, it was a whole lot of stress. The quality of our products suffered, and I was literally burning out. However, hiring an external marketing team brought fresh ideas and expertise. They ran targeted campaigns, optimized our online presence, and engaged with customers in ways I never imagined. Sales soared, and I finally had time to focus on what I love—creating great products. Seeing our brand grow with their help was incredible. This encounter wasn’t just a business decision; it was the best investment I ever made.
Although third-party companies can provide the same deliverables you’d receive from an in-house team, they require different processes to manage and use them. Here are more benefits of outsourcing the marketing for your business.
#1. New Perspectives and Skills
We have all gotten stuck in a routine at times, which leads us to use the same strategies or tactics without weighing other options. Outsourcing marketing is a great way to get out of that routine since people with a new perspective on your business can offer you new ideas to innovate your strategy from another point of view.
In addition, when a campaign does not work or achieve the expected results, agencies are faster at looking for and finding solutions due to their experience and know-how. It should also be noted that these agencies have a staff of expert marketing professionals and a portfolio of clients from whom they have garnered best practices.
#2. Improve Overall Cost-Effectiveness
The average cost of hiring an employee is $4,700, according to SHRM research.
Advertising, screening, and interviewing are just a fraction of the fees. There’s also the cost of onboarding and training, which amounts to around $1,071 per learner. And then you’ve got the lost productivity of marketing managers to consider, technology investments, and ongoing costs like employee salaries and benefits.
All this is to say that outsourcing to an agency is much cheaper.
Outsourcing involves hiring an entire team of marketing experts rather than one individual employee, typically at a lower cost. You don’t have to provide training or benefits or purchase as many expensive technologies. So, you can enjoy serious long-term cost advantages.
#3. Save Yourself Time
Everything takes time, and marketing is no exception. Whether brainstorming new content, managing an existing ad campaign, or responding to a social media comment, marketing is a full-time job. That’s why many companies outsource their marketing — their team just doesn’t have the time to do it all and well.
If you’re struggling to find the time to manage your marketing, you should think about outsourcing.
#4. Leverage Advanced Tools and Technologies
Marketers rely on a wide range of tools to execute strategies. We could continue these, including marketing analytics technologies, design tools, CRMs, media monitoring tools, and marketing automation. Accessing these tools (especially as a startup or SME) is costly and requires a fair amount of onboarding.
So, one of the most enjoyable benefits of outsourcing marketing is that you get access to these tools without having to purchase them yourself. Agencies use the most cutting-edge tools and technologies to deliver the best results to their clients.
Once again, this gives you a competitive edge.
For businesses that don’t have the budget to undergo complete legacy application modernization, outsourcing to access the most up-to-date technologies is a step in the right direction.
#5. Increased Efficiency and Prevent Employee Burnout
Burning out is not something you will want to experience, whether as an employer or employee. A recent study by Upcity considered increased efficiency the most important benefit of outsourcing marketing. This is hardly surprising—a marketer’s to-do list is painfully long. There often aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done, which can result in lowered productivity, employee burnout, and unmet goals.
Outsourcing unloads marketing tasks onto external professionals, improving the efficiency of your in-house operations. Let your internal marketing team leave the stressful, complex, and technical stuff to the specialized agency. Instead, they can focus on core business competencies, strengthening the foundations of your marketing strategies to help maximize returns.
You also increase efficiency in the recruitment process. Tech recruitment systems are a big help if you want to source employees, but finding and onboarding outsourced teams is much easier.
How to Implement Outsourcing Into Your Business
After going through the reasons and benefits of outsourcing your marketing, this section of the guide will give you a detailed and comprehensive checklist guide on how to implement it into your business. Check out our checklist guide below:
What Is the Difference Between Outsourcing and Insourcing Marketing?
Insourcing and outsourcing involve delegating tasks that are not part of your organization’s core services. However, the main difference lies in who is entrusted with the job.
Insourcing
Insourcing marketing is when a company assigns new tasks or projects to employees within the organization. This might involve hiring new employees or expanding the company’s facilities to accommodate more operations.
Outsourcing
On the other hand, outsourcing marketing means delegating tasks or services to third-party vendors. For example, these may be tasks that you don’t have the internal resources to undertake without additional hiring or specialized training. Companies will usually outsource non-core processes such as payroll or customer support.
Outsourced Marketing Company
Internal marketing teams are constantly stretched thin, struggling to launch and complete marketing campaigns. To alleviate the pressure, you can outsource marketing services to marketing outsourcing companies offering the services you need. It’s a common practice observed by businesses worldwide and made even more efficient with remote connection technologies.
A Deloitte study found that 65% of professionals focus more on their core functions when outsourcing other tasks. This supports the growth of business process outsourcing, which is expected to reach $525.2 billion by 2030.
But with the proliferation of outsourced marketing companies, how do you choose the best one for your business? I’ve listed below the top marketing agencies with remarkable outsourcing services.
#1. O8
- Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.
- Founded: 2010
- No. of employees: 11 – 50
O8 provides outsourced marketing services with in-house quality. This means you’ll feel like you’re working with direct hires while paying only a fraction of the usual cost. O8 goes beyond typical outsourced marketing agencies by providing fractional marketing teams made exclusively of industry experts.
These experts augment your team, bringing targeted expertise at crucial moments. You can directly communicate with them and receive real-time feedback, ensuring transparency over your marketing strategies. Working with a fractional marketing team is also cost-efficient since you save on administrative costs and avoid agency markups.
O8 has experts in various digital technologies, such as HubSpot, WordPress, Pantheon, and more. They boast 95% client retention and have delivered over 500 projects in 12 years. They promise always to put data before their opinions and provide unique approaches. O8 claims to be nimble, agile, and proactive while giving you complete control over the engagement.
Key Services:
- Web Development
- Digital Marketing
- SEO
- User Experience
- Social Media Strategy
- Conversion Optimization
- PPC
#2. Vajra Global
- Location: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
- Founded: 2016
- No. of employees: 51 – 200
Vajra Global recognizes that companies utilize marketing outsourcing services to become more profitable. Outsourcing marketing services gives you end-to-end expertise and a growth launchpad. Vajra accomplishes this expectation by creating a marketing strategy to give you brand recall and loyalty.
They further empower this strategy with a relevant tech stack for your audience. Vajra Global will care for design, content, and analytics by offering holistic marketing outsourcing services. They follow the 4E approach to marketing outsourcing: expertise, excellence, efficiency, and experience.
They’ve generated over 100 million USD (B2B pipeline) for 10 clients across 3 countries. Some of these notable clients include Focus, Aloha, and TechFetch.
Key Services:
- Digital Marketing
- Paid Media
- Social Media
- Content Strategy
- Creative Design
- Website Development
- SEO
- Data Analytics
#3. 365 Outsource
- Location: Makati City, Manila, Philippines
- Founded: 2009
- No. of employees: 51 – 200
365 Outsource is an outsourced marketing company based in the Philippines, one of the leading outsourcing destinations for various services. The Philippines balances high quality and low cost, giving you access to top-notch marketing specialists for affordable prices.
The company guarantees results by developing systems to help you view the work in progress and provide complete solutions for every problem. They work with small businesses to huge enterprises and have tailored packages for each business type.
They also exceed your expectations by providing added value with each service, such as free SEO proposals that other competitors will already charge, regardless of whether you buy the service. Their services meet global standards, and their marketing specialists have in-depth knowledge of their fields. You can expect a digital solution tailored to your needs, industry, customer, and products/services.
Key Services:
- SEO Outsourcing
- White Label SEO
- Content Writing
- Link Building
- Paid Media
- Social Media Marketing
- Web Development
Is Outsourcing Marketing a Good Idea?
Yes, outsourced marketing is a good idea.
Can Businesses Outsource Marketing to Overseas Agencies or Contractors?
It is perfectly legal to outsource marketing services to international agencies; many companies already outsource services like IT and customer service overseas. Be sure to interview and evaluate work samples to find a reliable partner and confirm that your working hours align—time differences can make communicating effectively with an outsourced marketing partner harder.
Bottom Line
The success of your business depends on marketing—but managing it all yourself can quickly become overwhelming. Outsourcing is the perfect solution for businesses that lack the time, budget, and expertise to handle all of their marketing activities.
By enlisting the services of a specialized agency, you can leverage the vast expertise of a team of professionals. Equipped with in-depth knowledge and cutting-edge technologies, they can execute the strategies you need to meet your marketing goals.
So, is outsourcing your marketing the right choice? Hopefully, this article has helped you see where outsourcing might work in your business.
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