Having a strong marketing team is critical for any modern business. Yet marketing represents a significant expense for many companies. According to a February 2021 survey by Deloitte, the average marketing spend accounts for 11.7 percent of a company’s total budget. This number increases significantly for B2C organizations (15.9 percent) and by sector (19.4 percent for the education field).
Marketing needs continue to increase as new channels become necessary for many brands. This means business leaders need to make sure their organizations have a social presence, quality website, and optimized content strategy—and doing it all right takes a team of people.
However, you don’t necessarily need to hire this team in-house. Instead, you can outsource your marketing to an agency, freelancers, and remote contractors. Not only does outsourcing continue to be the better option for small business leaders who are looking to grow, but it can also help you see better results and save money.
If you’re debating whether or not to outsource your marketing team, consider these five benefits of making the switch.
1. You Can Access a Larger Pool of Expertise
A jane of all trades is a master of none. Many marketers single-handedly run the department, juggling social, search, and content campaigns. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible for them to keep up with the ever-changing trends of the marketing world while doing everything effectively and successfully.
When you outsource your marketing team, you access a larger pool of talent, which includes specialists. For example, a small marketing agency will divide team members into departments based on their expertise: an SEO specialist, a graphic designer, and a social media manager. Conversely, working with a few marketing freelancers allows you to divide common tasks like content strategy and social media management between two part-time roles.
Instead of placing the burden on one or two individuals to learn everything about marketing, leverage an outsourced team of professionals who specialize in specific areas.
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2. You Gain Access to New Tools—Without the Costs
There are multiple expenses that come with running a marketing department. Along with the salary and benefits of your staff members, you also need to pay licensing fees to the various software providers you use. While many tools (like Google Analytics and Yoast) offer free options, other services are well outside the budget of small marketing departments. This is where outsourcing makes more financial sense.
By working with an outside vendor, you can potentially gain access to tools and services that were previously too expensive to consider. For example, at Jessica Thiefels Consulting, we maintain paid accounts with tools like Later, Hootsuite, and Ahrefs, all of which we use with clients.
When interviewing potential marketing team members, ask them what software they pay for on their own and what they would expect you to pay for. For a tool like Ahrefs, which costs $99/month, this can save you upwards of nearly $1,200 annually. Add multiple tools into the mix and the savings become significant.
3. You Can Scale Your Efforts Faster
One way to increase profits is to do more with less. By outsourcing your marketing team, scaling can be easier and faster because it forces you to get clear on what matters and what doesn’t. So often, companies are simply checking the box and doing each task at less than 100 percent.
- Sending a marketing email every few months
- Posting on five different platforms without tracking the data
- Spending money on ads without knowing how to optimize
This leads to poor results, which means scaling can be harder and take longer. By hiring a freelance team or agency, you’re forced to focus on the tasks that truly move the needle. This expedites your success and allows you to scale because you’re no longer spending time or money on things that don’t matter for your growth.
Bonus: these experts can likely guide your internal leadership to help you make better marketing decisions. This support on strategy will also support faster scaling.
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4. You Can Build Your Team Around Your Budget
According to PayScale, the average salary for a marketing specialist is $51,700 per year, with a starting salary of $38,000. While a good marketing agency or team of freelancers may end up costing the same annually, you’re not paying for:
- Overhead like office space and a desk
- Health care and other benefits
- Lost time spent in meetings and unproductive time (that’s still being paid for)
Additionally, you likely won’t be paying a flat salary or annual fee to work with freelancers, contractors or an agency. Monthly retainers are most common, allowing you to scale your team up and down depending on your budget and marketing needs.
5. You Free Up Time for High-Level Leadership Needs
As a business leader, you’re responsible for the management and professional development of your internal hires. You need to guide your employees, provide the necessary resources for them to succeed, and create opportunities for them to grow. While valuable to the team members, this is a lot of work for leaders who already have a lot on their plates.
By outsourcing your marketing team, you don’t have to worry about managing someone directly. While you may still need to provide guidance and oversight to the outsourced team, your job is not to help them grow professionally or within the organization.
This frees up time for you to focus on high-level issues, challenges, and tasks.
Outsource Your Marketing Team to Reap the Benefits
When you have the right outsourced marketing team, you can scale your efforts while saving time and money. You also gain access to new tools that may be out of your budget while also working with experts in their fields who can provide strategic insight and execution.
