When Should You Outsource Marketing?

Due to budgets and simplicity, many businesses initially choose to handle digital marketing themselves. As your marketing strategy evolves and the work needed to maintain it becomes more time-intensive, you may find that you start thinking about outsourcing it.

Of course, there are benefits to both options. Doing your own marketing means you have flexibility over how much you spend, what you do and when you do it, but handing it over to another company can free you up to focus more on business-centric tasks. There are many advantages to outsourcing elements of your marketing but these will only be realized if it's the right decision for your company.

Here are some key signs that it may be time to outsource your digital marketing:

Your marketing strategy is having limited results

One of the biggest signs that you need to outsource is that you aren't getting the expected results from your digital marketing campaign. This may be in terms of revenue or engagement, but if you're not hitting your targets then you know something needs to change. Most businesses measure success of any strategy on ROI as it's one of the clearest ways that you can see whether your efforts are driving more profits.

Stilted results in this area may be a problem with your actual marketing strategy or something else entirely, such as your website design, which is something that specialists can help you resolve. You can get consultancy support to develop your digital marketing and find out where you may be going wrong. Then you can decide whether you want to outsource the marketing workload on a continual basis or whether it’s worth investing the time and effort yourselves.

Digital marketing is taking too much time

A good indication that you need external support is that the professionals you have running your marketing simply don't have enough time to do everything they need to. If you are struggling to meet deadlines or to keep on top of industry trends, it can be a good idea to change something.

In digital marketing, it's incredibly important that you are able to stay ahead of the curve and find the best ways your brand can fit into the latest trends. Outsourcing can allow you to have the insight of specialists who are more geared into upcoming changes and can help you identify how this can complement your business.

Instead of looking to hire another person to take some of the workload off them, you may want to consider going to a third-party to alleviate the burden. This can have the added effect of upskilling your internal staff, as well as giving them the support they need. You may also find that developing your marketing strategy is a lot easier for the company you're outsourcing it too as you have your employees to guide them on brand values and tone of voice.

There's a lack of data

Proper marketing strategies are based on data and results, and if you find that yours is simply based on people's assumptions, you may need to outsource it. Often when companies start doing their own digital marketing, there can be little or no strategy. This isn't only going to limit the results, but could find you wasting time and money.

Marketing specialists will be able to develop a complete strategy that echoes your brand values and complements any other online presence you have. Each campaign should start with a brainstorming session, followed by a determining of the goals, metrics and KPIs to benchmark success. This allows you to measure and track the strategy over time and see where improvements can be made. If you don't have the time for this process, you should seriously consider a marketing agency.

Cohesion is a problem

The most effective campaigns will be cohesive across all digital marketing channels. If you're finding that there's one plan for your Twitter, another for your blog and a completely separate idea for your website, it may be time to outsource. If you want your brand to appear authentic, which is the best way to encourage loyalty among consumers, you need to have strategies that complement each other.

Marketing specialists will ensure that all of your channels align to give you a consistent brand voice and engage your followers.