Author: Nick Bonnet

You can 100% hire an agency for a single day. Heck, even a half-day at that.

Making the decision to hire an agency to outsource some, or even all, of your marketing is a big decision. It should involve interviewing several agencies, asking good questions about their capabilities and agency model, and checking references.

But before you get to that point – you have to answer the question “What Is It I Really Need?”

Our Marketing Clarity Workshops can help you answer that exact question, whether you’re planning to fully outsource your marketing, bring on an agency for help with creative and execution, or just need a kick-start to your marketing efforts.

Our Marketing Clarity Workshops are perfect for organizations looking to hit the reset button, and make sure that their marketing is aligned with their current business goals. We’ll work with your team virtually or in-person to clearly define your target audience; set clear marketing objectives; create a strategy for reaching, engaging, and moving your prospects to action; and develop a clear timeline, budget, and action plan to help your company continuously measure your results and improve performance.

Here’s what we’ll need to get started:

Get the right people in the room. More isn’t always better, but you need people that can actually make decisions and give immediate feedback. Most of the time that means your CEO, CFO, Head of Sales, several members of the sales team, any internal marketing team members.

Pick a date where folks will have the ability to focus. Picking a date at the end of the month, or end of the quarter is typically a terrible idea. Find the day and time where your team is able to put their phones down, and participate with the least amount of distractions.

Do the pre-work. Before getting everyone together, it’s helpful to establish objectives for the workshop, and get as much information as we can. This includes asking questions about budget, revenue, profitability, customer lists, goals, getting access to sales data, analytics, and more. We want to make the most of our time together, and leave with a clearly defined plan for next steps, and a little bit of pre-work goes a long way.

Trust your facilitator. Everyone in the room wants your organization to succeed, but each team will have their own priorities and responsibilities at the forefront of their minds. Our job will be to bring everyone together to deliver a cohesive marketing strategy that has a reasonable budget, will help you hit your sales goals, is on-brand, and will enhance your reputation in the marketplace.

Don’t let the time and effort that absolutely should go into hiring a long-term agency partner hold you back from making significant improvements to your marketing plans for 2024. Take advantage of our Marketing Clarity Workshop for your company, and let us show you how successful a small, dedicated team with a clear vision and common goal can be.

So much attention gets paid to the bottom of the sales and marketing funnel – those prospects that are closest to converting into a new customer – that the middle and top of the funnel can sometimes feel neglected. But watch out – if you’re not constantly filling up the top of the funnel, you’ll find yourself without anyone asking for a proposal other than those few referral that trickle in.

So what to do?

As you look to building a more robust sales and marketing machine for 2024, I’ll boil it down to a few simple ways to fill the top of your marketing funnel.

1. Create something interesting. I’m very reluctant to say “content” here because 99% of you will read that as “blog post”. And while a blog is a great platform to share content: I’d encourage you to think bigger. Come up with an original idea for a video, e-book, download, PDF, sales guide, research article, etc. Example: we recently created a Field Guide for Credit Union CEO’s for our client Think|Stack. This guide takes 5 of the most important IT themes a CEO needs to address in their first 90 days and boils it down into an easily consumable, fits-in-your-pocket piece of sales collateral. They mail this guide to new CEOs when we see a change in leadership at a credit union, offering our services as an expert in the industry in their first days on the job. We also use this guide in LinkedIn ad campaigns, on our website as gated content, and at trade shows to give to prospects offering our services. Think of a way to tell your story, and help prospects, in an interesting way.
2. Whatever you create – pay to promote it. As much as you’d like to think that your prospects sit around dreaming about you, but just can’t find your phone number – they don’t. You have to figure out an economical, impactful way to get your new shiny content in front of people, or they’ll never see it. SEO, paid ads, webinars, email marketing, industry news, heck use a billboard for all I care! Just don’t let that awesome new content sit on a shelf where only you can see it.
3. Have a plan to nurture those top of funnel prospects – or you’ll scare them off. Remember, these are top of funnel leads – they haven’t asked for a proposal, you shouldn’t put them in your sales projections. Have a plan in place to nurture them with additional email drip campaigns, social media content, retargeting ads, and more – so when they are ready to move down the funnel to the consideration phase, you’re still top of mind and ready to help them make that transition.

As we head into the last few months of 2023, and you’re planning for your 2024 lead generation machine – we’d love to help, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

We recently wrapped up our annual partnership review with one of our top B2B tech clients, and once again it ranks near the top of our most successful marketing relationships. As with any successful venture, we wanted to dig deeper to discover, document and hopefully duplicate what makes this marriage so awesome for both parties.

Background: In Q1 2022 this client hired our Founder & CEO, Tom Ainsley, to serve as their Outsourced Chief Marketing Officer, supported by an Ainsley & Co. Project Manager to help implement and manage all marketing initiatives. They have fully outsourced all of their marketing to our agency, including marketing strategy, project management, and creative services. We are accountable to the CEO and the Executive Team for all things marketing.

We sat down to have a follow-up conversation with our client to make sure we shared from both our perspective and theirs. Here’s what they shared:

Reasons They Decided to Outsource Their Marketing

01. It Allows Them to Focus on What They Do Best

Outsourcing your marketing allows your team to focus on what they do best – your core business activities. You’re not in the business of running marketing campaigns – otherwise, you’d be a marketing agency, instead of what you actually are. By outsourcing marketing responsibilities to experts, your in-house staff can dedicate their time and energy to strategic initiatives that directly impact your company’s growth and profitability.

“Focus and simplicity…once you get there, you can move mountains”
– Steve Jobs

02.  They Gain Fast Access to Specialized Skills

Marketing is a multifaceted field that encompasses various disciplines, including SEO, content marketing, graphic design, video production, email marketing, and more. Outsourcing marketing enables B2B companies to access specialized skills and expertise that may not be readily available in-house, and that you may not need full-time. You can harness the knowledge of professionals who stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends, ensuring your marketing efforts are cutting-edge. Your needs will change – outsourcing provides a flexible team who can step up when needed to work on your campaigns.

03. They Save Real Money (And Get More Done)

Outsourced marketing allows B2B companies to tap into a wealth of marketing expertise without the hefty price tag of hiring an in-house team (and paying their benefits). From strategic planning to content creation to social media management, outsourcing marketing activities can significantly reduce operational costs. This budget-friendly approach is especially advantageous for small to mid-sized enterprises looking to maximize their marketing ROI.

If you hired them full-time, here are some of the annual costs associated with an in-house marketing team, according to Salary.com:

Comparison: Our typical Fractional CMO engagement can vary between $5k – $15k/month, with wholly outsourced marketing typically costing between $8-$20k/month, depending on the scale and urgency of the client’s needs. When you outsource, say goodbye to the costs of benefits like healthcare, vacation time, retirement, taxes, etc.

04. There is a Single Point of Accountability

Outsourcing their entire marketing department has empowered them to have very clear, direct conversations about marketing performance and accountability. When they hired us, they were very clear that they wanted us to study the company, create a strategic marketing plan with the input of their executive team, and then execute it. Because we’re embedded with their team with regular weekly calls, we’re able to provide real-time updates and receive immediate feedback from the sales team on how our efforts are impacting new leads, closing ratios, and revenue goals. They’ve shared that because we’re outsourced, and can move around pieces of our creative team based on what’s working, and what’s not – they are much more likely to give direct, immediate feedback while also being bolder and open to trying something new without fear of having to hire several specialists, only to have layoffs later if needs change.

05. Scalability

The flexibility of outsourced marketing services is a game-changer for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re in a period of rapid growth or facing economic challenges, outsourcing allows you to scale your marketing efforts up or down as needed. This adaptability ensures that your marketing strategy aligns with your business goals at all times.

Our Perspective: Reasons Why The Outsourced Marketing Model is Working

01. We Have Direct Access/Seamless Integration With Their Team

Effective marketing management requires close collaboration between different teams and departments within an organization, especially the sales and marketing teams. With this client, we participate in a Sales-Tactical meeting each Monday, and a Sales-Leadership meeting each Thursday. While many of the conversations may be focused on active sales opportunities, it gives our team the direct access and insights we need to tailor the messaging and targeting of our lead gen campaigns to be as efficient as possible. It also gives the sales team confidence knowing exactly what we’re working on and provides the opportunity for them to ask for collateral they need, or provide feedback on the quality of the marketing-generated leads in the pipeline.

It doesn’t stop with the sales team. We also work with their head of Account Management, the Director of CyberSecurity, the Head of Operations, the CFO, and others to support the needs of the organization. We ARE a part of their team.

02. We Have the Authority (And They Get Accountability)

As an agency, sometimes we’re fenced in to only work on a specific project or campaign. And while we give everything we have, sometimes we don’t have the visibility or authority to make larger business decisions that ultimately could make the company more successful. In this Outsourced Marketing role, we love having the ability to dive into what an organization does really well, determine where there are growth opportunities, develop a strategy that will help them reach their growth goals, within their budget, and then execute in a way that delivers meaningful, measurable results.

When we are put in the driver’s seat for all things marketing, that means we’re ultimately responsible. And when we’re confident that we’re executing a plan founded on sound marketing principles, data-driven decision-making, and creativity – that’s exactly where we want to be.

03. Agility: The Ability to Adjust to a Fast-Changing Environment

The marketing budget should be built by both the marketing and executive management teams, and it HAS to be built with flexibility in mind. In many small and mid-sized organizations, the initial budget may go out the window in just the first few months, but that’s something marketing leadership should plan for. Your must-haves, and nice-to-haves in terms of marketing priorities should be clearly outlined, because market conditions, sales activity, cost-of-goods, backlog, and more can all warrant shifts in marketing spending. It’s our job to help the business thrive, and that means being proactive with a marketing budget that can also be flexible to adjust to changing winds.

Summary

Most small and mid-sized businesses would greatly benefit by staying laser-focused on what they produce, and how they serve their customers. An outsourced marketing team can deliver leadership, innovation, scalability, and the varied skills needed to deliver a great marketing ROI for what it would cost to carry just a few full-time employees, whether that be in marketing leadership, creative services, or project management. The business case to outsource some, or all of your marketing function for small and mid-sized businesses is clear. We’d love to have a conversation about how we can help your company scale and grow.

A full website redesign project can yield some amazing results, but for some companies – you may not have the budget, the time, or the energy to take on such a foundational project.

So does that mean you’re stuck with what you have until the stars are aligned, or you’re just so fed up with your current site you just can’t stand it anymore?

Nope.

If your current website is starting to show some signs of aging, and you want to make some immediate improvements that will help both user experience and your marketing efforts – consider a website facelift.

Yes, we’re playing with words a bit here, but maybe take a few moments to ask yourself – what are the 2-3 pages of your site that make you nuts because you know they don’t look as good as they should? Those pages that look dated, and don’t present the image you want to your prospects and customers? (For most people, it’s the Home page, Careers page, and Services page, in that order. The About Us page is next).

If you just tackled those 2-3 pages as a focused design and content project – how much happier would you be with your site?

We’ve done more than a few projects for clients just over the past 3 months where instead of tackling a full site design – with all of the internal people that would have to be involved, budget approvals, etc. – we revisited key page templates, or added a few new ones to an existing site, with great results!

Here are few reasons why a website facelift could solve a majority of your concerns without the time, energy, or budget you’d need for a full redesign:

1) It Doesn’t Have to Cost A Lot.

Building a new website from the ground up can be a substantial financial investment, because  you’re designing a completely new customer experience for every page, and every touchpoint. It involves research, planning, design, development, and testing. A website facelift, on the other hand, allows us to focus our efforts on a particular page, and ask – what do we wish this page did differently? What’s missing? What does a visitor need, that they’re not getting? Design, Dev, and Content can come together and focus on a singular page and get things done much more quickly, and usually with faster approvals from the client, resulting in a big impact for your brand, without spending a lot of money.

2) Internally, it will be much less of a pain.

We’ve built hundreds of websites over the past 13 years, and when you’re tackling a full redesign that touches so many departments – things can sometimes move slower than you’d like. The amount of input, revisions, and approvals involved in a full redesign can make a project stretch on for many months.

3) You’re making dramatic Improvements everyone will see.

Your website is most likely the most public/frequently seen element of your brand identity. By updating your Home page, Careers page, etc., you’ll be letting customers, prospects, and potential employees know that things are happening at your organization that they want to be a part of. You’ll be able to design, create, and launch updates in weeks, not months or years.

Every organization has different needs, so of course we’d love to have a conversation about your specific situation before  saying that a “Website facelift” is the best approach. But we want you to know – you don’t have to wait to completely redesign your site. By tackling a page or two at a time, you can get a lot done without spending a lot of time or money. Let’s chat about your site, and see what we can do to make a big impact before the end of the year.

If you’ve spent any time reading news headlines, on LinkedIn, or opened your email, you’ve probably seen a lot of headlines about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential (or current) transformative impact on just about every business. If you haven’t tried our ChatGPT yet – it’s the fastest way to get a sense for what AI can do, for free, in just a few minutes. (Head over using this link, create a free account, and give it a try!)

Chances are, you’re already experiencing AI in action without even realizing it.

If you’re looking for a few entry-level ways to harness the power of AI in your marketing efforts, we’d recommend starting with these easy-to-implement solutions.

• Creating Content – For Emails, Blog Posts, Social Posts:When you have an idea or theme for a blog post or other piece of content, try running it through ChatGPT. Remember, the output is only as good as the input, and it might take a few tries to get what you want, but the speed at which you can go from idea to fully baked blog content is pretty awesome. Check out these examples:
  
• Chatbot Assistance For Your Website: You can and should use chat on your website, regardlessof what industry you’re in, or how big or small your organization might be. And you don’t have to staff your chat feature with a live person – AI can handle it. Think of it as an interactive contact form, giving prospects another way to start a conversation with you, if they choose to. AI-powered chatbots engage in real-time conversations with customers, providing instant feedback to their queries, and then forwarding that conversation to you so you can get in touch with the prospect when you’re available. By automating just some of your customer service, you can offer round-the-clock support, freeing up human resources for more complex tasks and delivering a seamless customer experience. We use Formilla on our own site, and would be glad to help you get this installed on your own!
• Social Media Optimization: On social media platforms, AI algorithms work behind the scenes to optimize content delivery. Those precisely targeted ads you see? That’s AI analyzing your interests and behavior to provide relevant content. This not only boosts user engagement but also ensures businesses get the most out of their ad spend.
• Predictive Analytics: AI’s predictive capabilities allow businesses to forecast future trends and behaviors. By analyzing historical data, AI can anticipate customer preferences, potential churn, and even the most opportune moments to launch marketing campaigns. This foresight enables businesses to be proactive and adapt their marketing initiatives for maximum impact.

 
Most small and mid-sized businesses may be just starting to think about how AI can impact their business. In your marketing efforts, you have the opportunity to create more engaging content quickly, time your emails and social campaigns to reach the most people possible, leverage a chatbot on your website for the first time to better connect with prospects before you know they exist.

As a first step – we’re happy to offer a free consultation to explore ways that your company might leverage AI to have better, more timely conversations and meet customers where they are. With the right tools and processes in place, a small marketing team (even a team of 1!) can have the impact of a team 10x their size.

Let’s connect!

I know that writing a blog post about website hosting isn’t the most exciting read, so I’ll keep it short.

If your website is hosted with a cheap, hard to understand, does-not-have-US-based-support type of company – you’re at risk. 

Your website is going to go down. At some point, because of a server error, software error, hack, whatever – it’s just the nature of the internet. What happens WHEN your site goes down is what separates the winners from the losers.

Who ARE the losers, you ask? Things change over time, where good companies start to slip, so you have to be vigilant. But here are the hosts we hate the most:

1. Godaddy. The biggest offender. We have used Godaddy for buying domain names, but NEVER for hosting.
2. Hostgator
3. Bluehost
4. 1and1hosting

The Winner

We are enthusiastic supporters of WP Engine Hosting (and yes, we are a preferred partner because we send all of our clients there, in addition to hosting our own site there) for several reasons. WP Engine Hosting has consistently proven to be awesome. For all the reasons. Support, price, speed, daily backups, scalability, and specifically engineered for WordPress.

What to Expect From The Losers

1. Too Much Downtime. This impacts not only your customers’ ability to access your site, it can also cause reputational damage, and hurt SEO. It should go without saying, this is the one thing hosting companies are supposed to get right.
2. Bad Customer Support. A company’s (and person’s, while we’re at it) real colors show when there’s a problem. If you have to jump through hoops, wait forever, or just can’t get through to someone who can understand your issue and help you quickly – there’s a problem.
3. Inexperienced Technical Support. If your hosting company isn’t employing top-notch technical folks who can fix your problem, once they know what the problem is – you’re in trouble.
4. Poorly Designed User Interface. I wanted to rank this one higher, because it’s one of my biggest issues. If you can’t figure out how to do the things you want to do with your site, or get to the right resource to help you – you’re going to get real frustrated, real fast.
5. There’s more, but they’re pretty straightforward things like lack of security features, outdated software, unexplainable charges, lack of server maintenance, etc.

What to Expect From An Awesome Hosting Company

1. Blazing Fast Website Speed: WP Engine is renowned for its exceptional speed and performance. Their hosting infrastructure is optimized specifically for WordPress, resulting in lightning-fast page loading times. With WP Engine, you can ensure a seamless and enjoyable browsing experience for your website visitors, improving user engagement and boosting conversions.
2. Enhanced Website Security: Security is a top priority for any website owner, and WP Engine understands this concern. They provide robust security measures, including malware scanning and removal, firewalls, and regular updates to protect your website from potential threats. WP Engine’s team of experts actively monitors and mitigates security risks, allowing you to focus on your business without worrying about security vulnerabilities.
3. Automatic Daily Backups: WP Engine automatically creates daily backups of your website, ensuring that your data is protected and can be easily restored if needed. This feature provides peace of mind, knowing that your valuable content and files are safe from unexpected data loss or accidental deletion.
4. Scalability and Performance Optimization: As your website grows and attracts more traffic, WP Engine’s scalable infrastructure can seamlessly accommodate increased demands. Their advanced caching technology and content delivery network (CDN) ensure optimal performance even during high-traffic periods. With WP Engine, you can confidently scale your website without worrying about performance issues.
5. Expert WordPress Support: WP Engine’s customer support team consists of highly trained U.S. based WordPress experts who are available 24/7 to assist you with any technical issues or inquiries. Whether you have questions about WordPress optimization, theme selection, or plugin compatibility, their knowledgeable support staff is dedicated to providing prompt and effective solutions. If you’ve ever had to deal with GoDaddy support, you understand how important good support can be!
6. Optimized for WordPress: WP Engine focuses solely on WordPress hosting, which means they have specialized expertise in the platform. Their servers and infrastructure are fine-tuned for optimal WordPress performance, ensuring that your website operates smoothly and efficiently.

If you’ve been having issues with downtime, slow load times, or trouble with support it might be time to switch providers. Our clients and partners can sign up through our referral link and gain access to four months of hosting for free!

Whether you’re thinking about outsourcing your entire marketing function by partnering with an agency, or just leveraging a creative services team to work with your in-house staff, our agency is ready to help. Here are 8 ways  that outsourcing some of all of your marketing to an agency in can give your organization a strategic marketing advantage.

01. Marketing Leadership.

Without the right marketing strategy, you’ll likely waste time, money, and energy by focusing on the wrong tactics, or delivering a message that doesn’t differentiate you from the crowd, or doesn’t move your prospects to action. Before social media, start building a new website, or worry about SEO or PPC or LinkedIn – bring an experienced marketing leader into the conversation to help you build a strategic marketing plan that will help you meet your goals within the budget that you have allocated for marketing. For the past 13+ years, our team has helped hundreds of organizations make smart marketing decisions that have helped them to grow and thrive. We’re here to help you make calculated, informed decisions that will get your business where you want it to be.

02. Getting Things Done – Fast.

Important projects with tight deadlines are the norm for us. Our typical clients come to us because they have a trade show, a conference, an investor meeting, or a budget deadline that they need to be ready for, and are a bit behind in getting started. No problem. Whatever your needs, we have the team, the network, and the experience to get things done quickly and effectively. Our clients know that we don’t overextend ourselves either – we always have some flexibility to help them knock out a priority project with time to spare.

03. Creatives On Demand: Design, Development, Video Editors & More.

You’re going to need more than just a CMO, or a Marketing Manager. The typical roles required in a given year include a CMO; Marketing Manager; Graphic Designer; Web Developer; Digital Marketing Specialist; Copywriter; Videographer/Editor; and potentially others as well. You just don’t have them all the time – you need them to play their part in the execution of your marketing campaigns; and then be ready if you need them again. Working with an agency ensures you have access to the right talent, and a team that has worked together before, and only have to pay them when you need them.

04. Access to Better Tools & Analytics (Without the Cost).

Beyond the talent, you’ll need the tools they need to get the job done. Agencies make a large investment in the tools they need to support their clients, both in terms of the cost and training on how to use those tools. Adobe Creative Cloud, advanced analytics, web dev tools, stock photos/video, Basecamp, Teamwork, Hubspot and more – we have a lot of tools at our disposal to help you get the job done.

05. Seamlessly Move from Strategy to Implementation.

While we will continue to preach about the necessity of strategy in the beginning of any marketing exercise to make sure you’re headed in the right direction – eventually it’s time to start getting things done. With an agency, and a fixed monthly budget, you can seamlessly move from the strategy phase into execution with your creative team without having to keep paying for the strategist as a full-time employee. Sure, you’ll want to validate the strategy, and confirm you’re getting the results you need – but having a team where you can throttle up or down the resources you need gives you a huge advantage.

06. Learn from Our Experience.

We’ve worked with hundreds of clients over the past 13 years, some that we’ve been supporting from year 1! They include clients in healthcare, financial services, non-profits, government agencies, government contractors, home improvement specialists, technology companies, biotechs, and more. You’ll get the benefit of lessons learned over more than a decade in marketing, communications, and creative services.

07. No employee benefits or liability.

If you’re going to need a specific skill set for 1800 hours a year, and feel that you can manage, motivate, and train that person, then by all means hiring them full time is a no brainer. But rarely is that the case. With an agency, you have the ability to pay for only what you need, with no long-term commitment, office space, overhead, benefits or taxes as part of the deal. We’re here when you need us, and it’s our job to make sure we have the skilled team members you need, when you need them, ready to work on your projects to help your business grow.

08. No long-term commitment required.

We typically start each engagement with a clearly defined project with a strict deadline and a clear budget. It’s our commitment to deliver an exceptional result for you in that first project, and earn your trust and your business for a long time. But even once we do – there’s no long-term commitment required to work with us. We’re here for you with the same energy and commitment every month, for as long as you need our help.

Just for fun – we’ve written this post in our best “pharma tv ad” tone of voice. Enjoy 🙂

Are you or someone you know experiencing moderate to severe content marketing paralysis?

Symptoms include case studies that are still in your head, blog posts that have been assigned to your team but haven’t been written, and outdated copy describing your services on your website. More than half of the companies we surveyed reported at least one of these symptoms.

The good news is we can help. Ainsley & Co. believes two things very strongly when it comes to creating content for companies that feel stuck.

1. The best content has to come from your people, not pulled out of thin air by some ghostwriter…
2. But they should 100% not be the ones assigned to write that content.

There are several reasons we would recommend this approach.

First, regarding the source of the content. The most relevant, timely, and interesting content comes from your employees that are working daily with your clients, helping them solve problems and guiding them to success. Those are the things you want to highlight and share.

Second, you have to prevent procrastination due to the unknown. If writing persuasive, engaging content for the web isn’t their full-time job, typically the writing assignment gets pushed behind any number of work emergencies that creep up in a typical day.

And lastly, maintaining a clear voice. Each member of your team likely possesses a unique background, training, and style when it comes to writing. Keeping a consistent tone to your audience is important.

How do we do this?

It’s simple. We talk directly with your people on the topics we’ve discussed, ghostwrite content in a consistent voice, publish, and distribute that content to drive people back to your site. We’ve interviewed partners of a law firm on their lunch break; visited job sites with drones to capture land development project updates; conducted early morning calls with shareholders of an accounting firm on their morning commute; and consistently delivered regular content, in their voice, that they use to connect with their key audiences on a regular basis.

We publish these blogs to their website, share through social media, distribute through email newsletters, and submit as thought leadership to associations and trade organizations, all in an effort to keep your firm top of mind with the audiences most important to you.

If you’re suffering from moderate to severe content marketing paralysis – we can help.

Benefits of hiring a FTE (Full-Time Employee)

• They are dedicated 100% to you, you control all of their work time
• If you’re going to need them more than 800 hours/year – you’ll save money paying them a salary rather than what a contractor would most likely cost.
• They’ll (theoretically) know your business better because that’s their sole place of employment. They’re just there more.

Benefits of Outsourcing Your Marketing to an Agency

• Access to the specific skills you need, when you need them.
• A team that has worked together on various projects.
• Broader experience and perspective.
• Fixed-costs – no benefits to be paid, or employee-based risk.
• An outsider’s perspective (not scared to tell the hard truth, rock the boat because of internal politics)

The reason that so many companies outsource a large part, if not all of their marketing function, is this: “You need A LOT of different skills, but you may not need them for very long”

The Skill Sets You’ll Need Throughout the Year

• Senior-level Strategy
• Copywriter
• Media Planner/Buyer
• Graphic Designer
• Back-End Web Developer
• Front-End Web Developer
• Marketing Coordinator
• Videographer
• Photographer
• Video Editor
• SEO Specialist
• Paid Search Specialist
• Social Media Coordinator
• Event Planner
• Audio Engineer

For many small to mid-sized businesses that are looking to accelerate and improve their marketing functions, they have a decision to make: should they hire full-time staff positions with salaries, benefits and potentially 1,880 working hours in a year to dedicate to their companies? Or do they outsource all, or parts of their marketing function to a full-service agency, a fractional Chief Marketing Officer, or a combination of multiple marketing services companies each filling different roles? Every situation is different, and we’re obviously in the business of helping companies who choose to outsource part of all of the marketing functions for their business – but here are a few tips to help you navigate this business challenge.

Where to Start, No Matter What

You have to start with a marketing plan. If you don’t have a strategic marketing plan, you can’t have any idea of what skill set you actually need, whether for an employee, or a services firm.

As a business owner, your strategic marketing plan can come from 1 of 3 places:

1. If you’re a marketer, you can build it yourself, and hire the people necessary to execute it with you being responsible for day-to-day management;
2. You can hire a full-time CMO or VP of Marketing, and then a staff;
3. Or – You can hire a Fractional CMO or an agency that offers Fractional CMO services for a short period of time with the assignment of studying your business, and creating a workable marketing plan for the year ahead.

Without a strategic marketing plan complete with a budget, goals, and expected results, you will have no idea what skills you’ll need to execute that plan. So before you worry about hiring that designer, or social media expert, or marketing coordinator – you need a marketing plan complete with business goals, marketing goals, messaging, tactics, roles, and expected outcomes, and a clear plan and budget for how to get things done.