While the turn of the year can lead to some conversations about how marketing is going to change, with technologies like Augmented/Virtual Reality being adopted somewhat more rapidly each year – for most companies, the best way to kickstart your marketing, and do better than you did last year, means just going back to basics.
Before you get overly ambitious with your 2023 marketing resolutions that you’re probably not going to stick to (but good luck!), here’s some helpful hints that have stood the test of time, and have a bigger chance of actually having an impact on your bottom line.
When to Outsource Marketing, and When To Hire Full-Time Staff
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:
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.
Benefits of hiring a FTE (Full-Time Employee)
Benefits of Outsourcing Your Marketing to an Agency
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:
The One Marketing Employee That is Invaluable to Have In-House
When your marketing function grows to the point where you have enough going on to warrant a full-time employee, there is one place every organization should start. It’s the one hire that makes their lives, and ours as your agency partner, better from day one. The Marketing (Project) Manager. The most important part of this person’s job isn’t to be the best marketer in the room, or the best designer, or the best copywriter: it’s to make sure that everything happens on time, on budget, and that the owners, the executives, the agency partners are all on the same page with what’s going on, and things get done quickly and effectively.
At Ainsley & Co., we have Project Managers that we use on every client engagement, so you’ll get to see what we mean. But when your marketing activities increase to the point at which you’re ready to bring on someone full-time – make this your first marketing FTE, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.