Why to Outsource Your Marketing in 2016?

Everyday you are pulled in a thousand different directions. It is impossible for you to build a successful business while you wear so many hats. Should you consider outsourcing your marketing in 2016 so you can focus on other aspects of your business? READ MORE to find out some benefits to letting the experts execute your marketing next year. 

Is growing your business’ marketing reach one of your 2016 business goals? It should be! Marketing is the driving factor that supports lead acquisition, sales and customer service to help you grow your business. Your initial gut feeling may be to execute your business’s marketing yourself. However, in this blog, you will find why it is cheaper AND smarter to outsource your marketing to a professional.

Similar to fellow Business Warrior Tammy Stifel’s blog “Have you ever had this great idea, ‘it is easier and cheaper to do the bookkeeping myself’?”, by spending your time to market your own business, you are wasting MORE time (and time is money) learning the marketing industry’s best practices and executing them yourself. As a business owner, your expertise is better spent managing your business and leading your team. Hand your marketing to an outsourced partner who can provide years of experience and an outside, strategic perspective.

Even if a company has its own marketing department, a relationship with a marketing agency frees up in-house personnel for certain responsibilities, so they can play into their own strengths. If an organization does not maintain its own marketing staff, outsourcing can provide a full-fledged marketing strategy, support and deliverables, while allowing the business to focus on its core competencies.

Here are more common reasons more businesses are choosing to outsource their marketing:

1. Media and discipline neutrality: As a business owner, you are bombarded with media reps trying to solicit sales for their advertising mediums. Because these reps exist to sell their services, they will not give you unbiased marketing advice. An outsourced team has a different objective: to identify and deploy the proper media mix based on a strategic analysis of your company’s goals, market position and budget.
2. Reduced overhead: Outsourcing marketing is on average cheaper than hiring another in-house employee. You can also avoid or reduce the cost of additional office space, computers, vendor relationships and access to credit that is sometimes required when marketing projects are handled in-house.
3. An outside perspective: This advantage is invaluable. Outside the company culture and office politics, an outsourced marketing agency can supply an objective viewpoint that is difficult for any company’s executives to consistently maintain.
4. Maintaining momentum: Every company experiences business fluctuations. When economic factors mandate staff reductions, or when key people leave to pursue other opportunities, crucial projects can become stalled for lack of time, attention and resource deployment. Through outsourcing, marketing initiatives will still be implemented, no matter what changes take place internally.
5. One invoice per month, instead of many: Need I say more?

Increase your marketing in 2016 without taking on more work through outsourcing. Before deciding on an outsourcing firm, check out this blog for guidelines on how to choose your marketing partner.

Do You Want To Make Front Page News?

Public relations is often a second thought in the grand scheme of your marketing plan, but when used strategically it can make a lasting impact on your business.

In the industry, public relations is defined as earned media. Unlike advertising, which you pay for, public relations doesn’t cost a penny! Instead, it gets its traction by hooking the media with a juicy story. Through the power of a solid media relations strategy, your business can make front page news!

A press release is the most common form of communication between a business and a media outlet. Journalists are very receptive to press releases, especially when a great story falls into their lap! In turn, your business gets priceless media coverage that acts similarly as a word-of-mouth endorsement from the news outlet!

The point of public relations is to build relationships with the media. That means getting in front of their face regularly over anything and everything that is newsworthy! Below are a couple subjects we suggest utilizing for press-worthy content (but of course, we believe anything can be newsworthy if you spin it the right way):

• Milestone year for your organization
• Promoting an upcoming event
• Commenting on a topic currently in the news
• Sharing how your organization celebrates a national observance
• Bragging about an award you won
• A special interest story regarding your organization

It’s not enough to have a compelling story. The way you pitch the story to the reporter is half the battle! Find a media contact that has covered a similar story or is the editor of the section that your story would be categorized in. Compose an email explaining why their readers or viewers would find your story interesting. Create a subject line that is eye catching and a bit ambiguous to entice them to open your email!

Lastly, follow up with your media contacts if you haven’t heard back from them. This is the way you take control over whether your story is published. Call your media contact asking if they have received your press release and if they have any information on your story. More often than not, your press release got lost in his or her inbox. By having a conversation with the media personnel, you have more time to pitch your idea to them and persuade them to run your story. Speaking with them will also build rapport with the press, which is vital for creating a relationship with them.

Make 2016 the year of the press release. Form a bond with local press by pitching them a story once a month. By forming a strong relationship with the media, they will see you as a thought leader in your industry and will reach out to you for more stories.