Substance and Style

The simplest answer to whether you should outsource marketing is that you should outsource when your own marketing efforts take up time and resources that are better spent elsewhere. Here are some specifics to consider before making any decisions:

1. The integrity of your brand. If you choose to outsource marketing, you must protect your brand’s voice, tone, and visual style. Make sure whoever does the work is taking this part seriously; the time and money you save is not worth it if you confuse your customers. You need to present a cohesive identity across all channels. A good marketing professional will already understand this, but you should have a conversation about it upfront.

2. Your goals. If you decide to outsource marketing (or even if you do marketing in house) you need to clearly communicate your goals. It’s easy to make assumptions about what people hope to accomplish. It’s important that you know what you want and that anyone doing work for you knows what you expect in terms of outcomes. 

3. Cost. It’s a given that outsourcing is going to cost less overall than an employee, mostly because outsourcing saves you in taxes, insurance, and employee benefits. Agencies and even freelancers are also more likely to already have access to expensive tools and equipment you would otherwise have to pay for if your employees needed them. If cost is your only concern, outsourcing probably makes the most sense. 

4. Time, energy, and expertise. Think about what you and your team already do, whether you’re spread too thin or able to take on more, and how efficiently you can do everything that needs to be done. You can always adjust your marketing plans to fit the time you have now and the level you’re at if that makes more sense for your business. If you outsource to someone who has more of all of these things, you can likely get results quicker. It’s just a matter of how much you are doing versus how much you need to do to be effective. 

5. Culture. If you’re concerned that outsourced marketing materials won’t capture the vibe of your business, especially if it’s unique, you should only hire someone if you can find a way to convey your culture. After all, it’s probably what sets you apart and a main focus of your marketing efforts.  

6. Control. If you are the kind of person who needs to have a lot of control over the workflow and time of your staff, or if your business requires precision timing on all fronts, you might not want to outsource marketing or anything else. You should be particularly wary of hiring freelancers in this situation, as there are fairly strict rules around 1099 workers and you could be on the hook for financial damages if you treat a 1099 worker as an employee. On the other hand, if you are in a position to let go of the reins, set a deadline, and let people accomplish tasks on their own, you should have no problem with outsourcing. 

7. Security. If your work involves new inventions or requires government security clearances, you will obviously need to think about security issues when outsourcing any kind of work. Most marketing professionals are willing to get required clearances and sign NDAs, but that will definitely cost extra. 

8. Trends. If your target market is younger or your advertising is focused on social media, you will want to stay more on top of trends than other businesses. Outsourcing is probably a good fit in this case as professionals are more likely to be on top of trends, especially if they service multiple accounts for multiple clients. 

9. Perspective. In most cases, a set of fresh eyes is valuable. Sometimes business owners know their businesses so well, and are so accustomed to what needs to be done and why, they have trouble seeing new opportunities or updating old ideas. Marketing professionals have likely done research on your target market already. They may be aware of demographic or sociographic trends you aren’t privy to, particularly if it’s been a while since you did research and constructed your buyer personas. In fact, just having a conversation about your marketing strategy with a marketing professional may force you to think critically about your business and do a deeper dive into your audience than you have in a long time. 

10. Who the marketer is and where you found them. Obviously, if you decide to hand over your business’s marketing, you need to be sure you can count on the person or team you hire. Talk to them, take note of who they have worked with, visit their website, read their content, etc. Depending on your budget and the size of your business, you may want to go with someone in your local network because they are easier to trust initially. Other times, it makes sense to go with a much bigger company, especially if you are outsourcing a much larger workload. Sometimes a single freelancer will do. If you use a service to find a freelancer (fiverr, etc.), use caution. There are a lot of quality workers on these sites; most of the good ones are taking bad pay to make ends meet and build up a portfolio of work. However, even if you find a quality candidate, you probably aren’t going to be able to have a deep conversation with them about your business and your goals. Also, there are plenty of people on those services who aren’t especially good at what they do. My advice is to start with a small one-off project and, if you’re happy with the results, try to use that same freelancer in the future.  

11. Partial outsourcing. Outsourcing marketing doesn’t have to be an all or nothing proposition. As long as you can create a cohesive brand, there’s no reason you can’t handle what you want to and delegate the rest to someone else. It’s common to hire a consultant to create a strategy (for marketing as a whole, email, or social media). It’s also common to hire a content creator for social posts, newsletters, or blogs. Depending on the scope and purpose of your marketing campaigns, you may want to hire someone to analyze your data.

There is no one solution that makes sense for everyone. Every marketing decision comes down to who you want to reach and why. When deciding whether to outsource (and what to outsource when), the bottom line is that you should carefully consider everything above, and outsource if and when it makes sense for your personal business goals.