When you own and operate a business, there are a lot of things that you have to think about. The amount of time that you spend working on customer care and marketing, for example, can be overwhelming. In digital marketing and customer care, there are plenty of tools to help you save time but you still need someone to manage the platform for you. That’s why you often hear about companies “outsourcing” their marketing and customer care to other companies or agencies. Doing so frees up time for the business owners to work on growing their companies and taking care of the day-to-day operations.
Outsourcing Is About Sourcing
If you outsource your marketing and customer care, you aren’t outsourcing your marketing and customer care, you are simply sourcing them. When you outsource, you are bringing in outside help to execute marketing and customer care activities on your behalf. The only difference is that you, as the business owner, still have full control over the direction of the business.
For example, if your business sells sporting goods, you might outsource your marketing activities for the company to a sports marketing agency. The agency will then work on getting the word out about your products to potential customers. They might use traditional media, like TV commercials, to do this or they might choose to use digital marketing and influencers to reach more people in less time.
Understandably, not all businesses will want to take this approach and will want to find the best person for the job and then outsource part or all of their marketing activities to them.
Outsourcing Is About Sourcing And More
When you outsource your marketing and customer care, you aren’t just bringing in extra help to get the work done. You are bringing in someone who has expertise in a certain area to help you improve your performance in that area. This can be invaluable to any business, especially those whose operations are rooted in marketing and customer care.
If you’re doing a good job, this expertise can make your business more efficient and effective. In the example above, the sports marketing agency that the business outsourced their marketing activities to can then help the business with any questions that they might have about the strategy and operation of the campaign that they executed for the business.
Saving Money Through Outsourcing
Outsourcing is a great way to save money. Rather than having in-house experts who are experts in marketing and customer care, why not pay someone else to do it? It can often cost a great deal of money to train a person to be an expert in these areas. Having someone who is an expert (whether they are a professional or an experienced entrepreneur who has picked up some formal training) to help you with these activities can help you save a great deal of money.
Depending on your industry, you might be able to find a qualified, experienced professional who is available for hire. The benefit of this is that you don’t have to invest in training anyone yourself. Instead, you can just find and engage someone who is already an expert in what you need and pay them for their time.
Building The Business’ Brand
In most cases, outsourcing your marketing and customer care is a good idea. However, it doesn’t always necessary. If you feel like there is a particular expert in a certain area that your business could benefit from having on staff, rather than hiring freelancers or outsourcing the work, you could train the expert yourself. This will likely cost you money, but it can also give you and your business the benefits that an experienced expert can bring.
For example, if you have a marketing professional on staff who also has expertise in web development, design and SEO, you could decide to have them work on improving your websites and digital presence. They could take the raw material that you already have (your products, services and supporting information) and develop a strategy to make it more attractive and accessible to potential customers. They could also perform SEO tasks to get your content out to the right audience and make sure that they can find your website when they perform searches online.
Outsourcing can be a great way to save time and money. It can also give you and your business the competitive advantage that comes with having an in-house expert on staff who can provide valuable assistance to improve your performance in marketing and customer care.