We believe in magic - marketing magic! This kind of magic is hard to create working solo. As an organization, it's even harder to find such multi-faceted expertise in a single hire. That'd be like finding a unicorn in a herd of horses!
LKF Marketing's President & Owner/CEO Heather Isch is an active member of the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM). She recently contributed a feature to the organization's FOCUS on Small Business Magazine encouraging organizations not to chase after unicorns when filling marketing roles. Instead, she suggests a more herd-like agency approach!
Read the article in its entirety below as originally published by SBAM.
By Heather Isch
Job listings are plentiful these days. As an employer, you wade through potential hires, typically looking for someone who can excel at a specific position’s core requirements and successfully dabble in related areas.
When it comes to in-house marketing positions, you probably envision your ideal candidate overseeing strategic planning, updating your website, writing and regularly distributing blog posts, concepting and designing collateral materials, developing and implementing digital campaigns, and providing analytics and insights on all utilized tactics.
In addition, your ideal in-house hire would also be responsible for juggling social media posts, coordinating print campaigns, supplying trade show materials, planning special events, and so much more. Juggling all of these tasks will be challenging, if not impossible.
This do-it-all, in-house marketing hire is as elusive as a unicorn. And chasing after that magical creature is likely to be as futile as going on a hunting expedition in search of Bigfoot.
Entrusting your marketing needs to a team of experts, also known as outsourcing to a marketing agency, would be a better use of your time and resources.
Outsourcing Efficiencies
While many organizations hire a candidate to work internally and then assess which of the laundry list of marketing tasks that employee can handle before determining if outside agency help is needed, this approach is often counterintuitive. Working with an agency to help craft a job description and ideal qualifications of an internal hire can assist you in not only selecting the best in-house candidate but also in expediting the training and integration process.
Businesses also gain significant financial benefits by outsourcing their needs to marketing professionals who live and breathe marketing strategy and sales activation. Marketing expenses move from fixed to variable since the agency offers on-demand access to experts. This is where outsourcing becomes particularly attractive and cost effective!
Partnering with an agency for some or all of their marketing needs allows companies to work with experts in specific areas such as social media, media buying, web development, etc., without paying for their expertise 52 weeks a year. The organization only pays for the expertise when they need it, allowing for faster execution and a higher return on their marketing investment.
An additional bonus of working with an agency is that the agency itself is responsible for keeping its experts up to date on the latest and greatest marketing tactics, tools, and pitfalls. You only pay when the agency leverages that knowledge on your behalf, rather than paying for an internal marketing professional who may not be an expert in all areas of marketing.
Optimizing Budgets
Not convinced that the team approach of an agency can out-deliver a unicorn-like internal hire? Consider these sample scenarios:
Capturing Culture
Being a part of an organization is key to understanding and authentically communicating its culture, brand, offerings, and services. With regular in-person or remote meetings between internal staff and agency partners, true-to-life messaging can be developed.
At the beginning of an outsourced relationship and even before undertaking major projects with an established agency partner, thoughtfully crafted questions and exercises can be utilized to give an office outsider an insider’s perspective.
Achieving Results
Envision your organization’s marketing needs once more. Do you envision a stressed-out unicorn attempting to juggle an infinite number of large and small tasks or a team of experts moving in sync to execute your vision and help to achieve your marketing goals?
Stick with the team approach and you’ll be able to save or reallocate resources, gain access to a broader range of skill sets, and achieve better results overall.
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Ready to trade in your unicorn chase for a herd of marketing nerds? Contact LKF today!
