by Fronetics | Sep 6, 2017 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
Find the right marketing outsource partner for your business by asking specifically about strategy development, industry experience, and more.
More and more supply chain companies are choosing to outsource their marketing, giving them the flexibility to focus on their core business, while leaving marketing to trusted experts. But before you jump into a partnership, it’s important to remember that not all marketing firms are created equal.
To help you decide if a marketing firm is right for your business, here are 10 questions you should be asking potential marketing partners — and what to listen for in the answers.
10 questions to ask marketing outsource partners
1) How do you develop a strategy?
The word you should be listening for is: individualized. Your marketing partner should build a strategy specifically tailored to your business, based on data, analytics, and your company’s goals.
2) What would my account team look like?
When you outsource your marketing, look for a team of experts that work together to improve the various aspects of your marketing strategy. For example, the person running your social media presence should have specific social media expertise.
3) Do you know my industry?
It’s vitally important that your marketing partner has a deep understanding of your company, your industry, and your customers. Don’t be satisfied with a surface knowledge, or with a marketing firm that doesn’t have personnel that specializes in your industry.
4) How do you measure success?
Your marketing partner needs to have a plan in place to provide you regular and frequent reports showing designated metrics that match the goals of your strategy. For instance, if one of your business’ goals is to increase brand awareness, web traffic and social impressions are two metrics you should be getting reports on every month.
5) What other services do you offer (even if I don’t need them yet)?
Many of Fronetics’ clients start off wanting only one of our services (like social media management), but quickly realize a multi-channel digital strategy would better help them reach their goals. You want to know that, if you need to expand your scope of work to include more services (such as social advertising or video creation), your partner can handle those.
6) Do you offer training?
We’ve all heard the old adage about teaching a man to fish. While it can be hugely beneficial for your business to trust your marketing strategy to the experts, part of a well-rounded strategy includes educating key members of your staff, such as sales personnel, on how the rest of your business’ operations can dovetail with your marketing strategy. A partner who offers workshops or other types of training is a plus.
7) What is your philosophy for content creation?
Listen for a partner who listens to you. If you’re going to outsource content creation, your partner needs to be ready to learn every aspect of your business, its goals, and its philosophies — and to create content that reflects those things.
8) Do you have videography capability?
Even if you don’t think your business needs video content right now, chances are, this new wave content platform will be something you need at some point. You want to find a partner who can easily help you make strides in this area — whether the partner handles video production in house or will manage a third-party vendor for you.
9) What are your goals for my business?
You want a partner who shares your company’s vision. But it’s a bonus if you can find a partner who offers you goals you hadn’t even considered but that make sense for your business.
10) What’s the first thing you’re going to do when I hand over my business’ marketing strategy to your firm?
While it might be exciting to hear an answer like “revamp your entire web presence,” the savvier business listens for something a little different. A partner who assures that they will first seek to analyze, research, and understand every aspect of your unique business will ultimately be more likely to guide you to your goals. Once they know the ins and outs, then it’s time for the revamping!
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by Fronetics | Jul 17, 2017 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing
Outsourcing doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing thing. Considering parsing off these marketing tasks based on internal resources and expertise.
Everyone needs a little help sometimes. That’s particularly true when it comes to B2B marketing. In fact, 52% of B2B marketers attribute stagnancy in success to not having enough time devoted to their marketing programs, and 49% attribute stagnation to content creation challenges.
Outsourcing marketing allows you to focus on insourcing your core competencies while delegating specialized tasks to external experts. And it’s important to note that you don’t have to outsource ALL of your marketing. Choosing several areas beyond your staff’s expertise or that are particularly time-consuming can help you improve your marketing efforts and take stress off an overworked internal marketing team.
Here are seven areas where you might consider outsourcing.
7 marketing tasks to outsource
1) Website development and design
Sure, you could build a perfectly functional website from a template, or have your techy nephew Chris put something together while interning with your company over summer break from college. But this is one area we feel strongly is best left to the pros.
A sleek, modern website that’s easy to navigate makes a big statement about your company. The overwhelming majority of buyers will visit vendors’ websites while researching and making purchasing decisions. The experiences they have while browsing contribute to their overall perception of the companies. Imagine how poor site organization, outdated functionality, or technical problems reflects on your brand.
In addition to creating a well-functioning site, the right developer/designer brings niche specializations to the table as well, such as usability engineering, search engine optimization, and more. Capitalizing on a professional’s knowledge in these areas can make a big difference in web traffic, visitor engagement, and, ultimately, lead generation and sales.
2) Social media management
Social media management sounds easy and fun. But if this task has ever fallen on your plate, you know the exact opposite is true. It can be one of the most time-consuming, frustrating tasks your business faces — and that’s before you realize you have to keep up with all the latest trends and platforms to be effective.
Outsourcing social media management to a knowledgeable partner can free up hours of your day and improve your social engagement and reach. These firms know what works and what doesn’t because they’re active every day on multiple platforms managing accounts for multiple clients.
And it’s not just posting every now and then. A good social media partner will craft and publish original content, but they’ll also curate great content from relevant sources, like industry partners. Outsourcing these tasks to the pros helps build a strong following and brand awareness for your company.
3) Content creation
Blog posts, emails, case studies, white papers, ebooks, webinars, marketing collateral, newsletters — how much content is your staff responsible for creating on a weekly, even daily, basis? Is it the kind of informed, quality material you’re proud of?
Content creation is one of the easiest marketing tasks to outsource. It will immediately give your staff back hours into their days. And the right outsource partner will produce high-quality, SEO-optimized content that will drive traffic, build trust with leads, and persuade buyers.
4) Videography
Video is the hottest content platform right now. I’ve written extensively about the opportunity supply chain and B2B businesses have with video, even if it’s just point-and-shoot iPhone video interviews with subject-matter experts. But professionally produced videos open another level of potential.
There are many firms and individuals that specialize in videography, and you’d be surprised how affordable and quick they can be. Or, some content creation partners also do video or can find a third-party videographer and manage the process for you.
5) Graphic design
This is one area where you really can’t fake it. Professional designers are worth their weight in gold, particularly when you need a professional document or graphic in a crunch. They can turn your documents into beautiful, easy-to-read brochures, or make dry technical data into eye-catching infographics. You may be savvy with Word templates, but they’ve got nothing on the pro designers.
6) E-commerce
Any sort of back-end system will work more smoothly if you are able to outsource the project to an agency already familiar with implementing and running specialized platforms. A smooth and well-thought out e-commerce process without any hiccups leaves customers happy and more likely to return.
7) Strategy and execution
Did you know you can leave marketing strategy to the experts? The right partner will work closely with you to develop a strategy that closely aligns with your business and marketing goals. They can even execute the strategy for you, as well, and then provide you with regular updates on how it’s working. This kind of results-driven approach will ensure you’re stretching your marketing dollars to the fullest extent and getting the kind of results that will grow your bottom line.
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