by Fronetics | May 24, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
Outsourcing content marketing can cost a fraction of what dedicating in-house resources would — and you’ll get better results.
Nobody can do it all, despite what the latest motivational meme tells you. When running your business, it is vital that you focus on where you excel; sticking with your core competency is critical. Essentially, the more hats you wear in your company, the more watered down your efforts become.
Content marketing can be highly effective in generating leads and driving sales, but doing it right requires significant time and effort. If you are trying to manage content on top of overseeing key aspects of your business’ day-to-day operations, you are stretching yourself thin. What’s more, it’s negatively impacting your bottom line.
Why DIY content marketing can be costly
Many companies mistakenly think that managing their content marketing in house is simple, cost effective, and not time consuming. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Here is why:
Lost hours on your job
Taking time away from your primary focus prevents you from doing your job. If what you do best is new product development, for example, then dedicating hours each week to writing blog posts means that much less time for market research, design, and implementation. Those few hours away each week add up over time, and the cost to your company is significant.
Lost leads and sales opportunities
You may be a good writer and have personal social media accounts, but do you understand the ins and outs of creating and distributing content in a business setting? Professional content writers have expertise in search engine optimization (SEO), branding, user experience, and storytelling — all of which drive traffic and generate leads. Social media strategists similarly have expert knowledge of networking sites and how to best reach a target audience. If you don’t have that expertise, you are costing your company those opportunities — or, again, taking time away from your primary function trying to learn.
Lost readership and audience retention
If your content does not engage your audience, you shouldn’t have bothered in the first place. And engaging content doesn’t occur by happenstance. Research shows a strong correlation between content marketing success and strategy, documentation, and frequent check-ins. You need to know exactly who your audience is and what they want to read, and then you need a long-term plan for continually reaching them in new and interesting ways. Then you need to regularly assess your strategy and adjust as needed. As you can imagine, that all takes time and focus.
According to Forbes, outsourcing your content marketing is a cost-effective way to increase the success of your program. Essentially, you get expertise and experience — at a fraction of the cost of dedicating in-house resources — with no long-term commitment. By allowing experts to create strategies and leverage well-crafted, engaging content across multiple channels, you can improve lead generation and exponentially increase sales.
The Takeaway
By outsourcing your content marketing to the right firm, you can:
- Get professionally written, optimized content that engages your target customer and builds relationships.
- Benefit from the firm’s experience with content marketing for your industry and beyond.
- See results and ROI. The firm should put metrics on all of your marketing activities and deliver a regular report to you so you can monitor progress.
- Save time and money: You can focus on the core aspects of growing your business, while outsourcing your content marketing costs a fraction of dedicating in-house resources.
Simply put, it ultimately costs less to let experts create and execute your content. Given the reins, they can leverage their experience to produce greater results, capture more leads, analyze results, revise strategies, and, most importantly, free up your schedule to focus on your key responsibilities.
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by Elizabeth Hines | Mar 14, 2016 | Blog, Strategy, Supply Chain
There is no easy answer to the burning question why the onshoring movement refuses to truly take off.
The issue of onshoring is frequently painted in black and white. While the media often likens the return of companies to the United States from overseas to a stampede, skeptics may be too quick to downplay the positive impact of the recent movement in manufacturing.
Nevertheless, those who were looking for a true Renaissance of American manufacturing have reason, at least so far, to be disappointed. Even among some high-profile companies — most notably Apple and GE — that announced their return with great fanfare, reality has set in. GE has battled high turnover rates at its re-opened Kentucky plants, as workers reportedly refused to perform certain tasks, while Apple has been stumped by the shortage of engineers.
Although the number of companies bringing production back home has risen significantly in recent years — from 64 in 2011 to 300 in 2014 — they are still outnumbered by those going in the opposite direction.
However, the issue is more complex than net gains or losses. According to new research by Morris Cohen, a Wharton School professor of operations and information management, and Hau L. Lee at Stanford University, “There is an unprecedented amount of restructuring going on.” In some cases, departments within the same company are onshoring and outsourcing at the same time, each weighing the perceived pros and cons differently.
In a Knowledge@Wharton interview, Cohen elaborated on the trend: “I’m going to go to China. I’m coming back from China. The same company simultaneously is making what seemed to be opposing decisions. And when you asked them why, they would give the same reasons. It’s because of labor costs. It’s because of market access. It’s because of this and that.”
In fact, they found there appears to be no dominant reason why companies make one decision or another in favor of onshoring or staying put.
And barriers seem to remain the same as when the onshoring movement began to gain momentum: The lack of skilled workers, coupled with an aging workforce, still rank high on the list of negatives. The rapid pace of offshoring in 1990s and early 2000s made younger generations lose faith in the viability of a manufacturing career.
Patrick Van den Bossche, the Americas lead partner at A.T. Kearney’s Strategic Operations Practice — which released its inaugural Reshoring Index last year — explained the problem on Manufacturing.net: “Think about it — if you have a kid in school, with everything that happened in the last few years, with manufacturing moving overseas as fast as it did, would you feel comfortable to tell your kid to develop a career in manufacturing? I don’t think so.”
At the same time, countries like China, Brazil, and Eastern Europe, previously known for their low-skilled labor, are quickly improving and investing in high-tech industries. With a greater pool of skilled workers abroad, a move back to the United States will seem less urgent. And with the arrival of robotics, the issue of labor costs will likely take on even less significance.
So the big question is, how should the United States stand up to the competition? What do you think?
A version of this article previously appeared on EBN Online.
by Fronetics | Sep 24, 2015 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
Outsourcing isn’t new to the business world. It goes back as far as the Industrial Revolution. Before then, it was common practice for businesses to perform all functions of product and service delivery, from product manufacturing through to product delivery. Sometime in the mid-1800s, independent architects, engineers, and legal professionals began to operate in larger U.S. cities taking on project-based work for a number of clients.
More than a hundred and fifty years later, outsourcing has become a staple business tool, offering benefits for employees and employers alike. Employers enjoy a reduction (or cost savings) in operating costs, improve their focus on core competencies, and employees are free to concentrate on their highest and best use.
With tech now advancing faster than ever, your business should be looking to leverage outsource partners to support your digital efforts.
Here are our picks for 6 digital and content marketing tasks you should consider outsourcing:
1. Strategy
A 2014 study of B2B marketers found that companies who have a documented content strategy in place are more likely to consider their efforts to be effective than companies who do not have a documented strategy in place (60 percent vs. 11 percent).
Identify an outsource partner that can deliver a content strategy that is aligned with your business goals and objectives and one that is results driven.
2. Content creation
Effective content is not only aligned with your business goals and objectives, it is also quality content. Finding an outsource partner that excels at content creation drive profitable customer action. When it comes to finding the right outsource partner, put a premium on quality content, and remember the adage: you get what you pay for.
3. Social media
It’s important to recognize social media as the important business tool it is. As such, you should draw on the expertise of a social media outsourcing partner. 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 great 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.
4. Web development and design
Because your company’s website is the primary digital tool of communication with customers and prospects, it literally pays to have web design and development functions performed by a knowledgeable professional. Hosting that capability in-house can be costly, though. Besides saving you thousands on employee compensation, outsource partners can often bring with them niche specialties, for instance, something like usability engineering isn’t something you would necessarily get from an in-house generalist.
5. eCommerce
Focus on your core product offerings rather than investing time, money, and resources into building and maintaining an eCommerce platform. Because it receives and stores sensitive information, eCommerce platforms need to be constantly updated and secured. Couple that with product line changes, future business growth, and changing platform needs, and it quickly becomes a full-time job that comes with a hefty in-house expense.
6. Projects that are outside your scope of expertise
It’s possible that projects will come up that require a skill set, like graphic design, which lies outside your company’s range of expertise. It’s far better to find a partner with this expertise rather than try to create an on-demand capacity to provide the service. Your clients will benefit from stellar work performed by a knowledgeable practitioner and you’ll enjoy cost savings by not committing to a long-term employee salary.
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When it comes to marketing we work with our clients to create and execute strategies that drive success and elevate their brand position within the industry. Unlike other firms, we align marketing programs with business objectives and, through a data driven approach, are able to deliver results with a targeted ROI. Our team is comprised of strategists, marketing professionals, writers, designers, and experts in social media. Together we leverage our experience to increase brand awareness, position our clients as thought leaders, drive meaningful engagement with prospects and customers, and help businesses grow.
by Fronetics | Apr 21, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Strategy, Supply Chain
When it comes to content your company doesn’t need to go it alone. Not only is it possible to outsource content, for many companies it may be the best solution. Here is how to determine if outsourcing content is right for your company, and what your company needs to consider when looking for an outsource partner.
Is outsourcing right for you?
Outsourcing is not the panacea. It may be the right solution for your company – or maybe not. Here is what to consider when determining if outsourcing content is the right solution for your company:
- What are your company’s core competencies?
- How can your company deliver the best value to your customers?
- A successful content strategy needs to be deliberate and needs to have someone in charge. Do you have in-house talent who can put together a content strategy for your company and manage the execution of the strategy?
- Does your company have in-house talent that can consistently create good content?
- Does your company have in-house talent that has the time to consistently create good talent?
- Does your company have in-house talent that can distribute your company’s content?
- Does your company have in-house talent that can track and analyze your company’s content strategy?
Be honest. Cobbling together staff or passing content like a hot potato from one person to another is not going to be effective. If content is not an area where your company excels, or if content could be carried out more efficiently and effectively if the service was outsourced – start looking for an outsource partner.
If you do decide that outsourcing is right for your company, know that you are not alone. Forty-four percent of B2B marketers report that they outsource content creation. Diving down further, 72 percent of large B2B companies (1,000 employees or more) outsource content creation and 34 percent of small B2B companies (10 to 99 employees) outsource content creation. Looking specifically at the manufacturing industry – 55 percent of manufacturing marketers report that they outsource content creation.
As shown in Figure 1 the content functions that B2B marketers outsource vary from writing to design to distribution to creating a buyer persona. When it comes to outsourcing content functions it doesn’t need to be the kitchen sink.
Figure 1
What to look for in an outsource partner
When it comes to finding an outsource partner you want to find a partner that will bring value to your company and to your customers. Whether you outsource all content functions or just one, here is what to look for in an outsource partner:
- Experience and knowledge of your industry;
- Willing to work with your company to help you achieve your goals;
- Open to exploring and furthering your company’s creative ideas;
- Able to follow instructions and execute with minimal oversight;
- Able to create the type of content your company needs;
- Interested in entering into a long-term relationship.
More generally, Frank Cavallaro wrote that when choosing your perfect outsource mate it is important to start by looking at the mission or value statement of your potential partner. Are these aligned to your company’s? If they are, move on and explore the partnership further. If not, walk away. “Mission and value statements speak to the core culture of the company, so if you can’t find common ground here, it is unlikely you will be able to build a positive working relationship.”
This post was originally published on DC Velocity.
by Elizabeth Hines | Oct 22, 2013 | Blog, Leadership, Strategy, Supply Chain
Source: Simply Silhouettes
Within the logistics and supply chain industries, the key to providing your client with an end to end valuable offering is providing the core value yourself and outsourcing the rest. Finding the right outsource partner is critical to success. Here are seven things you need to consider when choosing a new outsource partner.
1. Culture and values
Choosing the right partner goes beyond capabilities. You have to consider the corporate culture as well. In addition to being able to do the work, the ideal partner should be able do it seamlessly by fitting with your team and with your client’s needs.
When evaluating a new outsourcing partner, it is important to look at their mission or value statements. How do these hold up to your own company’s mission and value statements? Are they well aligned? If they are, move on and explore the company further. If not, walk away. Mission and value statements speak to the core culture of the company, so if you can’t find common ground here, it is unlikely you will be able to build a positive working relationship.
2. Standards and metrics
What standards of quality and delivery does the potential partner employ? Here it is important to look at their metrics and processes. How do these compare with the ones within your company? If they are similar, it is not only likely your systems will be able to work well together, but also likely that the two companies have a similar approach to standards of quality and delivery.
3. Investments
Next, take a look at where the potential partner has made investments. Has the company spent in similar areas to your company? Similar investments show business culture or strategy alignment. If the investments are different, find out why.
4. Financial stability
What is the financial health of the potential partner? You don’t want to enter into a partnership only to find out in a few months that the company is not financial stable. Entering into a partnership with a company that does not have its financial house in order is a costly mistake. Take the time to do your due diligence.
5. Where will you stand?
What will your relationship be? That is, will you be a small fish in a big pond or a big fish in a small pond? When times are good this doesn’t matter, but when there is a customer satisfaction issue, it can mean the difference between client retention or client attrition. It is essential to know where you stand inside your partner’s organizational priorities. If you are comfortable with where you will stand, that’s great. If not, find another partner.
6. Long-term strategy
It is also important to look at the long-term strategy of your company and your potential partner’s company. Does the service they will be providing on your behalf align with their continuing plans? And with your ongoing plans? Continuity and service development is important to your company and to your customers. The potential partner needs to be able to provide the specified service for the foreseeable future and also needs to be able to grow with your company’s strategic needs.
7. Credibility
Finally, look to social media. What are others saying about your potential partner in an unfiltered environment? Are people pleased with the service the company provides? Are there any red flags with respect to the company or the service they provide? Social media can help call attention to potential issues.
Also talk with others within the industry – especially people who have worked with the potential partner before. What was their experience? Again, look for red flags.
By following these steps, you’ll be able to better evaluate potential partners and identify partners that are a good fit from both a business and cultural perspective.
