As a Small Business Owner or CEO you have to ensure that the company is increasing revenue, the brand authority is growing, and your work culture is positive. If you don't have a full time marketer or marketing team (many companies don't) it also falls on your shoulders to have marketing for lead generation and sales growth in place. So how does one do all this day in and day out, along with running a company? Consider outsourcing your Marketing Services to a small business consultant. Here's why:
1. Faster ramp time: When you partner with a consultant for marketing and lead generation services you tap into a wealth if industry and marketing knowledge, without the growing pains of training and ramping up that new hire up. Most companies spend close to 6-9 months to fully ramp a new hire into their organization. That is a lifetime in terms of lead generation and goal achievement. Does your sales team have 6-9 months to wait for quality leads to come in? Does your new business pipeline have enough in it to support a learning curve like that? In most cases the answer is no. When you work with an outside consultant they come with industry knowledge and can quickly get down to the nitty gritty in terms of what needs to happen in order to move the sales and revenue needle. Cost savings to company by having a faster ramp time: 6-9 months of new hires salary, plus other team members time and salary that are spent training new hire $25,000+/annually
2. Overhead cost savings: Another benefit to partnering with an outside marketing team is that you save on overhead. Small business owners are hit with new taxes and regulations every year that ultimately prohibit their ability to scale the company. Think of the health insurance, unemployment, worker's comp, life insurance, paid holiday's, overtime, supply costs, expense reports, etc that each employee is entitled too. Those costs add up quickly. When you work with a partner-those costs aren't applicable and allow for that cash flow to be used to grow the business in other ways. Cost savings to company on overhead: $20,000+/annually
3. Inbound Marketing Services made easy: Depending on what your company goals are your marketing should follow suit and help achieve those goals. If you have certain processes in place, but not others, a consultant can help you fill in the gaps as cost effectively as possible. There is no silver bullet in marketing and companies must embrace a variety of ways their company can position themselves. Have you done a cost analysis on all the new business, sales, and marketing investment spent thus far in comparison to the revenue it brought it? Can your company even track the lead to customer process accurately? Having a marketing consultant help with these areas not only maximizes each dollar spent, but it uncovers wasted money and shifts them to more productive efforts. Cost of Inbound Marketing Services: $55,000+/annually
Given that the average salary of a marketing manager is $123,000/annually (see source here) When you add in ramp time, and overhead you are looking at over $150,000 to run your internal department as is. If you have no marketing team, that means you should be at least looking to invest that amount into new business and lead generation efforts just be par with your competitors that already have systems in place.
As you are looking toward 2016, consider your growth goals and business direction. Will the efforts and processes you currently have in place get you there? If you want help in analyzing the growth potential for your company I'd be happy to talk. Connect with me by clicking below to set up a meeting! Let's talk about how Marketing and Inbound Services can grow your business today.
