As a business owner, it’s easy to get caught up in the day to day details of making sure you keep the clients you already have. That can take attention from marketing and finding the clients that will help your business grow, though. Those ‘some day’ projects that will help market your business need to move up your priority list. Rather than trying to jam more into an already packed list, though, marketing can be an area where it’s especially easy to delegate.
That doesn’t necessarily mean bringing in a new employee just to handle marketing and public relations projects. The fact of the matter is that many business don’t need a full-time staffer for marketing — bringing in someone just creates stress as you try to find enough work for him or her to do. But it’s very easy to outsource marketing projects. Even better, there are benefits with working with a marketing professional outside your company. A freelancer or a firm offering public relations and marketing services often builds up a wide network that just isn’t available for an employee starting from scratch.
Beverly Flaxington is a consultant, as well as the author of two books. In order to handle the details of marketing her business, she relies on help from outside the company. She actually also brings in graphics, administrative and other kinds of help as needed, as well. Her business doesn’t offer enough work to keep full-time employees busy, but Flaxington does need help from marketing specialists every so often: “…Having people who are very talented, yet virtual independent contractors works great. Over time, they are a part of our firm and we work great together but we don’t have the pressure of full-time employees to keep busy!”
From a financial point of view, the arrangement has been very effective for Flaxington. She’s able to match her expenses to client work, making her cash flow much smoother. Since you can outsource on an as-needed basis, you can customize your project, based on your budget. Depending on who you’re working with on a press release, ad campaign or other marketing project, you may find that your consultant can offer help on getting the most bang for your buck, as well.
Flaxington found her marketing specialists (including graphic designers and proofreaders) on Guru. She suggests, “Ask to see samples of their work in advance because marketing and graphics are very much ‘personal taste.’” It’s important to find marketing help that not only understands your goals and knows how to reach your key customers, but who can also present your business in a way that you like.
There are a wide variety of ways to find someone to help you with marketing, beyond Guru and similar sites. While there are plenty of firms out there with full staffs, you also have the option of finding individual specialists for each type of project you’re considering. Maybe you need a graphic designer to put together a few ads, or an SEO specialist to increase your website traffic. You can find any sort of marketing specialist with just a search online.
Image by Stock.xchange user danielcruz
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Tags: beverly flaxington, Marketing, outsourcing
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