Developing brand awareness in the market is one of the most challenging barriers that small businesses face. SMEs can easily miss out on potential sales opportunities if they don’t market themselves effectively as customers, buyers and suppliers won’t know where to find them or what’s on offer.
It doesn’t take a Lord Sugar to know that to generate sales, you need a consistent flow of leads, a returning customer base and strong brand awareness. But what’s now complicating the traditional business formula is the rapidly expanding world of social media. Social media platforms have now heated up the competition and added more complexity to an already busy marketing landscape.
It’s no wonder, then, that 1 in 3 small businesses outsource at least one business process. As polled by Clutch, 24% of small businesses said that increased efficiency was their top reason for outsourcing whilst other reasons included available expertise (18%), flexibility (16%) and allowing time for employees to prioritise other tasks (15%).
Can Your SME Manage its Own Marketing?
Every business is unique and comes with its own set of resources, talent and finances. Knowing whether your small business can manage its own marketing strategy takes some honest self-assessment:
- How much do you understand about marketing? Are you familiar with what strategies exist and how to measure the success of a strategy?
- Do you enjoy marketing?
- Is anyone on your team skilled in a particular area? Do they have an eye for design, a way with words or are they a whizz on the computer?
- How much time do you have on your hands?
- How well do you know your marketing needs? Who is your demographic and what platforms do they hang out on?
- Do you have the funds to employ an in-house marketer, or should you think about outsourcing to a full service marketing and comms agency?
Tell-tale Signs That Your Small Business Desperately Needs to Outsource its Marketing Strategy
It’s Been a While Since You Last Reviewed Your Marketing Strategy
As a minimum to keeping your marketing efforts strong, your social media, email and advertising engagement should be monitored once a day. Reviewing your marketing strategy is essential for keeping up with trends, shifts in demographics, sudden opportunities that arise and making sure your campaign is an all-round success. If it looks like your marketing strategy has cobwebs (and your website was last updated in 2020), then it’s probably time to look at outsourcing.
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