TIPS TO GET THE MOSTOUT OF YOUROUTSOURCEDMARKETING FIRM7

As a seasoned outsourced marketing firm, we’ve seen our fair share of clients, and the wide

range of personalities with which they come. Some client management styles are a catalyst

for growth, while others clearly stand in the way. Given this reality, we are offering up 7 tips

on how to get the most out of your relationship with your outsourced marketing firm so that

your probability of marketing success will be maximized.

Don’t manage by committee.1

Strategy over tactics.2

Stay focused on the objectives at hand.3

Leave the content writing up to you.4

If you want to ensure your

outsourced marketing team is

executing with seamless

efficiency, be sure not to have too

many cooks in the kitchen. If

you’re managing by committee

versus a designated point person,

then chances are you’ll have too

many opinions, agendas, and

schedules to work around. Simply

put, it slows down the process.

It’s imperative to find a point person that can round up the troops internally and voice the

group’s approvals and disapprovals. This also greatly minimizes the chances of spreading

your marketing firm too thin across your departments. If you have three or four people

providing direction, it’s only natural for them to come with their own interests in mind. Sales

wants this, and the Senior Team wants that. Such different agendas and competing interests

are sure to hinder results. Speed and focus are the real concerns here, and you’ll see neither

if your outsourced marketing team is busy having to please and receive feedback from your

various department heads versus being managed by an internal point person who can

minimize the number of roadblocks to being efficient with tactical execution.

There’s one thing that we’ve

found to be consistent in

successful companies with whom

we’ve worked: a strategy-first

mindset. While it’s easy to get

caught up in the next big

marketing idea you’ve read about

on LinkedIn over the weekend,

it’s important to stay focused on

a long-term, cohesive strategy that you most likely don’t have in place.

All too often, we see companies taking a bucket-shot approach toward their marketing,

deploying scattered tactics absent of any coherent strategy. Remember, your original goal

when you hired your outsourced marketing firm was most likely to develop a lead generation

engine tasked to drive top-line growth. This cannot be achieved without a solid strategic

foundation in place. By starting with a detailed strategic roadmap with clearly defined target

audiences, metrics and objectives in place, the chances that your outsourced marketing team

will achieve success marketing success will be maximized. By allowing a strategy to first be

developed at the outset of your relationship, you’ll also enable your outsourced marketing

team to be the leader and expert you hired them to be versus having them follow your lead

implementing the random tactics that you are biased to. And if they’re credible, they should

enjoy leading this effort and add great value by introducing lead generation channels, tools

and processes that you might not have known existed.

Over the years, we’ve found that

the business owners and teams

that we work with often don’t

possess the patience and focus

necessary to bring the agreed upon

marketing strategy to the finish

line. Once your strategy is set (per

tip # 2), be sure to stay on track

and try not to get distracted with

new tactics and marketing

channels that entered into your

inbox. Remember that the

marketing magic (“i.e. desired

outcomes”) happens when you

relentlessly implement and perfect the recommended tactics, technologies and processes

stemming from the strategy. Exercise patience in making sure you’re perfecting the campaign that

your strategy tells you to follow. Don’t start something and not fully carry it through simply because

it’s no longer exciting, cutting edge or giving you golden results right away.

Marketing is not about the next sexy idea or shiny thing, but rather it’s about doggedly putting a

lead generation process in place and then staying committed to following that process. Follow

what your plan in place and then relentlessly implement, refine, and perfect before moving on.

Bottom line: what’s the point of developing a marketing strategy if you don’t follow and refine the

roadmap provided?

It’s very difficult for an

outsourced marketing firm that

isn’t working inside the walls of

your organization to know the

nuances and subtleties of your

business the way you do. You live

it every day and have probably

done so for years. Also, to expect

your outsourced marketing firm

to be writing technical content to

multiple audiences and get it right the first time is overly optimistic. Most likely, you will be

engaged in multiple rounds of feedback and revisions to the point where by the end of the

process you’ll feel like you’ve done the lion’s share of the work. In addition to the frustration

caused, this is probably not the best use of your marketing dollars, especially when your

outsourced marketing team is more expensive than a lower level internal employee.

The solution? Find someone internally who knows your company well and can write to the

subtleties and technicalities of your product or service. While they might not be a great writer

or know how to package a message to sell like your outsourced marketing team can, they can

write the substance of the content and then hand it over to your outsourced team to help

bring to the next level. In addition to polishing up the content, the outsourced team can craft

the content strategy and select the delivery vehicles to ensure the content creates buzz and

generates qualified leads. This is a much better use of their time and your dollars versus

relying on them to write every paragraph of content.

relentlessly implement and perfect the recommended tactics, technologies and processes

Kill them with kindness.5

As mentioned in earlier tips,

we’ve seen all sorts of client

personalities and communication

styles. We’ve found that given

we’re not working within our

clients’ company walls, they can

demand much more. They feel

that since they’re paying their outsourced marketing firm for their time - versus a salaried

employee - they can be more demanding than they would an internal hire and that they are

“looking out for the company” by squeezing every last ounce out of their outsourced team.

While this is understandable and admirable if done properly, there are instances where we

have found that it leads to a destructive dynamic between teams. Examples of this destructive

behavior include; setting unrealistic growth expectations, setting overly tight deliverable

deadlines and even at times raising their voice and treating our team like 2nd class citizens.

While they may think they’re doing their job by keeping the outsourced marketing firm honest,

in reality they’re doing the opposite. If you are working with a credible and seasoned

outsourced marketing firm, this poor style of communicating will de-motivate your marketing

team and work against your underlying intentions. Your goal should be to foster an

environment where they are engaged and excited to be working with you. View your

relationship as a partnership where you work together as an engaged team working towards

the same goal. It’s not always about faster-better-more. And if your outsourced marketing

team is as good as they should be, they will be hard enough on themselves and as aggressive

with milestones as possible where you won’t have to say a thing.

Set your team up for success.6

Avoid menial tasks.7

In the words of management

legend Peter Drucker, “Because

the purpose of business is to

create a customer, the business

enterprise has two–and only

two–basic functions: marketing

and innovation.” Unfortunately,

many organizations do not

embrace this quote with their

actions. Rather than providing the

appropriate budget, resources and patience needed for marketing initiatives to flourish, the

mindset is often very short-term focused. For these companies, most of their marketing

dollars go toward tangible “paid media” purchases such as an ad or a click on Google.

While these expenditures provide quick short-term returns that a CFO can feel good about,

they often handcuff the initiatives their outsourced marketing team can tackle. For example, if

the directive is to only implement marketing tactics that can show a return, many important

initiatives that will generate healthy long-term results–which include developing a distinct

message, building a content library and creating client video testimonials - will never be

touched. The result is often a self-fulfilling prophecy that your outsourced marketing team

isn’t worth the time and money. The problem is they were never given a chance since they

weren’t provided with the toolkit and breadth of tactics needed to generate results. It’s like

telling a boxer to win a fight with a hand tied behind his back. Lastly, imagine if Howard

Schultz, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, or Elon Musk invested only in efforts backed by

guaranteed short-term results. They never would have built the empires that they have today.

Hopefully, you too will view marketing as an investment. Your outsourced marketing firm will

thank you for it.

If you’re working with a seasoned

outsourced marketing firm, they’ll

most likely be more expensive

than an internal marketing

coordinator. Knowing this, an

outsourced marketing firm

shouldn’t be relegated to tasks

that a lower level employee could

handle at a lower cost. If you do

have a marketing coordinator or

possible part-time marketing resource on staff, you should detail out what their job

responsibilities are versus those of your outsourced marketing firm.

During this exercise, we recommend outsourcing the more sophisticated marketing

responsibilities including; strategy development, marketing channel and technology selection

and implementation and tracking/metrics/reporting buildout whereas the lower level tasks

such as tweaking emails, writing a blog post and compiling lists can be handled by the

internal employee. If you don’t have an internal resource, you should make sure that you keep

your outsourced marketing team focused on the marketing tasks that are most valuable and

impactful to your top-line and minimize their efforts on lower-level responsibilities that will not

maximize your marketing spend.

As an outsourced marketing department for hire, TribalVision’s mission is to help companies

grow. This is achieved by combining intelligent strategy with tactical execution in a hands-on,

results-driven manner. TribalVision utilizes its clients’ marketing budgets as efficiently and

intelligently as possible – ensuring that each dollar spent maximizes awareness and

generates new business. TribalVision’s unique marketing model is designed to fully align

interests with client outcomes – guaranteeing an objective, client-first partnership. This is

demonstrated in the firm’s fee-based compensation structure, “roll up your sleeves” mindset,

metrics-driven approach, and role as a trusted marketing resource tasked to help navigate

organizations to higher grounds.

About TribalVision

To learn more about TribalVision, visit www.TribalVision.com