If you’re a small business owner, you’re used to wearing many, many hats. You’ve probably taken on the role of sales manager, accountant, customer service rep, janitor, and marketer. Doing everything as a solo-preneuer can work for a while, but there may come a time when you begin to wonder about your marketing strategy and whether or not it would be beneficial to outsource your marketing efforts to professionals. So how do you know for sure?
Here are 5 ways to know if it’s time to hire a marketing company.
1. YOUR BUSINESS HAS STOPPED GROWING
Have your sales leveled off recently? Are you finding it’s tougher and tougher to generate new leads or gain new customers? It might be time to talk to a marketing company. If your product or service is amazing but you just can’t seem to grow, hiring a marketing company is great to get a fresh perspective on your target audience.
2. YOU DON’T HAVE THE TIME FOR MARKETING
I hear this a lot from small business owners who have SO much on their plate. You have all of these great marketing ideas and you’ve made lists of marketing to-do’s, but the work is just not getting done!
Often times, a customer service or ordering issue takes precedence over, for example, posting a video to your business’ social media accounts. Does that mean that marketing isn’t a priority to you? Heavens no! If you just don’t have time to implement your marketing strategy, you know you should look to hire a marketing company so it can be taken off of your plate.
3. YOU’RE NOT SURE WHAT’S WORKING AND WHAT’S NOT
Let’s say you’ve been running your own marketing for years, but you tend to just take any advertising opportunity that sounds good to you at the time. In other words, you don’t have a marketing plan or strategy. Here at Barnyard Marketing, we like to call this tactic “throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if anything sticks.” This is not an effective way to market your business. A marketing professional can help you identify your plan and analyze the results so you can make informed decisions that will increase your bottom line.
4. YOU LACK THE SKILLS, KNOW-HOW OR RESOURCES
Let’s face it: Producing effective marketing takes a certain set of skills, especially in today’s digital age when platforms and best practices are constantly changing. You may recognize that you simply don’t have all of the know-how to reach your customers where they are. Let me tell you…that’s OKAY. As a business owner, you should be putting your time and energy into things that make you happy – like running your business! If you realize you don’t have the skills to market your business, it’s time to look at outsourcing.
5. YOU DON’T HAVE THE BUDGET TO HIRE AN IN-HOUSE MARKETING TEAM
Ideally, you would want to hire a marketing specialist, graphic designer, and social media coordinator internally to work on marketing your business. But that can get expensive really fast. By hiring a marketing company, you can benefit from all the skills that their employees have – many with years of training and experience – at a much more manageable cost.
Do any of these signs apply to your current situation? Contact Barnyard Marketing for a free inital consultation! You’ll come away with a better understanding of your marketing efforst and how you should move forward. We’ll even provide the coffee!