Pick A Message, Any Message!
One of the biggest problems we encounter is the client with too much to say at once. You want to say you have a quality product, competitive pricing, diligent staff, impeccable customer service, and are on the forefront of technology; and it is ALL EQUALLY IMPORTANT. You want to put all of these things in big bold letters across the top of your artwork and you want the ‘perfect” picture to go with it that captures all of these ideas. The problem here is that without one clear message, the viewer is lost in a sea of different messages and won’t invest the time to pay attention to any of it.
It makes sense: you are paying for a design, a print run, a publication, and you want to get the most bang for your buck. The reality is that any amount of money you spend for a lost or muddled message is wasteful.
The solution? Focus. Focus. Focus. Catch the consumers’ eye, give them something they can understand and easily remember with a 3 second glance. Keep your message simple and consistent and the net results will be exponentially higher.
The Risk Of Humor
It is always appealing to consider comedy to catch ones attention in advertising or marketing materials. If you handle it correctly, you will have yourself a very memorable campaign. However, proceed with caution because you are always assuming an element of risk. As we all know, what is funny to one can be quite offensive to another.
An example of this is the new Metro PCS commercial featuring “Ranjit and Chad”, two middle-aged Indian men. It is supposed to be funny because there seems to be a high population of Indians in tech support. It pokes fun at their accents, fashion sense, and their nationality in general.
Some find it harmless and laughable, while others are deeply offended and consider it racist. From a marketing standpoint, if the ad is getting press, then the mission is accomplished regardless of the means. This can however, backfire. Put a bad taste in people’s mouths, or go a bit too far with your “humor” and you could be creating an entire market of people who boycott your product or service.
My advice? Use humor only when you feel strongly about the status of your brand and if at all possible, try not to use race or nationality in anything regardless of how funny you think it is. History is riddled with the television and film industry pigeon holing and poking fun at different minority groups. It NEVER goes over well.
Qualifications Do Matter
The problem with marketing is that anyone can say they do marketing: graphic designers, photographers, web designers, the self-taught, uneducated, inexperienced, etc…
Why does it matter that unqualified people claim to be marketing experts? I’m glad you asked!
1. If I had a nickel for every time I heard, “I hired someone to do marketing and I never saw any results,” I would be as rich as Bill Gates! When you hire someone who doesn’t understand marketing, you will not get results. (Shocking – I know!) Marketing is about ROI – it is results-driven. If your marketing expert doesn’t tell you this, a red flag should appear.
2. A beautiful ad or brochure is not marketing…it may qualify as art and it may be aesthetically pleasing, but it is not marketing. In order to qualify as marketing it must have an objective (looking pretty is not an objective). Will it increase awareness? Will it increase sales? Will it increase loyalty? The objective needs to be identified before the marketing materials are created otherwise you are putting the cart before the horse, which rarely turns out well.
3. I cannot stress enough that advertising is NOT marketing. Advertising is a part of marketing – yes – but it is NOT a synonym. If you are looking for someone to put together an ad for you, you will have no trouble finding a sea of people to take your money and do what you ask. However, a true marketing professional will ask questions like: What is the goal of the ad? How will you measure the success of the ad? Are there other activities that may net you a better ROI? What other marketing activities will be implemented to support the ad? Where will it be placed, why, for how long, when, and how frequently? Creativity is great but if it doesn’t get you closer to your goals, then it is entertainment, NOT marketing. Granted, entertainment serves a purpose, but most companies do not have extra money to spend on pure entertainment.
4. Everyone wants a website and building websites these days has become very easy. If you build it, they will come! Right? No, I am afraid not. The site has to be optimized for search engines, then you will get traffic? Again no, there is much more to a successful website. The site must be targeted, promoted, cross-promoted, linked, optimized, focused on attention/retention, viral, social, and utilized to tie into your other marketing activities. Most importantly, it must fit into your overall marketing strategy. How do you come up with a powerful marketing strategy?... research, assessment, analysis, forecasting, targeting, positioning, and more…for starters.
Can you have a successful campaign with poor marketing? Technically yes…but you will never know how much more successful the campaign could have or should have been! Are the odds in your favor...nope.
Marketing is an extremely strategic and effective tool – if used properly. If you are not seeing results, do not blame marketing; like anything else, the answer is usually ‘user error’.
The bottom line is that putting your marketing into the wrong hands could be a costly mistake but if you know what to look for, there are some really incredible marketers out there that can get you real results.
Integrate Or Don't Bother
Imagine you have ten people and you need to get a two ton boulder to the top of a hill. What is the best way to achieve your objective?
-
You could have each person take a turn – thereby “stretching your resources the farthest”, but each person is not going to be able to push the boulder at all and you will waste the effort of each person because you will not reach the top.
-
You could have half of the people push the boulder while the other half rest and vice versa, thereby “minimizing the expenditures of your resources”. The first five people may get the boulder halfway up the hill. The other five people will start pushing the boulder but they are not strong enough and they lose half of the ground the first five made. If the people are really strong, you may get the boulder to the top of the hill eventually.
-
You could have all of the people push the boulder at the same time and in the same direction. You will get the boulder to the top in the shortest amount of time. You might exert the maximum amount of resources, but you will also achieve the greatest results.
Marketing works the same way: you will achieve your objective more efficiently and in a shorter time if all activities are working together toward the same goal. In order to have the most powerful marketing campaign possible, your PR, your website, your sales force, your trade show, your packaging, your promotions, your advertising and more all need to be geared toward achieving the same goal!
What is outsourced marketing?
WHAT IS IT? Outsourcing is when a company subcontracts a process to a third party, but the term outsource is broad with various associations. Outsourcing as discussed here is NOT about moving commodity-type jobs offshore in order to cut costs.
The rapidly changing marketplace of the 21st century coupled with the projected shortage of qualified employees, has brought new challenges to American businesses. The need for in-house specialists is increasing while budgets for training and developing these experts are decreasing. A new attitude is evident among successful companies who are achieving greater efficiency while acquiring necessary resources through outsourced marketing. Rather than traditional consultants the outsourcing partner is a “best value” solution through which growing businesses are linked to a range of state-of-the-art services and resources.
Through dialogue and planning a firm relationship is established between the company and the outsourcing provider. By focusing on the company’s goals and building on the strategic analysis of its objectives, the outsourcing partner will pull all marketing functions together. This new partner will assume the responsibility for the every marketing discipline and provide an experienced team of specialists. Together the result is a more effective and profitable business.
HOW DOES IT WORK? Outsourcing a company’s marketing is a strategic decision where the entire marketing function is no longer performed in-house with the purpose of re-focusing a company’s activities on its core competencies. For years companies have been outsourcing some of their marketing activities such as advertising, graphic design, website design and research. Outsourced marketing results in a shift from an internal to an external marketing department. The marketing firm handles everything from research, analysis, strategy, planning and management to advertising, public relations, direct marketing, internal communications, and web marketing.
WHAT ABOUT THE COST? Most people initially turn to outsourcing as a way to cut costs because it provides numerous financial benefits that lead to a healthier bottom line.
Reduce Overhead/Fixed Costs: Saving money is the root benefit of outsourcing. It reduces fixed costs and frees up capital. In a company’s youth or growth stages outsourcing eliminates unnecessary, and often large, expenditures. Cash can be moved to the areas of your business that directly produce revenue, like inventory or sales. Often a concern, businesses with lower fixed costs become more attractive to investors and in a better position to raise funds.
Cut Payroll, Hiring & Training Costs: Outsourced marketing is less expensive than hiring internally. When a company is growing, most marketing and design positions are not needed on a full time basis. Hiring internally for these positions results in wasted payroll. Additionally, time spent on training and managing these new hires has proven to be more significant than is often planned or warranted.
Cut Workflow Fluctuation Costs: It is rare that a company can create evenly-paced workflow. Hiring and training staff for short-term projects or season fluctuations can be very expensive. Additionally, temporary employees may not be as qualified or stable as you would like. Outsourcing marketing allows you to shift these fluctuations away from your own business and lets you focus your human resources on the core areas of your business.
Cut Consultant/Specialist Fees: When using freelancers or advertising and design firms, you will often pay a premium for specialized services. An outsourced marketing firm pays its talent salaries and not freelance rates. You will be able to take advantage of the lower rates of full-time personnel.
Realize Multi-Service Savings: An outsourced marketing firm handles all aspects of your marketing from strategy to design to public relations. This enables the firm to have a single point of contact and management of your business across all marketing activities. Using individual firms would increase the number of contact and management fees by the number of different firms and consultants used. Not only is there a real cost savings when you use one firm for all of your needs, all elements of your marketing program will become better integrated, which translates into an increased ROI.
Cut Advertising Costs: An advertising agency charged its clients a percentage of ad placement fees. The more money you spend, the more money the ad agency will make. With an outsourced marketing firm, you are not charged a percentage of ad placement fees. It is only concerned with ROI, its profits are tied into your results, not your expenditures.
Added Savings: There is a savings based on scale of economies that most design firms receive and traditionally mark-up to gain additional profit on your business. Standard mark-up fees are anywhere between 25%-100%. For example, design firms generally receive discounts from printers for giving them print jobs for all of their clients rather than just one client. An outsourced marketing firm will not mark up these prices but rather pass the savings on to their clients as an additional benefit to outsourcing your entire marketing program.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS? Cost, continuity, integration, accountability, growth, fluctuations, perspective, time etc…
Cutting costs is just the beginning. The additional benefits of outsourcing lie in the value it creates.
Aligned Objectives: When using an advertising agency or a design firm, the focus is on creativity. As a result, efforts may be geared more toward winning awards than on maximizing your company’s ROI. It has long been established that an award-winning campaign does not necessarily equate to award-winning sales. An outsourced marketing firm creates the strategy, objectives and creative of each campaign and it is then responsible for measuring the success of the activity. Everthing is centered on ROI, therby closely aligning its objectives with yours.
Increased Flexibility: Outsourcing your marketing gives you additional flexibility in your activities. You can pursue numerous activities simultaneously without overtaxing your internal staff. An outsourced marketing firm has additional, trained and experienced staff on hand that is able to handle emergency, short-term or periodic projects. There is less gear up time, resulting in quicker response times and more efficient activities.
Focus Scare Resources On You Core Business: You are in business to do what you do best. Nothing else should detract from your core competencies. Outsourcing your marketing shifts the focus from marketing activities to those that are at the core of your value proposition; those that benefit your customers directly. Every business management expert will tell you to focus on what you do best and unload the rest because both money and time are extremely scarce and must be directed where they can result in the largest gains. One of the most difficult thing for a business owner to do is to admit that another person or company is company is better qualified to do something and to let go and allow them to do it. In this case, a business owner’s largest obstacle can be him or herself.
Free Up Time of Valuable Personnel: Each person has a finite amount of time and energy and it is essential to keep their time and energy focused in the most crucial areas of the business. It is a very common mistake for key personnel to be distracted from their core competencies in order to have a hand in a company’s marketing. When the marketing is outsourced, this is much less likely, particularly when concerns are minute, day-to-day details of little consequence to the bottom line. Acompany’s highly paid staff, including owners and upper management can focus on doing what they are educated, trained and experienced to do, like running the company, developing sales, etc. More importantly, an outsourced marketing firm is educated, trained and experienced in marketing and is therefore better equipped to more efficiently and effectively handle the marketing.
Play With The Big Boys: Outsourcing can help small businesses afford the talent and activities that are out of their reach. Outsourcing allows even small companies to access large economies of scale, efficiency, and expertise that are common to large companies.
Reduce Risk: Every penny your business spends is a risk. Outsourcing allows you to share a portion of your risk with another company. You will be able to reduce your fixed assets, overhead, payroll, management fees and more. Additionally, because an outsourced marketing firm is an expert in the field of marketing, it is much better situated to minimize any risk relating to marketing than a firm with expertise in other areas.
Get Access To Specialized Skills: Every business needs consultants and experts in certain areas at certain times. Using an outsourced marketing firm provides you with immediate, affordable access to top-level professionals that are highly skilled in specialized areas, from consumer behavior to package designers. Additionally, these experts are better able to serve your company more loyally than are consultants who specialize in a given industry and may be working with some of your competitors.
Proactive vs. Reactive Marketing: An outsourced marketing firm is often in a better position to provide a proactive marketing strategy. An internal marketing department is more apt to be sidetracked by internal activities, changes, and fires that need to be put out.
WHO SHOULD OUTSOURCE? How does a company know when it is time to seek an outsourcing partner?
The specific reasons to outsource are as varied as the companies themselves. But the basic incentive for outsourcing remains the same: since the life-blood of the company lies in doing what it does best, it is only reasonable to acknowledge and accept that it cannot and should not try to do everything. By focusing on its areas of expertise, the company can capitalize on its own talent pool. This, then, is the most important and most basic requirement.
The decision to outsource is often made in the interest of making better and more efficient use of time and resources, reducing costs, or redirecting /conserving energy to focus on core competencies. As to specific reasons to outsource, some companies are looking for a chance to turn things around while others are seeking to create business models that will give them an edge. Some see outsourcing as a viable alternative to overhauling outdated office operations, to provide lacking in-house resources, or to spend more time innovating and dealing with customers. Some are dealing with rapid expansion while others need to get a better handle on the budget through predictable costs.
No matter what the specific reasons, all companies agree to focus on what they do best and to turn the details over to the experts. In so doing, the work gets completed more efficiently, more effectively, and gives the company increased flexibility to meet changing needs without increased internal infrastructure.
The Top Ten Reasons Companies Outsource(Source: The Outsourcing Institute, 2004)
1. Improve company focus: Outsourcing allows company managers and key
personnel time to focus on a business’ core competencies, where they are of more value.
2. Access superior capabilities: Outsource providers bring in-depth expertise in a particular area which helps companies better satisfy customers and increase productivity and efficiency.
3. Access better technology: Organizations can tap into leading-edge technology that is used in conjunction with specified areas of expertise. Keeping up-to-date with such technology is generally timely and costly.
4. Shared risk: Outsourcing enables a company to share some of its risk, such as unstable workflow and capital investments. The outsourcing provider is able to spread those risks over multiple clients.
5. Free-up resources: Outsourcing allows a company to shift its resources to activities that have the greatest impact on bottom-line performance.
6. Increase working capital: The outsource provider is responsible for the capital investment as part of its own overhead.
7. Improve cash flow: Outsourcing a function that is currently carried out in-house may allow the sale of assets that are no longer internally necessary.
8. Reduce operating costs: An outsource entity can generally provide the same the function for less because of economies of scale, thereby reducing the functions cost to the business.
9. Accommodate growth: Outsourcing is ideal for companies undergoing rapid growth because expansion can occur more easily without derailing current operations.
10. Alleviate management pressure: Managing functions that can be outsourced is a significant drain on resources.
WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE? Outsourcing improves the bottom line! Overhead costs are reduced by eliminating wages for additional employees, benefits, extra office space, computers and software – all alternatively provided in-house.
With proactive marketing in place, the company will be freed from the responsibilities of internal activities, resulting in improved use of time. The focus is back on the core competencies while the details are taken care of by a team of experts.
Outsourcing will provide media and discipline neutrality to identify and find the resources needed. The marketing outsourcing partner can provide a fresh look and an objective viewpoint. There is an added benefit of increased flexibility, which results from eliminating fluctuating workloads and preventing wasted time training temporary employees.
Outsourcing brings with it an expanded talent pool with innovative ideas and the added energy that comes from an experienced staff. More minds bring better solutions. The outsourcing provider fills the need for tailored, targeted information and advice.
The new partner will see the project through to its conclusion, no matter what internal changes may occur. Management can live happier with one less thing to worry about, knowing the job is in the best possible hands.
WHO DO I HIRE? The important qualifications to look for in an outsourcing partner are based on people, experience and skill sets. The outsourcing partner must have a seasoned team of experts with knowledge of best practices and be able to offer specialized services. References and reputation should evidence a commitment to quality and reflect a wide scope of knowledge and resources.
Since the relationship built on common goals must not only be preserved, but must continue to grow, it is essential that the principals of the firm are personable, knowledgeable, and bring a personal integrity to the table. Responsiveness and the ability to communicate ideas are also indicators of a skilled partner.
Ingenuity Marketing Services has the means, the technology and the expertise to help companies expand their business and exceed customer satisfaction, sales and marketing expectations through our innovative approach in outsourcing services.
Focusing on offering superior marketing outsourcing solutions, Ingenuity Marketing becomes an extension of your enterprise. We are committed to achieving your goals to ensure your growth and success.
