Coherent, comprehensive marketing systems are critical for small businesses, but developing these marketing systems requires skills that most small businesses owners don’t have. Why, then, would we argue that hiring an on-staff marketing specialist might be a waste of your precious resources if you’re a small business owner? It’s because, at the end of the day, small businesses too often end up spending far too much time and money on marketing specialists who don’t deliver results and have to deal with the repeating cycle of hiring.
Marketing Departments with Revolving Doors
In practice, most small businesses approach hiring marketing specialists in the least effective way possible. They bring in entry-level marketing people, often college-student interns or recent graduates, with the expectation that they’ll get youthful expertise in digital marketing at a bargain price.
What they get instead are inexperienced marketing specialists who don’t have expertise in the management of complex projects and campaigns. These new hires may call themselves marketing consultants, but often they have relevant experience in only one area of digital marketing. They may be social-media stars with thousands of followers, but they haven’t developed the skills necessary to turn familiarity with social media into reliable marketing results.
Perhaps worst of all, these marketing people aren’t likely to stick around for long. Don’t expect your marketing person to stay in your entry-level position for more than a year or two. That’s not nearly long enough to come to an understanding of your company’s culture, the intricacies of your market, or the steep learning curve of an integrated and well-performing marketing system.
A Risky Investment That Rarely Pays Off
When you invest in this kind of marketing consultant, you rarely get what you pay for. Even entry-level marketing specialists don’t come cheap. You’ll commit to thousands of dollars a month, and you’re unlikely to recoup that kind of investment from a consultant with little experience or expertise.
When the consultant inevitably leaves after a short tenure, you’re left with no functional marketing system and no results to show for your investment. Most small businesses end up repeating the same cycle over and over again with hire after hire. And adding insult to injury, the next person you hire may spend their first weeks and months of employment implementing their personal preference of tools and undoing the processes the previous person put in place. More wasted time. More wasted money. No marketing results.
End the Cycle with a Done-For-You Marketing Team
An alternative to bringing in a short-lived on-staff marketing consultant is hiring a done-for-you marketing team that can deliver comprehensive marketing services and results much more efficiently than a new staff hire.
Experienced teams come ready-made with expertise in a range of marketing areas, and they’ve already developed the tools and processes your business needs for a successful marketing system. They’re focused on delivering results for you, not just learning how an integrated marketing system works and biding their time until they move on to something else. You are hiring a team that has the tools, process, and know-how to get your business the marketing results it needs to grow.
A done-for-you team is also more cost effective than an on-staff marketing person. Your financial commitment to a team is smaller, and when the team hands you better results, the return on investment for your marketing dollars ends up being much greater.
The next time your marketing specialist leaves, think twice before making a new hire. This might be the time to start paying for results, not another marketing person.
Find out how done-for-you marketing can deliver results for your business. Start with this quick assessment to learn more:
