Marketing skills you should outsource
A great marketing strategy will make or break your growing business. Even if your product is great and you have an amazing team ready to go above and beyond for your clients, when you are facing a high competition market, brand recognition is everything.
The great thing is, there are so many outlets and new marketing trends that could be getting you the reach you need. But then you have a sudden reality check. Every month your team may come up with a ton of great ideas… but in the end, most of them get shelved so you can focus on what needs to be done ASAP (i.e. investor slide decks, UX copy, etc.)
Instead of sacrificing your great new ideas for what needs to be done today, the gig economy is providing us with the opportunity to have it all. The answer is outsourcing.
There are two major benefits to outsourcing: Get more marketing muscle and introducing new skills to your strategy. Remember, you can not do it all. Hiring temporary freelance muscle to boost your everyday tasks will not only save you time and money you will also benefit by getting a fresh perspective from marketing experts who are new to your product.
You do not have to reinvent the wheel. There are already people out there who have deep vertical and specific marketing experience. If you want to experiment with new trends, without the commitment of hiring a full-time specialist, hiring freelancers is the way to go. Here are some skills you should consider outsourcing:
Content marketing
The need for great content is something that will never go out of style. Having a well thought out and strong brand that speaks to your audience makes all the difference. As Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen explained onstage at the last Adobe Summit, “Today, people buy experiences, not products.” That is why great storytelling is something you can never go wrong with. However, having the time to sit down and continuously churn out well-written articles, videos or infographics is almost non-existent.
A 2018 survey of B2B marketers found that over half of respondents had a small or even one person team of content marketers to serve the entire organization. With content marketing being one of the most successful and cost-effective marketing strategies, over half of respondents said they are currently outsourcing this essential task to freelancers. Indeed, what we have seen is that content marketing is the hottest skill being searched for by companies on our platform. And, today, it is not just companies that need great content. Positioning founders as thought leaders can really bring your brand far. For this reason, ghostwriting in particular has been on the rise.
Growth marketing
Data-driven marketing was once a nice to have, now it is essential to aligning your company-wide strategy. Tracking and reporting in systems like Google Analytics, Kissmetrics, SEMRush or Ahrefs are must-haves, but did you know that there are so many new growth marketing strategies you can experiment with to get ahead of the curve?
For example, personalization is destined to be one of the top paradigm-shifting trends in the industry. A study by Adobe found that 77% of marketers believe real-time personalization is crucial, yet 60% struggle with it. More and more marketers are using chatbots and messaging platforms to distribute more personalized content. An international survey of senior marketing strategists found that 80% are already using or plan to use chatbots by 2020. Instead of spending time learning how to leverage this new trend, hiring someone to set this up for you will save time and headaches.
Voice marketing
Alexa, Google Home and Siri are slowly becoming our most witty and pleasant family members. Today people are mostly using voice search to find out what the weather is like, exactly how high Mount Everest is and generally to get sassy answers from Siri.
But, more people are also starting to use voice search for online purchases. One estimate predicts that voice shopping will grow by more than $40 billion by 2020 across the US and UK. While this may sound over the top, it is no doubt that voice marketing is as of yet a much-untapped marketing channel, making it a potential easy win for newcomers. Hiring a freelancer specialized in this up and coming skill can be a great way to find out if voice marketing works for you.
Influencer and social media marketing
Ultimately, people are most likely to trust a brand that’s been recommended to them by an outside source. Influencer marketing is stronger than ever, but it also takes a lot of time and a Rolodex of influencers which you may not already have.
With the rise of micro and nano influencers, influencer marketing is becoming a more accessible and effective strategy for startups and SMBs alike. However, failing to take the time for things like checking influencer authenticity and coming up with a campaign that really syncs with their personal brand could make you lose out on time and resources. By outsourcing this skill, you will have someone who can research influencers with the best potential to reach your audience, manage campaigns, and maintain these relationships on an ongoing basis.
Audit and compliance consulting
GDPR came like a tidal wave last year and some companies may not yet be up to date. Even if you are, 2019 is looking to be a challenging year for internal audits. With more companies using big data to strengthen their marketing strategies, issues like data quality, protection and use are leaving many exposed to potential risks.
With compliance and risk assessments being such an important factor in the health of your organization, it is essential to always be up to date. If regulations and legal language are not your thing, why not hire a consultant who you know will be on top of changing regulations? Do not let your next creative marketing idea go to waste. Hiring a dream team of experts to make your vision a reality is possible. In a sea of potential hires, check out our next article with tips on how to find the right freelancer for your project.
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