Q&A: Outsourcing Marketing Services
Being a small marketing team is challenging. You want to do it all –and often times are expected to – but that’s not possible. What’s the next step? Hiring new team members? What if that’s not in the budget? Then what?
In this interview, we spoke with Bianca Sanchez, marketing and social media manager at Hirschbach, about outsourcing marketing services to Faye with its Marketing U-Pick Plan.
Q: Why did you want to outsource marketing services?
A: Delegating is not my strong suit. I struggle with it. I like to control my messaging and my plan. I know what it is I want to do and then don’t have to translate it to someone else. I know this is a flaw. You can’t operate like that efficiently.
Being able to say “I need to delegate this” is hard. Yet, it’s well worth it, especially if you don’t have it in the budget to hire another staff member. Outsourcing is a great way to have somebody else assist in creating and delivering on the content that you need to get out there.
Q: How did you decide what to outsource?
A: It started with what I was struggling with the most. I knew I was having trouble staying consistent on social media, so I wanted to tackle that first.
It feels like sometimes social media is not super important for everyone else in the company, but it is important. Drivers spend so much time on social media. If we’re not putting content out, then we’re not staying in front of them; we’re not staying relevant.
Q: With the Marketing U-Pick Plan, it’s exactly as it sounds: you pick what marketing you need help with. Have you had to pivot your engagement at all from when you started?
A: Social media was a struggle area so that’s where we started first. Now we are working on some additional things like blog content and helping to promote our podcast.
Q: Why not just ask for help with your own internal resources?
A: Taking the time and trying to explain marketing is the hardest thing for me. It’s having to understand your audience and teaching how to communicate with and market to them. It’s a time-consuming process.
At the same time, there’s an emotion side of things. You feel like you’re hurting people’s feelings when you critique their work. It’s not that I’m picking on your work, it’s just we have a very specific message and branding that we want to stick behind. If they don’t understand that, it is difficult. So, for me, it’s better to utilize a company like Faye versus trying to teach team members who have no understanding of it that are just trying to help. It’s a lot of time and energy.
Q: Some marketers are nervous to ask for help. How did you approach your boss to get approval for outsourcing?
A: At our company, numbers are everything, so being able to prove that it makes sense financially or productivity wise is the best way to get approval. I knew that I needed help since my recent marketing hire had left. When I spoke with Faye, I heard about their different packages and knew the U-Pick Plan was a good fit for my needs.
When I showed my boss that what we’d be getting for the cost was actually less expensive than hiring a second marketing person and would give me help in the areas I needed assistance with, I was able to prove a benefit. And it has been.
We’ve been consistent in our posting and our messaging that’s getting out there. It’s been a positive and a win-win.
Are you interested in learning more about outsourcing marketing services? Contact us today!