Marketing as a Service (MaaS)

Outsourcing the marketing function is becoming an increasingly attractive option particularly for SMEs. There are no end of advantages and some disadvantages but the main ones can be summed up as:

1. Reduces costs	You don’t need to replace employees who are leaving or incur the employment costs of new entries. Although training cannot be ruled out as a cost you don’t need to train in marketing skills as we do that for you.
2. Increases expertise	Marketing has become much more technical in recent years and it is all we can do to keep up and it is our prime business. Managing Pay-per-Click campaigns is practically a full time job, as is Search Engine Optimisation and SEM. Our telemarketers are full time employed at telemarketing not occasional practitioners.
3. Matches supply and demand	The nightmare for SMEs is getting too busy to do marketing and then finding that there is insufficient business coming in. The edge of the cliff beckons. You cannot turn the marketing tap on and off but you can adjust the flow to better suit market conditions.

Marketing companies have a better chance of making an impact if they work with you over a long period of time. This gives the consultancy time to properly understand the nuances of the business and work at a strategic rather than a tactical level. Over time, small nudges can work their way through the business and do a better job than expensive grand gestures. Our view is that it is difficult to be truly effective if we are involved with a company for less than six months.

From a cost point of view a longer term partnership spreads to upfront costs over the total period of the relationship so there is no initial peak in costs which is not accompanied by an upturn in sales. This is good for all parties as it eases the relationship between the two companies and enables to suppler to invest in longer term initiative knowing that the payoff may be later rather than sooner.

Advice which is given and received knowing that you will still be there during implementation keeps feet firmly fixed on the ground!

Examples of long term partnerships we are or have been involved in are;

• energy consultancy
• parcel management company
• training and publishing organisation
• HR consultancy
• Automated warehouse equipment manufacture

There are many different roles a marketing consultancy can play which do not involve you taking on the cost of establishing your own marketing function.

 

Contact us for a no charge assessment of your needs.

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