Marketing Outsourcing

Transcription

1 Marketing Outsourcing Ideas, Concepts and methods Explained

2 CONTENTS 1. Introduction Marketing Outsourcing As A Business Model Different Types Of Marketing Outsourcing Marketing And Its Power Role of content in the digital marketing sphere Social Media Outsourcing Conclusion...7 Today s marketing success comes from self-publishing Web content that people want to share. It s not about gimmicks. It s not about paying an agency to interrupt others. David Meerman Scott, Author, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, from BtoB Magazine, March, 2008

3 Introduction Marketing outsourcing is not a very new concept as has been talked about. It has been around on a small scale basis for ages. In comparison to IT, marketing outsourcing is a weathered fellow, but with bigger processes and opportunities today. With businesses booming and sales orders touching billions of dollars, the capabilities and resources of companies are under severe stress. This is where outsourcing steps in. Many large scale companies are able to cope with massive projects because they outsource crucial functions to experts. Expert is the key word we will be focusing on here, because marketing outsourcing is a tricky concept, and only experts can pull it off. Considering the rise of content, marketing and more recently, social media marketing, outsourcing these have become an important factor. In this white paper we will outline how the outsourcing industry works, why it works and touch upon certain strategic areas of marketing outsourcing such as , content and social media marketing.

4 Marketing Outsourcing as a Business Model Marketing outsourcing revenues grew by a steady 8% in the year This is a positive sign in times of economic turmoil and upheaval. This statistic gives us an in depth understanding of the reach and power of marketing outsourcing and why it has become so popular and wildly successful. Various avenues have opened up for the discerning marketer. Be it advertising, sales, content, websites, you name it and there is an opportunity waiting to be capitalized on. Marketing outsourcing as a whole is a huge concept and it encompasses the entire spectrum of marketing ranging from advertising the product to after sales support. Marketing gurus have been quick to point out that this is the new order of the millennium. Over the years, marketing has evolved, from rudimentary times of sales person s knocking on your door, regaling you with benefits of the product umpteen numbers of times. Television brought advertising into the drawing room. Millions were spent of 10 second adverts using every trick in the book to make the product, however poorly incapable, look phenomenal. As time passed, people became aware of the massive misrepresentation of information and how unidirectional it had become. And round about the same time, the internet emerged. With its set of interactive features, reach and growth potential, the printed word was going online, being read and acted upon. This threw open a whole bag of opportunities, businesses woke up to its power and everything went viral. Marketing divisions in many businesses are big; teeming with ideas and yes, the money is good. But with the marketing scene changing dramatically, selling a product has become a chore and not a joy. The initial reason for the outsourcing phenomenon to work is as follows: 1. Lower cost per project 2. Higher ROI stage, marketing outsourcing was not streamlined as it is now. A business process and flow were created to manage the huge inflow of projects. Different Types of Marketing Outsourcing There are 3 different core types of marketing outsourcing companies. They are classified according to the way in which they operate. 1. Project based 2. Customer based 3. Project and customer based 1) Project based outsourcing companies are small scale, working on independent needs of larger companies. These companies have very focused teams driving the projects and are able to provide better results than larger corporations. On the downside, they are low on resources and may not be able to gain bigger contracts due to constraints within. 2) Customer based outsourcing companies take up complete marketing duties for the customer. This is typically seen with larger corporations who outsource their entire marketing operations to a vendor. There are advantages such as cost effectiveness and marketing worries being transferred out of the company corridors. It adds a lot of value to the customer because they can dedicate their energies towards core functions of the company. Disadvantages are that ideas can clash and the customer may not be fully satisfied with the endeavors of the vendor. Responsibilities are tremendously huge and hence they need to be taken care of in a very professional manner. 3) Project and customer based companies are doing the best business now. They have a good mix of complete marketing outsourcing for products and also take independent projects. For a marketing outsourcing company to become a project and customer based provider is not an easy task and requires a lot of effort and streamlined processes. 3. faster deliverability 4. Availability of specialized talent These are fantastic benefits to say the least, and the smart marketing CEO latched onto it. When it was in its nascent

5 Trying to increase sales simply by driving more traffic to a website with a poor customer conversion rate is like trying to keep a leaky bucket full by adding more water instead of plugging the holes. Bryan Eisenberg, Call to Action Marketing and Its Power What do you look for while outsourcing marketing? 71% 39% 32% 29% Given below is a detailed process chart of the key process of marketing outsourcing. 18% 28% Client Has Product/Service To Market And Sell* + Client May Also Need Resources i.e. Data, IT Enabled Services And So On* 16% 15% 12% Client Unable To Maintain Momentum Since Resources Used For Time Consuming Processes 8% 10% service provider Analytics Service Vendor Does Research And Gives Reply With Quote Client Gives Requirement To Marketing Outsourcing Client And Vendor Come To An Agreement On Project Project Is Executed By Vendor And Delivered To Client Deliverability monitoring Service Preview Service Spam Filter Testing Service Reputation/blacklist monitoring Service Testing and Optimization Service List hygiene/scrubbing Service Design Firm Agency Certification/Accreditation Service *The client need may range from product creation, launch, selling; branding and other such associated marketing needs, to various requirements such as data, resources, and HR operations, IT services and so on. Depending on the type of requirement, vendors provide solutions. Source : 2011 MarketingSherpa Marketing Benchmark Survey Methodology: Fielded July 2011, N=2,735 These are some of the insights from a Marketingsherpa research chart. The top result is for an service provider. Today, marketing has evolved into one of the strongest ways of marketing. It has in fact one of the highest ROI s among all the marketing tools. Since it is so effective, it does come with issues too. One of the most significant problems is of plenty. At one point of time, bulk ing was the norm. Millions were sent out in a day. The effect of this was catastrophic.

6 The industry still reels from its after effects, and hence marketers have to be on their toes. Effective fail safe mechanisms to beat these issues have to be in place to be an marketing outsourcing firm of repute. 1. SPAM compliant templates 2. Database which is verified and opted in 3. Strong server back up 4. Top of the line analytic tools These are just few of the many guidelines which marketers need to follow. When done effectively, marketing can create incredible results. The reach and power that an message has cannot be compared to any other tool. Role of Content in the Digital Marketing Sphere: Content is NOT king seeding and promotion tactics of said content is king. Brian Chappell, via Twitter B2B Content Marketing Challenges (% of respondents) December % 1% Producing the kind of contest that engages prospects/customers Producing enough content Budget to Produce content Lack of buy-in/vision from higher ups Producing a Variety of Content Budget to license content These are very apt words to explain content marketing. When an message is sent out, the content inside it is what persuades the reader to act. Making it sharp, precise, aggressively positioned and true to its words is what an effective campaigner should look for. Content marketing has come a long way from just text documents to a whole arsenal of collaterals ranging from the humble whitepaper to the very effective know it all guide. SEO writing has become an integral part of website development. Search engines love content, and the more original it is, the better. Blogging is also a very effective medium to create a dialogue. Websites are not very dynamic but blogs are the opposite, and hence leveraging them is what gets a conversation going online. Lead generation has also become closely tied to content. The sales funnel has been designed in such a way that leads are nurtured with appropriate collateral at the appropriate stage. Content ranging from white papers, guides, manuals, primers and so on are incorporated into the lead nurturing program. 18% 12% 42% Inbound marketing is the new kid on the block. The art of persuading the lead to do business with you through carefully planned content strategies is called inbound marketing. A majority of the top 500 emerging companies are hard core inbound marketers. This is reason enough to invest in the phenomenon. 20%

7 Social Media Outsourcing Social media has taken the digital world by storm. Having a strong social media presence today has become a vital part of branding. Social media has added an extra feature and that is accountability. Brands are created and destroyed with the same zeal on social media sites. This research chart furnished by marketingcharts.com clearly shows the position conversations have on social media. Social media outsourcing has great potential, mainly because many companies do not have the time to invest on social media. 57% 69% 69% When a company outsources its social media initiative, the vendor carefully plans out its brand image on social sharing sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. An entire social media brand is created which gives the product or service a voice capable of reaching its target audience in an informal way. 38% 37% 36% 40% 48% My company always answera when a customer asks a question online and/or offline My company admits its mistakes and apologizes to the customer Employee participate in conversations with customers and clients My company offers objective added value when dealing with commercial questions from customers My company managers its conversations itself My company monitors customer conversations both online and offline The conclusions of these observations are shared with all employees My company sometimes posts questions on public forums to gain input and feedback from customers My company participates in online conversations 56% Conclusion Marketing outsourcing has come a long way and today we see a lot of technology incorporated into it. Lead management software and customer resource management platforms have made lead generation precise and effective. Various digital channels have been utilized to reach the prospect right where he is. It has decreased the strain on resources and has improved productivity, creating new opportunities as it advances. Jump onto the marketing outsourcing bandwagon if you have not yet and see how it can turn your business into a truly customer centric one. About Strategic Services Strategic Marketing Services is a 360 Degree Marketing Agency & Marketing Services Outsourcing expert. Our clients value our relentless focus on results and Return On Marketing Investment. Our approach is, First and foremost, anchored around your pain points and objectives. Secondly tools and channels always with a clear objective and ROMI focus in mind. To that end, our Strategic Marketing Consulting Unit and our Client Performance Units are instrumental in meeting and exceeding our clients expectations. Since its inception in 1999, Strategic Marketing Services is committed to providing resultoriented digital marketing. Strategic has grown to be an strong company. Spread across US and India, we have catered to over 40% of Fortune 500 companies in both B2B and B2C.