Some companies, especially startups, are hesitant to outsource their marketing. They may believe it’s more expensive than running marketing in-house, or that their offer and message are too complex to be conveyed by an agency.
While these worries are perfectly understandable, I will here debunk them as the myths that they are. Because the truth is, most B2B companies have a lot to gain, and very little to lose, from outsourcing content marketing to a specialist agency.
9 benefits of outsourcing your B2B content marketing
#1 Lower costs
Hiring a full in-house marketing team comes with high costs. And, as always when you’re employing people, it comes with responsibilities. Not only will you have to pay salaries, benefits and pension plans. You will also have to pay your team full wages during the whole time it will take them to learn about your specific industry, your product and your offer. This is a cost many companies underestimate; hiring an inhouse team inevitably means you’re paying a lot of money for time when no actual marketing is being done. Whereas when you outsource your marketing to specialists, you will start getting value for your money from the very first penny you spend.
#2 Lower risk
Outsourcing your marketing reduces your financial and strategic risk. There’s the risk of hiring the wrong people. Employees sometimes turn out to be unproductive. And you might not even realize that you’ve hired the wrong person until you’ve already spent tons of money on their onboarding and training. There’s also the risk of hiring for the wrong roles. In marketing, agility is critical. And as your business develops, you might realize that the roles you thought you needed weren’t the ones that are actually most important. Perhaps you’ve hired writers, only to realize that what you’re business would really would benefit from is more performance marketing. When you’re outsourcing, it’s easier to pivot and avoid over-committing to the wrong strategies.
#3 More sustainable
In all marketing, but especially in content marketing, consistency is key. One article will not get you very far; it’s the whole system of content that you build over time that will eventually bring results. For an in-house team, whose days are often characterized by curve balls and fires to put out, it’s often tricky to keep producing content consistently. Instead, long-term marketing projects tend to be put on the back burner, as the focus is directed to the most urgent projects. Hiring an agency for content marketing is a great way to make sure you’re able to create quality content with a regular cadence. Only then will you be able to reap the benefits of content marketing.
#4 Access to top-level expertise
Outsourcing different aspects of your marketing allows you to work with top talent within each field. Hiring in-house specialists for everything is seldom financially feasible. But when you outsource, that’s precisely what you’ll get. Agencies and consultants working with many businesses simultaneously are continuously gaining knowledge and insights that are not accessible when you’re working fulltime in one company. I find that the exposure to many companies and their challenges tend to create a creative synergy effect much larger than the sum of its parts. This is a great benefit of working with agencies; they allready know what worked (and what did not work) for their other clients, so you’re not starting from scratch.
#5 More flexibility
As we’ve become painfully aware in 2020, the ability to quickly scale up and down is crucial when times get difficult. Whether you need to quickly increase your marketing activities, or scale down to reduce costs, outsourcing your marketing means greater flexibility. And not only are you able to scale up and down. You get to choose each of your partnerships, and can easily end or replace them as you see fit.
#6 Access to tools and technology
Working with an agency means you will not have to invest in a whole marketing tech stack yourself. Most agencies have their own subscriptions for useful tools, that you will benefit from without having to add another fixed cost to your budget. Nor will you have to train your people on how to use these tools; you’ll just get to enjoy the regular reports by the end of each day/week/month.
#7 Support in strategy
The right agency will not only manage your marketing, but will also provide you with strategic advice and support along the way. Whether you already have an elaborate plan and just need a partner to execute it, or you’re starting from zero and need help with creating a strategy, outsourcing will give you access to the masterminds of the industry. An agency will point out opportunities you may otherwise have missed and will make sure all i’s are dotted and t’s crossed for maximum impact.
#8 Dejargonization
This last one is important, and it’s a benefit that many founders miss. The benefit of a fresh perspective. Because the thing is, if you’ve invented or developed a product, chances are you know too much about it. Yup, you heard me. It’s called the curse of knowledge or the curse of expertise. Knowing too much about what you’re selling often results in an audience who simply won’t understand what you’re saying. Because things that you consider super obvious, are not obvious to them. And the jargon that you live and breathe might as well be Greek to them. An agency will be able to look at your product and messaging with fresh eyes, and “translate” it to meet your target audience at their level. In fact, this might be one of the most valuable benefits of outsourcing your B2B marketing: you escape the inside-out perspective and gain an outside-in approach. Achieving that will make a massive difference on your bottom line.
Conclusion
So, can B2B content marketing be outsourced to an agency? The answer is a resounding yes. The benefits of outsourcing B2B content marketing are numerous, and there is minimal risk in giving it a go. You will quickly get a sense of how it works for your business. And chances are that once you see how much more relaxed, more cost-effective and sustainable it is to partner up with the right agency, you’ll never look back. Instead, you’ll love being able to focus on your core business, as you watch your content machine grow and drive revenue for you.