Did you know there are three different paths to take when marketing your business? To help you determine which way to go, we’ll break down the pros and cons of:
- Do It Yourself
- Do It For Me
- Do it With Me
Choosing the Best Marketing Path
After launching a successful idea, you need to market your products or services. You might wonder how to go about it. Should you do it yourself? Should you hire an employee or several employees to do it for you? Should you hire an outside firm? Or should you look at doing some sort of hybrid of doing it yourself and hiring someone?
These can be tough decisions because you don’t want to pick the wrong way and it up with wasted time and effort. Marketing your business is essential to growth, but sometimes you may be at a loss as to how to go about it and what the best, most effective route is.
When it comes to marketing your business, you want to make sure you have a comprehensive approach that ties your efforts back to your business and sales goals. Are you talking to the right audience? Does your website, marketing collateral, promotional material and social media posts send the right message and address the needs of your current and potential customers?
Cost, time and your personal skills and experience often contribute to your decision to either do it yourself or hire someone. There are actually three options: do it yourself, hire someone (do it for me), or take a “do it with me” approach which is a hybrid between the first two.
Do It Yourself
DIY shows abound as more and more people roll up their sleeves and get down to business. Doing it yourself can be the most cost effective way to go about it if you have the skills, experience and time to spend building a comprehensive marketing strategy and implementing it. If you want to be hands-on and enjoy the work, this may be the way to go for you.
Pros:
- It keeps your costs very low if you are on a limited budget.
- You develop an appreciation for all that is involved.
- You don’t have to wait on someone else to do something.
Cons:
- If you don’t have the expertise, it could be a waste of time and money.
- If something goes wrong or you get stuck, you don’t have anyone there to help you.
- You don’t have professional feedback.
- Your time may be better spent doing other things to run and grow your business that only you can do.
- It takes time.
Do it For Me
Hiring an outside agency, with a good reputation in the field, is a wonderful choice if you’re looking for fresh out-of-the-box ideas and creative concepts or aren’t familiar with tying your marketing back to your business goals or how to create brand awareness. If you prefer selling or supporting your customers, find production, design or writing tedious, or don’t have the time to spend implementing your marketing plan, this may be the most beneficial route.
Pros:
- You’ll get an experienced team who can create a comprehensive marketing plan to drive sales.
- The same team can help craft your story and figure out what makes your business unique and attractive.
- Bring the experience you need to promote and grow your business. It’s their job to keep up with best practices and the latest trends.
- Implements social media marketing, ensure your website is mobile-friendly and show you how to measure your efforts.
- Ensures cohesiveness between all aspects of your marketing initiatives if you choose a one-stop shop.
- Frees up your time to devote to other business-critical functions.
Cons:
- You give up some of your control of the project.
- It costs more money.
Do it With Me
Do it with me is a hybrid between the previous two options. If you have the knowledge to create a comprehensive marketing plan, the vision of how you want things to look, or have a marketing director already on staff, then this might be your best bet.
Pros:
- It keeps costs down and is a middle of the road approach.
- You have more input and/or control over the project and process.
- You have additional resources as a backup plan in case you get busy, ill or need a vacation.
- If you’re experienced creating some pieces of the marketing mix, but need help in other areas, this can be a good solution.
- Gives you a collaborative environment if you already have the background to create a strategic marketing plan but don’t want to work in a silo.
- If you have a marketing director in place, he or she can coordinate with a larger team outside of their skill level or have access to additional resources needed to implement or create a plan.
- If you have a marketing person on staff, then he or she would be the point person.
Cons:
- It takes more of your time than outsourcing. Time that may be better spent elsewhere, especially if marketing and communications is not your forte or you don’t have a marketing person on staff.
- You would be the main source ensuring that all pieces of the marketing mix are cohesive across all channels.
Whichever method you decide, the key is choosing the one that works best for you and your business goals as well as fits in with your time and expertise.
