HELP! - When to Outsource Marketing

(This topic was requested by one of our readers.)

We are all asked to do more with less.  How do you know when to outsource your marketing?

When the Twin Towers and the economy were devastated in 2001, my largest client opted to move their advertising in-house.  Immediately, I became expendable to my ad agency – along with a dozen of my friends.  I didn’t know at the time, but it was the best day of my professional life!

Within a week, I had an interview with a credit union to be their Marketing VP.  My first step … learn what the heck a credit union is!  Soon after, my life as a financial marketer launched. 

Now here’s where the outsourcing comes in.  On my third day as a CU marketer, I had a meeting with this company called MarketMatch (yes, I’m not just a consultant, I was a client).  What I realized was that I knew how to be a marketer, but there were nuances to financial marketing that I needed help with.  What’s more, I was a department of one (and a part time assistant) and I had a lot to learn about my market.  I hired MarketMatch to conduct market research that I didn’t have time to conduct on my own.  I also used them to turbo-charge my learning curve on financial marketing.

So, what’s the lesson in all of this?

When do you turn to help?

Sole Search

Understand what you and your department are best at.  Also own up to where you’re weaker.

I am an idea guy.  I have created concepts for several award winning campaigns, but I don’t even know how to open design software. 

Look to bolster your weaknesses so you have more time to maximize your strengths.

Manage Your Resources

Prioritize the most important items that MUST get done to achieve your strategic objectives.  Then list all of the day-to-day stuff that you simply can’t avoid (newsletters, meeting reports, non-marketing tasks that fall on you, etc.).

I knew that I needed market research before I could design a plan to help my CU grow.  I wanted to understand our level of awareness in the market, perceptions about us, perceptions of our competition, if the market knew what the heck a credit union was … or cared.  I didn’t have time to properly conduct and analyze the research AND run my department, so I turned to MarketMatch.

In most cases, you can hire a marketing firm of many individuals, each with their own unique strengths for less than the expense of hiring one qualified marketing professional in-house.  When you analyze your list of “must dos” and compare it to your sole searching exercise, you’ll quickly see if you can justify outsourcing and where to focus your outsourcing search.

Know You Are Unique

Every town has a local ad agency.  And every agency has its strengths.  But look at their client list (past and present). 

As an ad man, I’ve worked on an enormous variety of accounts: water parks, soccer shin guards, international container shipping, refrigeration air compressors, large-format ink jet printers, legal documents, helicopter share ownership.  While many of the basics of marketing apply across the board, I can tell you first-hand that there is no industry like ours.

Your marketing partner can’t provide prudent recommendations without a firm understanding of your balance sheet.  If your agency doesn’t understand the unique needs of banking, they’ll be reduced to order takers by default. 

Do They Help You Sleep Well At Night

The job of any outsourced partner is to strengthen your efforts, to provide an outside perspective, to fill expertise gaps and to ultimately make you look like a hero!

This may be a good time to mention MarketMatch’s ROI Guarantee!!!

Check several references from institutions of similar size, target segments and project scope.  Can your agency point to other successes that closely resemble your needs?  The bottom line … are you confident that, when you lay awake at night – concerned about all that troubles you – your institution’s marketing efforts will not be amongst the worries?

(Do you have a topic you'd like to see in this blog?  Please add a comment below.)

Want to learn more?  Enroll in the MarketMatch eCollege!  Smart learning online sessions delivered five consecutive Tuesdays with CFMP credits, tactical advice and a game plan for success!  Enroll here!


MarketMatch is a full-service marketing firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the efforts that will generate the greatest  MOMENTUM for your organization and demonstrate RESULTS with our written ROI Guarantee.

Learn more here. (click here)

Chat with me LIVE! (click here)

Or email me directly (click here)

937-426-9848

An Army of One. Focus ... Momentum ... Results.

In 480 BC, a dedicated force of 300 Spartan warriors held off a far greater Persian army -  numbering more than 100,000 for 7 days during the Battle of Thermopylae.

How?  A strategic FOCUS.  A dedication to building MOMENTUM.  Continually monitored RESULTS and the help of a few friends to achieve them.

Most community banks and credit unions that we talk to are just like the Spartan army.  They are usually an army of one person (or a small few), who is strategic planner, accountant, copywriter, art director, secretary, media buyer, interactive expert and public relations specialist.  But you too can hold off the onslaught of a much larger banking enemy.

Focus: Defend a narrow pass, making your enemies enormous size irrelevant.

The Spartans chose to defend a narrow pass, where they could not be flanked by Calvary, limiting the size of their enemy’s front line and that was ideally suited for the Spartan weapons and training.

There were a thousand strategies that the Spartans couldhave chosen, but they weighed their options and put everything into the one, targeted plan.  Similarly, there are a thousand things that you, as a financial marketer, could be doing.  What is the focused strategy that will best build your business?

Momentum: A single-minded dedication to only those tactics that best propel your strategy forward.

For the Spartans, momentum wasn’t gaining ground, but rather holding ground and chipping away at their enemy’s forces.  Their advantage was home turf and their smaller size.

You are in a similar situation.  The goal for most community banks and credit unions is not market domination, but rather market share gain.  You can accomplish this because of your small size.  Like the Spartans, you know the terrain and the people.  The larger regional and national banks have the larger budget, but you have the focus and knowledge of your own backyard.  Every dollar you spend can be to drive targeted business you’re your institution.

The Spartans smaller size also helped them to better manage resources versus the massive Persian army who quickly burned through their food and water.

Your resources are just as vital.  Your resources are hours and dollars.  Determine what tactics are most vital to your success and focus your resources there.  Do you really need to spend 2 hours on a statement message or an afternoon on a newsletter article?  Are all of your sponsorship dollars generating a return, either in awareness or actual business?  Look at how you spend your resources this week.  Are they being used best to hold off the massive big-bank army?

Results: Constantly monitor success and failure.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

After each battle, the Spartans had to compare their losses against the enemy’s.  And they did not achieve their success alone.  While the Spartan 300 are legendary, in actuality, they had the help of thousands of other Greeks.

You may not have to monitor results daily like the Spartans, but fewer resources require you to more frequently monitor results.  If a tactic works, continue or ramp it up.  The moment it fails, kill it and redirect resources.  Determine what you need to do today/this week/this month/this quarter – do you have a single-minded drive to do it?  Are you accomplishing it on time?

Finally, as well trained and skilled as they were, the Spartans couldn’t do it alone.  Really analyze your capabilities.  Determine what you do best and outsource those strategic items that others may do better.

Learn more here.

Chat with me LIVE!

Or contact me directly (click here).

MarketMatch is a full-service marketing firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the efforts that will generate MOMENTUM and yield the greatest RESULTS for your bottom line.

When to Outsource

As I write this blog, I have contractors in my house finishing my basement to make more room for the kids to play (and, hopefully, a place to hide their toys!!!). Over the last week or so, I've been reminded exactly how much work goes into building a simple room: framing, wiring, lights, moving plumbing, drywall, flooring, etc., etc., etc.

Now, I'm a fairly intelligent guy and I have a lot of the tools that these guys are using. I know how to use a tape measure and a saw and I can read Do It Yourself websites. What I'm trying to say is that I might have been able to do this job myself ... BUT...

I simply don't have time. Between the important day-to-day work like mowing the lawn, doing the laundry, house cleaning, basic home maintenance, taking care of two kids and the like, I simply don't have time to do the bigger jobs. Besides:

• It would have taken me ten times longer because I don't have the same skill set as a contractor
• I don't have ALL of the tools that I'd need
• IF I was able to finish the job, the quality wouldn't be nearly as good

Does this sound like your situation at work? Between dealing with changing regulations, squeezing margins and internal management issues, the important day-to-day work can take time from the bigger strategic picture that will drive business and impact the bottom line.

The way I had to find the right contractor, it may help to find a marketing partner that has:

• The experience of creating and implementing strategic plans, building differentiating brands, segmenting and targeting the right customers and training sales staff to deliver on the marketing promise, ...
• The marketing tools that you may not have, be they creative, PR, media, strategic planning, etc., and ...
• A proven track record of quality specific to your industry.

What I've learned this week is that having the right people help you get the job done, makes for a better end product, a more restful nights sleep and more time for me to do what I want to do, like hang out with my kids.

Take care,

Eric

1 Down 11 To Go

I remember one January working out at the gym and hearing a guy complain to his buddy about how busy it was. His buddy's reply? "Just wait until February, it'll slow back down."

And you know, he's right! We start off the new year with the best of intentions and great "resolutions," but by February many of those intentions are forgotten when day-to-day life takes over.

Well, my friends, it's February. And how are YOUR best intentions doing?

• Have you measured your January promotions in terms of ROI?
• Have you married all of your 2010 Marketing Strategies with your institution's Business Objectives?
• Have you identified a handful of key segments? Have you reached out to them yet?
• Are you starting to see the loan growth/checking growth/new customers?

I know, because I've been there. When you're dealing with branch issues, changing regulations, internal communications, what color ink to order the pens in this year and meetings about when to have the next meeting - it's darn hard to focus on the key strategic initiatives. Sometimes that's where looking to an outside firm is justified - to get help from someone without all of the internal, day-to-day distractions. Someone to help you stay focused on your key strategies.

Take care,

Eric