In today's environment many businesses are downsizing, re-prioritising their focus or expanding whilst trying to keep costs to a minimum.
Outsourcing is a cost effective way to fulfil certain business functions.
Outsourcing has become an essential aspect of business strategies and this includes the marketing department.
Outsourcing allows a business to put more focus on product development, operations and sales, usually where the business is strongest in.
It eliminates the delay in needing to hire full-time staff and avoids tasking overworked staff.
So, why outsource your marketing?

• Get the skill set you want.
  An alternative to outsourcing your marketing is hiring a dedicated marketing person.
  This person would look after the marketing on a day to day basis and ensure there is a constant focus.
  However as marketing today is so diverse finding someone that is an expert in all marketing disciplines, someone who can understand code to write a website, write copy, design your adverts, optimise your SEO and write a strategy is very rare, if not impossible to find.
  By outsourcing your marketing to freelancers or an agency you can get the combined minds of experts
• Reduce overheads.
  By outsourcing to experts you don't need to hire an individual or team for a specific project or ongoing marketing activity.
  That way you don't bear the hidden costs of recruiting, training, furnishing an office, holiday pay, sick pay and employee benefits.
  Salary is just a fraction of employment costs
• Only pay for what you need.
  If one month you require an advertising campaign, the next month an email marketing campaign and the next month nothing you only need to pay for what you use.
  In addition, with a mound of employer legislation, it is easier to terminate an outsourced agreement than it is fire an employee
• Get an expert view without bias.
  Whilst an outsourced agency should be a partner, they will come with their own perspectives and fresh ideas without the baggage of internal politics or 'we've always done it this way' mentality.
  They bring with them the experience of working with many businesses all of whom will have had different marketing requirements
• Improve your focus.
  Outsourcing helps you to focus on the core competencies of your business.
  You can get on with running your business; selling, product development and looking after your customers, leaving your marketing to experts in their field
• Jump-start your marketing instantly.
  Outsourcing gives you access to experienced marketing professionals who can quickly develop plans and campaigns on the tightest of schedules

The alternatives to outsourcingThere are of course alternatives to outsourcing your marketing:

• You could hire a dedicated marketing person.
  This person would look after the marketing on a day to day basis and ensure there is a constant focus, however as mentioned above one person is unlikely to have a full marketing skill-set
• You could hire a dedicated marketing team.
  You would have constant marketing but at a substantial price

Outsourcing optionsThere are three ways to outsource your marketing:

• Hire a dedicated contractor: They can bring a fresh viewpoint to your marketing and only work when you need them.
  However they are unlikely to have a full marketing skillset and may need additional resource or you may choose to not implement the full marketing mix
• Hire specialist freelancers: Hire specialist freelancers as and when you need them to look after separate parts of your marketing.
  An SEO specialist, web designer, copywriter, graphic designer etc.
  This way you get a full skill-set but can end up spending all your time managing these freelancers, educating them about the business and trying to get them to work together when they could all be pulling in different directions.
  Furthermore would you know what to look for when you're hiring? Do you know what makes a good SEO consultant compared to the best graphic designer for your business?
• Partner with a marketing agency: (like Xander Marketing ).
  You get a full team's skill-set looking after you and one point of contact meaning you only get what you pay for, saving you time and money