Outsourcing marketing: B2B companies lose interest in having marketing in-house

It’s no secret that many B2B companies lose interest in having marketing in-house because of skills shortage and the fact that marketers are not good at everything. A ‘Jack of all trades’ is a master of none, and many companies have finally seen the light.

Marketing Eye has been in the outsourced marketing services game for 18 years as the pioneer for this new way of running marketing departments in Australia, then a decade later in the US market.

Capitalising on experience, knowledge and technology, Marketing Eye built an international business filling a gap in SME’s marketing departments. For some companies, Marketing Eye played a pivotal role in supporting existing marketing infrastructure, giving a much-needed bolster to filling skill gaps. But it was the complete outsourced marketing department offer for $3,000 per month that truly cemented Marketing Eye’s position as an industry leader.

Topping this positioning was of course, the development of Robotic Marketer technology platform to fast-track the development of marketing strategies. Seeing firsthand that companies found marketing strategy consultation steep, Marketing Eye used machine learning from years of developing marketing strategies to redefine the way companies develop strategy and execute it in their businesses.

Where the outsourced marketing model works for B2B:

Experienced marketers

Many B2B companies have been around the block long enough to not select a startup or marketing firm that has less than 5 years’ operating because they have not yet made the mistakes that they need to. Experienced marketers are not just about how many years they have been doing marketing consulting, but how many failures they have had and how they solved the problem.

Marketing: Systems and processes

Marketers that are all over the shop are renowned for being ineffective. What companies that have more than 10 employees tend to achieve is a seamless workflow through systems and processes designed for the best possible customer experience. Importantly, it also ensures that nothing falls through the gaps.

Portfolio of marketing clients

Through working with various clients across many different industry sectors, I have learned that when you specialise, you tend to get really good at it. That means having a portfolio of clients in technology, finance or professional services means that you will build experience and start seeing the future for marketing in that industry sector.

Customer experience

When a few clients dump you, you would want to make sure you have learned a lesson or two. Customer experience is more than being cheerful (like our PR counterparts). For B2B companies, customer experience is about meeting deadlines, showing proof that your marketing team understand the business and can deliver results driven marketing programs with high ROI. In short, B2B companies look for a marketing firm they can trust.

Marketing Report

B2B companies are busy. They do not want to ask for reports, and they want their monthly marketing reports to be transparent, clear and concise. No second guessing. Also, they like marketers to steer away from the bulls**t.

Basic marketing agency expectations

This is going to hurt for a lot of marketing companies, but B2B businesses are seeking a marketing company that:

• Have proofread their work
• They can trust to do what they say they are going to do
• Know their craft and don’t rely on the customer teaching them
• Keeps up-to-date with the latest in marketing techniques
• If they have turnover every year (marketers are fickle with their jobs), that there is seamless transition and the client is not re-educating every single person who comes through the door
• Can drive better performance out of their marketing, more so than their previous in-house attempt

I’m a lover of marketing and great marketers are forever reading up on the latest in marketing techniques, technologies and influences. Choosing a B2B marketing agency can be simple or hard. Hard usually is a result of being “sold to” rather than a consultative approach to finding the perfect outsourced marketing partner.