Choosing the right outsourced marketing partner for your company is a very important decision. Selecting your outsourced marketing team is just as important as hiring the right staff because the “right” marketing partner should integrate directly with your business team offering ideas and implementation support in addition to the products and services you are purchasing.

For small businesses, marketing support can come in all shapes and sizes ranging from your little brother that learned how to build websites in school, freelancers, small marketing agencies or even the major media and marketing firms. Each organization must choose a partner that fits with their marketing needs, culture and budget. Each type of partner has their benefits and drawbacks.

Types of Marketing Partners You May Encounter

Friends, Family and Favors

The pricing offered by inexperienced friends and family may be very attractive, you have to consider that they are “inexperienced.” The type of website development taught in high school and basic college classes does not cut it in the business world anymore. These types of sites work great for blogs or other simple types of sites, but businesses need a professional online presence to be taken seriously. Personal friends that can build websites often do not understand the finer points of search engine optimization and may not be capable of building up your website to the latest technical standards.

Freelancers

Freelance marketers and web designers can be a great marketing partner for small businesses if you can find someone reliable. When dealing with a freelancer, you always have to remember that you as a client are not their top priority. Freelancers usually have full-time day jobs that take up a great deal of their time and working on your project becomes an afterthought. Another thing to consider is that not all freelancers are going to remain in the business forever and although your initial site may look great, getting assistance post-launch can become difficult or impossible if the freelancer looses interest in marketing or web design. If you do choose to use a freelancer be sure to get all of your site’s materials before making your final payment. When you hire another company in the future, they are going to need all of the original artwork in order to make changes to your site. So make sure that you get those files in addition to the actual website files.

Small Marketing Agencies

Small marketing agencies are often a good fit as a marketing partner for small business. Start-ups and other small businesses can benefit from the knowledge of a professional agency, and using a smaller agency allows them to keep costs low. Smaller marketing agencies are usually more flexible and can meet the unique needs of a small business. Small businesses should look for marketing firms that can assist them across all their marketing channels and not groups that focus only on website design. Small businesses require a mix of website, social, print and other marketing channels to reach their full potential and your marketing partner should be able to help you with all of these functions.

Large Marketing Agencies

Large marketing agencies often have far more resources and experience than their small agency competitors, giving them an edge in the quality of the end product. However; for small businesses, using a large agency may be a disadvantage. When a small business works with a large agency they are often a very minor client and do not receive the full attention and resources of the agency. Large Marketing Agencies can offer a high quality product and often have a high price tag to go with it.

When selecting the marketing partner for your business it is important to weigh the options carefully and select a firm that shares the same business goals and ethics as you and your company. In doing this, you ensure a long-lasting business relationship centered around shared growth.