Today, businesses are looking to get leaner and more efficient. It's a sign of the times, and it is probably here to stay for some time.
In considering the marketing activities in an SMB environment, the prudent marketing executive will be quick to weigh hiring an outside strategic expert against the status quo, or more traditional options. Thinking it through is absolutely the right thing to do.
Many small and medium-sized companies will initially look at containing costs by using their own internal resources and hiring a new employee. However, there are soft costs we should be aware of associated with that approach.
Consider this: the true cost of a full-time employee goes well beyond salary compensation, with the total figure often exceeding annual pay by surprising numbers. Some of the key categories responsible for additional expenses include:
1. Non-salary payroll expenses (taxes, bonuses, etc)
2. Benefits (health and insurance)
3. Recruiting
4. Facilities (equipment, supplies, etc)
5. HR
And there's yet another cost which can be measured in dollars and cents, but most importantly, and disturbingly, in terms of sacrificed competitive advantage...it is the cost of expertise. Training is both a line-item expense, but also hard to pin down because you can only invest in so much training for one to two people before the effects become diffuse. This is a troublesome item because the costs are harder to pin down beyond training totals. How do you put a price on sacrificing competitive advantage or being late to market?
And finally, many companies have existing relationships with more traditional full-service marketing agencies. The biggest issue here is that these organizations have a high likelihood of recommending self-serving tactics, and may not be uniquely poised to innovate for their clients. Add to that the markup of overhead operating costs and you start to see that even when are you getting the desired output, it definitely has some hidden costs.
So it would seem that from the perspective of non-payroll employee costs, expertise training, and full-service agencies, a sensible move would be to consider working with an expert on an as-needed basis to maximize your market investment.
Until next time, keep your eye on the bottom line, but always in the context of your bigger business vision.
Ms. Garza publishes this information to help companies and non-profit organizations market more successfully. If you find it helpful, please share.
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