A recent article in Practical Accountant argues the case for accounting firms to outsource their marketing. The main arguments for outsourcing outlined in the article are:
- Businesses in other industries are doing it
- Outsourcing lowers costs
- Marketing is hard
- Accountant's loathe marketing
While these arguments may be perfectly valid (depending on the circumstances), I believe outsourcing decisions made based solely on these arguments have little chance of being successful.
The key to successfully outsourcing your firm's marketing function lies in the first core principle of Duct Tape Marketing, Strategy before Tactics.
When most people speak of outsourcing marketing, they mean tactics - creating a web site, telemarketing, or a direct mail campaign. Outsourcing can help you accomplish these tasks more efficiently, but if not connected to a well developed strategy, you will end up being more efficient at doing the wrong things.
Efficiencies should come from wisely spending your budget and attracting the right kind of clients. If your tactics are not tied to your core message, you will either:
- spend lots of money attracting the wrong client or
- you will end up with lots of clients that want something other than what you do
Strategy work cannot be outsourced in the same manner as tactical work. You cannot abdicate the responsibility for your marketing strategy to an outside firm. You need a partner that can work with you to help you define your strategy.
Your marketing strategy boils down to communicating how you are different from every other accounting firm that claims to do what you do. You cannot take a "hands off" approach to determining how you are going to be unique in the market place.
Marketing is about setting expectations. If you are not involved with deciding what those expectations will be, they will fall apart as soon as the client interacts with your firm.
You still need a system when you outsource your marketing. Ad-hoc marketing may be less expensive when outsourced, but without a system, it won't be any more effective. Make sure you build in tools to provide measurement and accountability.
If you decide to outsource because you don't want to have anything to do with marketing, you won't be successful. Marketing may not be your favorite part of your job, but you must take responsibility for the growth of your firm.
