Thursday, October 18, 2007
The Pros And Cons Of Outsourcing Marketing Function For Small Business Owners
Marketing outsourcing is a growing trend in most companies. Companies spend a major part of their funds on promotion and research. Some experts feel that outsourcing marketing to other companies can damage the marketing projects of the business. This article discusses some of the disadvantages of outsourcing marketing.
Marketing is today much more complex a procedure than ever before. Here are some issues that plague marketing aspects of a business.
Difficulties With Business Marketing
Marketing needs quick decisions and a grasp of overall business performance. Some of the challenges that marketing division of any company faces are:
Decisions by the management need to be quick.
The IT revolution has made marketing more challenging. Marketing itself has undergone a sea change, and traditional methods no longer work.
With so many challenges facing marketing, there are several reasons why outsourcing will not work.
Outsourcing Marketing: Disadvantages
Outsourcing marketing has many disadvantages that need to be considered before you call in outside marketing experts.
Customer Relationships
You understand your clients well and can include their preferences in your marketing strategies. A third party will not have such good understanding of your customers. You cannot use the data the outsourced company gathered, as you would like to. You cannot control the input gained through marketing research conducted by outside parties. As you outsource more and more work to outside companies, you become more dependent on them. This may lead to the external party hiking the price of its services. Innovation suffers, since the outside company will not like to spend more time than necessary on providing the basic services agreed on. The outsourcing company may shut down business because of losses, and that will adversely affect any other businesses dependent on its services. Redundancies of the outsourcing process may affect your business adversely. Your business may lose capable people because their services are no longer required after outsourcing. Customer relations may suffer, since the company you outsourced to focuses more on the product.
Marketing research companies you employ may not have the requisite knowledge of company goals and values.
Political sensitivity is a key consideration when outsourcing to offshore locations. Many countries may face political crisis, wars, and epidemics. When companies based in these countries cannot work, your business also suffers.
These disadvantages must be factored in before you outsource your marketing to a third party. Loss of talent, increased expenditure, and lack of control over marketing data are some problems you might face while outsourcing your business marketing.
Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.
Business Owners all across the country are joining "The Community of Small Business Owners” to receive and provide strategies, insight, tips, support and more on starting, managing, growing, and selling their businesses. As a member, you will have access to true Millionaire Business Owners who will provide strategies and tips from their real-life experiences.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alexander_Gordon
Marketing outsourcing is a growing trend in most companies. Companies spend a major part of their funds on promotion and research. Some experts feel that outsourcing marketing to other companies can damage the marketing projects of the business. This article discusses some of the disadvantages of outsourcing marketing.
Marketing is today much more complex a procedure than ever before. Here are some issues that plague marketing aspects of a business.
Difficulties With Business Marketing
Marketing needs quick decisions and a grasp of overall business performance. Some of the challenges that marketing division of any company faces are:
Decisions by the management need to be quick.
The IT revolution has made marketing more challenging. Marketing itself has undergone a sea change, and traditional methods no longer work.
With so many challenges facing marketing, there are several reasons why outsourcing will not work.
Outsourcing Marketing: Disadvantages
Outsourcing marketing has many disadvantages that need to be considered before you call in outside marketing experts.
Customer Relationships
You understand your clients well and can include their preferences in your marketing strategies. A third party will not have such good understanding of your customers. You cannot use the data the outsourced company gathered, as you would like to. You cannot control the input gained through marketing research conducted by outside parties. As you outsource more and more work to outside companies, you become more dependent on them. This may lead to the external party hiking the price of its services. Innovation suffers, since the outside company will not like to spend more time than necessary on providing the basic services agreed on. The outsourcing company may shut down business because of losses, and that will adversely affect any other businesses dependent on its services. Redundancies of the outsourcing process may affect your business adversely. Your business may lose capable people because their services are no longer required after outsourcing. Customer relations may suffer, since the company you outsourced to focuses more on the product.
Marketing research companies you employ may not have the requisite knowledge of company goals and values.
Political sensitivity is a key consideration when outsourcing to offshore locations. Many countries may face political crisis, wars, and epidemics. When companies based in these countries cannot work, your business also suffers.
These disadvantages must be factored in before you outsource your marketing to a third party. Loss of talent, increased expenditure, and lack of control over marketing data are some problems you might face while outsourcing your business marketing.
Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.
Business Owners all across the country are joining "The Community of Small Business Owners” to receive and provide strategies, insight, tips, support and more on starting, managing, growing, and selling their businesses. As a member, you will have access to true Millionaire Business Owners who will provide strategies and tips from their real-life experiences.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alexander_Gordon
Labels: BPO, BPO Services, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, KPO, KPO Services
