We basically “insource” the entire Marketing Department services
SalesRenewall.com is a Marketing General Contractor focused on small and medium businesses, with clients around the globe, that subcontracts the distinct specific disciplines of Marketing to expert providers, and in doing so assures a full scope offering to its clients. It is a unique full scope offering based on a unique business model where risks and benefits are shared with the client.
How specific and different Outsourcing Marketing is from other services like IT?
Keith Loris, the CEO of SalesRenewall.com, stresses that currently Marketing is a multiverse of realities, disciplines and expertise which would require each company to have a colossal Marketing Department just to cover all that it addresses. Therefore, he insources the responsibility for the areas which are missing at the client’s own Marketing Department.
What is Jointsourcing?
Outsourcing one’s Marketing means giving a 3rd party entity a significant share of responsibility for one’s ability to make money and grow the business. Hence, a serious choice baring some significant risks.
Keith explains that opposite to market standard practice where concerning Marketing Agencies a “pay by the hour” based service is available (meaning if they work slowly they get more money) or in the case of advertising the agency gets 25% of the expenditure (therefore, bigger the better for the agency); the Jointsourcing way is a performance-based model, meaning that SalesRenewall gets paid commissions at the rate it helps client’ revenue.
We also put skin on the game by sharing the risk
The model comprises a risk sharing approach where, having agreed on a sales commission margin and upon assessing the value of a given campaign, SalesRenewall will contribute for that investment in the same % amount that has been agreed as their sales commission.
Adherence wise, although the Jointsourcing work model requires just a minimum 1-year contract, clients stay in average 3.7 years.
Why to openly admit subcontracting expertise?
Here Keith points out that, besides accounting for honesty, the base of successful Marketing is in fact Strategic Analysis and Program Management, so, defining strategy (based on proper benchmarking) and then Managing the Marketing program is the core success of any given company Marketing Plan and what SalesRenewall is expert at.
It makes sense, therefore, while adding credibility and value to the offering, to make crystal clear that they shall be resorting to specific subcontracted expertise over the several Marketing disciplines (Social Media, SEO, TV/Radio advertising, Email Marketing, other …) and this shall be focused on the client’s Core Business (if a financial services institution then expertise within the sector shall be subcontracted), assuring best service delivery.
Strategy tends to be Industry agnostic. The team we assemble to attend the client need will be an expert one.
Success derives from client’s perception and within the JoinSourcing model such perception is given by revenue growth, so a very concrete fact indeed. But it also derives from enabling subcontracted experts with an IT platform based collaborative environment where to share information. And here is where a significant collaborative edge lays, for traditionally these experts work in cocoons of their own.
Asana is used for project management, but information flow is the most critical process item and for that tools like Skype and sharing documents via Google Drive is a key factor.
A somehow recursive problem is hiring not the best fit for the job.
And what about Horror Stories?
Keith recalls one case where a client needed to sell an Engineering product and the first freelancer hired to produce content was not at all tuned with the target market’s (Engineers) focal information requirements, which is data and facts. Having realized this, they searched for a better fit and ended up hiring someone who was able to “ speak the target market’s language”, hence the project became a huge success at the end.
Having not an in-house “bench/ resources pool”, finding best-fit contractors is “the challenge”, mainly when looking for specific expertise. So, lots of networking, personal contacts, sourcing websites and just plain web search. Everything goes to find the right match.
Which are the barriers to entry?
Small business owners tend to look at Marketing as a collection of silos (Public relations; advertising, …) so the tendency is to place their need within one or two of those silos. As Keith exemplifies “ if my brother-in-law hired an ad agency and I am not getting enough leads through my website, I will hire them also”, but the route cause may very well derive from several sources and not just one: the traffic from ads, SEO or Social media sites; or the website may not be good at converting a visitor to a lead, etc ...
Having in place a Business Model where whatever the client wins will be one’s payment, “motivates” the provider to best advise the client on the most effective course of action.
Finally communication is pointed out as a key factor for success, enabling common awareness, as well as properly addressing economics, meaning if you Outsource just to save money, then you get exactly that and no added value.