What is Marketing-as-a-Service and why is it the right solution for post-Covid success?
‘Marketing-as-a-service (MaaS) has emerged as a concept that fills in the gaps for businesses looking for assistance in developing marketing strategies, campaign creation, and execution’. - MarTech Advisor
It’s About Business Survival
To survive Covid-19 companies have been forced to be leaner and more efficient than ever before. Costs have been cut to the bone. In many instances those cuts included large chunks of marketing teams. Company leaders know that they need marketing to drive their business success but in these incredibly challenging times hard decisions with painful tradeoffs have to be made. Perhaps a junior member or two of the team was kept on to maintain a minimal marketing presence. But what happens now?
“Companies that rely solely on cutting the workforce have only an 11% probability of achieving breakaway performance after a downturn.” - Harvard Business Review
As we slowly emerge from the Covid crisis businesses will need the senior level marketing expertise they lost. In fact, it will be critical to their survival and success. The conundrum is that rehiring the Marketing Director, VP or CMO isn’t in the much slimmer 2021 budget.
Now is the Age of Marketing-as-a-Service and ‘Fractional’ Marketing Leadership
Budget cuts don’t need to be a show stopper. I predict that now is the age of Marketing-as-a-Service and it will take off in 2021 as economies fully reopen and companies start to rebound.
Of course outsourcing marketing isn’t a new concept. There is a long history of companies outsourcing specialist marketing work, think of advertising and PR agencies. As far back as 1786, with William Taylor the first ad agency, clients were hiring external providers to undertake marketing work on their behalf. Many different types of outsourced marketing providers have emerged and evolved ever since.
For small companies and startups, however, expensive agencies have never been an option. Instead they rely on freelancers and other individual providers to handle their specialist work like design or website creation. Marketing leadership is usually handled by the owner/founder or delegated to a junior marketer with a specialist focus - like content marketing, social media or SEO.
This can work for a time but there always comes a point when the business leader just can’t juggle all the balls and drive the business forward the way she or he needs to. For marketing to drive business value it requires focused senior-level attention and strategic guidance. Delegating to a junior staff member who’s great in their specialist area is an expedient decision which can leave the company with an experience and expertise gap that leads to unacceptable competitive exposure. Unfortunately many companies learn this the hard way and then end up spending big to bring in a senior marketer.
So with the Covid crisis wreaking havoc on business revenue and profitability can companies ever rebuild their marketing teams or will they have to go back to the bad old days of the Owner/Founder/CEO wearing the marketing hat as well? Thankfully, no. There’s a better solution.
Marketing Leadership-as-a-Service is the Solution to Affordably Rebuild Your Marketing Team
To come out on top and thrive in the new era companies must rebuild their marketing in smarter ways. If your company can’t afford, or doesn’t need, a full time senior marketer bringing in a flexible marketing-as-a-service, or ‘fractional’ marketing leader, could be the ideal solution. There are three key advantages:
EXPERTISE
With everything at stake for business survival you need solid strategies and expert stewardship to turn your marketing efforts into fuel for growth. It is just too risky to rely on inexperienced tactical marketers to drive your strategy. You want to rely on a seasoned expert with broad shoulders and plenty of war wounds to translate your goals into an actionable marketing strategy.
LOAD BEARING
You need time and headspace to focus on your business. 2020 has thrown so many curve balls business leaders can’t afford to have their attention divided. A marketing-as-a-service or ‘fractional’ marketing leader can handle the load and manage all aspects of marketing from strategy, planning, implementation, team leadership, budgeting and KPI performance. And, because outsourced senior marketers are client focused their work is always aligned to your goals.
AFFORDABLE
Now more than ever companies need financial flexibility and proven, reliable marketing expertise. It is a false economy to entrust a mid-level tactical marketer to lead your marketing because that’s all you can afford. Marketing-as-a-service providers are affordably priced to provide the same quality as a full time marketing leader but at a fraction of the cost of a full time salary. Now you can get the expertise your company needs at a cost you can afford with a part-time senior marketing leader as-a-service.
Want to learn more about how marketing-as-a-service can help your business grow, plus, get a bit of guidance and an outside perspective? Book a no obligation, no cost strategy session.
Read more in my post about the importance of marketing to survive a recession.