Can you successfully outsource marketing? Is it costly if you get it wrong? How to avoid costly mistakes when outsourcing or delegating marketing your business?
We’ve seen this question being asked many times over in our network and in the world of therapists and coaches.
As many therapists and coaches try their best to market their practices on their own, it’s no wonder that this question is being asked over and over again…
Especially due to the fact that when trying to market their business on their own, therapists and coaches usually go to the Internet as the first resort, trying to find some DIY ways they could use to market themselves in some easy way.
The unfortunate fact here is that the Internet is full of information – too full, in fact, especially for someone who doesn’t know how to read through the lines and get to the bottom of what’s working and what isn’t.
This overload of information, particularly from the standpoint of a busy therapist or coach, whose schedule is already breaking at its seams with all the client appointments, can be a task and a half.
When a therapist or a coach realizes how much time it actually takes to research, learn, and put into practice one of the millions of available marketing solutions, what we’ve observed, is that at some point, every one of these therapists and coaches is seeing the need to find someone to help them with marketing their services.
It’s a natural progression in the world of marketing – it’s typical for a person to try to find solutions on their own, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
We would even say that it is advised to dip your toes in the world of marketing on your own first before you reach out for help.
This way, when you try some strategies on your own first, you know what you’re dealing with, and you can get a taste of the challenge that’s really standing between you and confidently marketing your practice.
So, can a therapist or coach actually outsource their marketing successfully, and what pros and cons come with that?
Before getting down to the bottom of things and figuring out what’s the best next step when looking to outsource your marketing…
…let’s have a look at the 3 reasons why therapists and coaches have the need to outsource their marketing in the first place.
In most situations, the answer lies in these three core reasons:
- You can’t do marketing on your own…You have tried to market your business and your services on your own, but you haven’t been very successful at doing so. You tried and you failed, times and times again. Some things kinda worked, and some didn’t work as well as you hoped they would. You probably also started to notice a lack of time you need to commit to learning, building, developing, and, most importantly, executing your marketing strategy… so you realized that you really need help from someone who knows how to market a therapy or coaching business well.
- You want to get the results faster… You might have tried some marketing strategies on your own, and they either worked but the results were very slow, or you realized that these marketing tasks are taking too much of your time to efficiently manage and execute on your own. With that realization, you know how invaluable the help of an expert can be in any area of your life – like monitoring your health, managing your home, or developing your business. So, knowing that you need the help of an expert to successfully and efficiently market your services, you are aware that you need someone who knows what they’re doing and who can get you there faster than you ever could on your own.
- You want to follow a proven system… You might have the time, the basic marketing skills, and the confidence that you could do it on your own – but you lack a clear path, strategy, or direction, and you feel a bit lost about what to do with marketing yourself. You might have even tried some marketing tactics on your own, but they didn’t work as well as you hoped they would. For this reason, you know you would like to be guided by somebody who knows what they’re doing and have done it before. You know you want someone to help you with the direction, someone who can answer any of your business and marketing questions, and someone who will have your back on this marketing journey, should you ever need it.
Do you see yourself in at least one of these categories?
If you answered “yes” and you find yourself resonating with one of the above categories, skip the next few paragraphs and jump to the next headline – “How to avoid mistakes when outsourcing your marketing?”.
If, however, you answered “no”, it might mean that your situation is slightly different.
It might mean that your private practice or your coaching business is at a different stage than the businesses of people who are looking to outsource marketing their services to an expert.
So, instead of thinking of outsourcing your marketing, you might be better off taking a minute to understand which of the three key private practice (or coaching business) stages you’re at.
If you’d like to know more, comment below or schedule a 30m call with us here and I will talk you through the steps to finding out which of the three key stages you’re at.
And, for those of you who said “yes”, and found yourself resonating with either of the above categories, keep reading…
How to avoid mistakes when outsourcing your marketing?
Now we’re getting to the good stuff, and therefore one of the hottest topics when it comes to outsourcing your marketing to someone else.
How to avoid mistakes? How to know whom to hire? Where to find them? How to tell if they’re good? Is it costly to delegate marketing tasks? What if you make a wrong decision? What if, what if, what if…?
The truth is, trying to avoid mistakes in the process of outsourcing your marketing is only going to slow you down. The more you think about it, the slower your business is going to grow.
But, don’t worry – there is something you can do, and we will talk about it right now.
When it comes to mistakes, the fact is, that on the path to growth, expansion, and development, be it in business, personal life, or any other area, it’s impossible not to make mistakes.
Success IS BUILT upon a series of mistakes.
Mistakes in some ways can be expensive and painful – either in terms of monetary investment, time “lost” or energy “wasted”.
There is one important thing to note though.
In the world of marketing and business, we don’t call them mistakes; we call them feedback.
Whatever the reaction to a certain marketing action you took, you really need to consider whether it brings you closer to your goals, or drags you away from them.
This is why it’s so important to track all your marketing efforts properly – instead of simply committing your time, money, and energy to something and hoping that it works.
So, what to look for when outsourcing and delegating?
There is no right or wrong, but there are a few things to keep in mind which can help you determine whether a person can help you get to where you’d like to get to with your business.
One of the most important aspects to consider is that this person, this expert you’re looking to outsource your marketing process to, is first and foremost positioning themselves as your ally and an expert who is well equipped to work with you in your specific situation.
If you want to make sure you’re starting off on the best foot when outsourcing your marketing, you need to find someone who knows what they’re doing, an ally who will always pay attention to the smallest details, someone who will read through the lines and be very thorough when preparing an action plan to help you reach your goals.
Many marketers take on any clients whose requests fit the scope of their skills and services.
For example, if a client wants a certain service, like Google Ads, they simply do Google Ads, without stopping and asking the most essential questions any marketer should ask, like the questions below:
- Why does my client want to invest in this particular marketing service in the first place?
- What are the real goals, needs, and wants of my client?
- Can this particular marketing service get my client closer to reaching their goals?
- How efficient can this particular marketing service be in helping my client reach their goals?
- Are there any other pathways that could help my client get to their goals in a cheaper, faster, and more efficient way, and am I equipped enough to help them get there?
- Will this particular marketing service help my client in the long term, or is it just a simple band-aid, uninformed, short-term solution?
If the person you’re looking to outsource your marketing to doesn’t seem like they are considering the above questions, they aren’t taking the time to deeply understand your goals and wants, or they aren’t really looking beyond, helping you shape your long-term marketing & business vision, you should probably move on and look for someone else.
These kinds of marketing services are what we call one-size-fits-all – and they don’t help you or your business build assets that you should be able to take advantage of long-term.
The cheapest way to achieve success
The cheapest way to achieve success is always going to be to get help from an expert, an ally, who can save you the time and money you would have otherwise spent on figuring out the right way, through trial and error, to achieve your specific goals in your specific situation.
Why reinvent the wheel when you could just get one made for you?
This ally should have a very strong understanding of how to minimize the risk of you making mistakes in marketing your business, as well as read through the lines and be ready to adapt the marketing plan to whatever feedback the ‘mistakes’ are highlighting. They should be able to build a tailor-made marketing plan for you – something that is a perfect fit for your needs, wants, and resources.
But, please remember what we mentioned before – it’s vital to minimize the number of errors and mistakes in your marketing process, not to completely eliminate them.
There is no growth without feedback, and there is no feedback without taking an action, risky or otherwise, which could possibly get you closer to reaching your marketing, business, and personal goals.
The reason why we focus on highlighting the mistakes so much is that a good marketing strategy is based on what did or didn’t work in the past. And, in order to build this strategy, a marketer needs to know how to interpret the data and bring you closer to your goals by adjusting the strategy accordingly.
So, to sum up – every ‘mistake’ is useful, especially for a skilled marketer who knows what to do with it and how to learn from it!
In Harmony Consulting, we use the Harmony Model to help our clients grow their businesses, market their services and build passive income. Harmony Model is a practical method that was built upon years of experience in business, marketing, and personal development, and is designed to work specifically and exclusively for therapists, coaches, consultants, and counselors.
You can learn more about the Harmony Model here: Watch this FREE Training for Therapists and Coaches
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