The current scenario-
It is a known fact that digitisation across the globe has changed the whole marketing scenario. Online marketing has given small business the power to provide stiff competition to big brands. With concepts like, Marketing shared services, the playing field has become equal for everyone and now it has all come down to who markets oneself smarter and better. It is not about the budget you have in hand but what you do with the marketing budget is what matters.
A lot of big companies have been struggling for a while to come up with good marketing strategies. With digitisation changing the dynamics of marketing, companies have been struggling to bring a 360-degree holistic approach to the table. Due to which the execution has been poor leading to excessive spending and poor results. With the rise of audience-focused marketing niche like social media marketing, things have become more complex. It puts the whole marketing team in a dilemma as there is too much to do and on what aspects do they focus? It is here where the concept of Marketing Shared Services comes in.
The actual problem-
Someone rightly said the devil lies in the details. If you audit your marketing budget, a large chunk of it goes in paying salaries to your employees
If we make a rough estimate, around 50-60% of the allocated marketing budget is spent on salaries. It leaves just around 40% of the budget to be spent on marketing strategies and execution. Though it is not a serious concern it is something that cannot be overlooked.
Let’s have a look at the typical breakdown of a marketing budget: (on site - offsite combination)
1. Salary- 50%
2. Events- 15%
3. Analyst & Advisor- 10%
4. Content- 5%
5. Strategic Initiatives-5%
6. Tools & Technologies -5%
7. Campaigns-10%
Add to this the hardware, software, seating costs and we’re looking at an extra 18% cost on salaries. Moreover, many a time, there isn’t enough work for your marketing team at times neither they would have access to modern marketing tools and technologies. Due to which your in-house marketing team is never 100% utilized. Now, what if there is a way to cut your cost on resources?
You can expect to save up to 56 % of your marketing budget on personnel costs if you adopt the concept of Marketing Shared Services.
Using a Marketing Shared Services team comes with many advantages. The utilization of your marketing budget improves drastically. In this fast-paced competitive environment, you need to fail and fail faster. Marketing agencies dedicatedly work towards marketing making it easier for them to do modify their course of action to get the desired results.
How can the concept of Marketing Shared Services help you?
Quite a few companies have adopted this concept of Marketing Shared Services to tackle the challenges of contemporary marketing. It involves cutting the in-house marketing resources from the organisation and outsourcing a large chunk of marketing services to a small team of experts. It not only helps in better utilisation of allocated budget but also you get premium marketing services for your brand. This whole concept revolves around sharing your marketing responsibilities by outsourcing it to an efficient marketing firm. You can hire them to devise your marketing strategy, social media marketing, brand management or a complete end to end marketing solutions. It will not only help you generate a better return on investment, but you can focus on other aspects of your business.
Marketing in several companies has come under serious scrutiny in recent years. Business leaders leading marketing verticals are facing serious pressure to drive growth and generate leads. With digitisation posing challenges of its own, competition in the markets has only become more intense. Under such a competitive environment, you will need a partner to share your marketing responsibilities. Adopting the concept of marketing shared services will transform your whole marketing approach making it more efficient and effective.
Conclusion-
The focus should be on increasing growth and productivity. If your marketing has been faltering for quite some time and you are in dire need of reviving it, Marketing Shared Services is the best way to do that. Let a marketing firm come on board and take over the mantle. See what they bring on the table and how working with them can fix your marketing woes. Let them know your organisation inside out and give them enough data to understand your needs. If the solution they propose sync with the requirements of your organisation, collaborate with them and let them do the marketing for you.