Importance of marketing strategy

Let’s be honest, B2B marketing and sales have always been tricky. But now, a global pandemic, supply chain disruption and skyrocketing inflation have forced budget cuts and layoffs. Much of the guidance given to startup founders are firm precautions to help navigate the current economic downturn.

Capital efficiency has catapulted to top priority across companies, including marketing. Doing more with less is difficult. For marketing leaders, an obvious place to start is reevaluating your budget allocation and eliminating marketing tactics that aren’t directly tied to revenue generation. 

The next step is reevaluating resourcing strategies. Flexible approaches that allow you to expand (and in some cases contract) a team of highly specialized marketers give you options and agility. While in-house is the go-to for many early-stage founders, now is the time to consider moving from FTEs to freelancers or agencies. Let’s sort through the benefits and trade-offs.

Freelancers

Freelancers provide support that is more cost-effective with less commitment. They offer an incredible amount of flexibility and can usually hit the ground running. Freelancers are great for nuanced projects, such as those that may take unknown turns (like when a startup is still working out product-market fit) or when expertise is needed urgently.

As we experience shifts in consumer sentiment and transformation in digital marketing, freelancers can provide quick learnings that inform larger, strategic decisions for your business. Admittedly, it can be difficult to find quality freelancers, but communities like MarketerHire, which provides on-demand matching and vetting on your behalf, can make it easy for you.

Agencies

A marketing agency can provide expertise that is both broad and current. Agencies have a macro view of the marketing landscape, which is critical as the digital marketing ecosystem can be a lot for one person or a small team to stay on top of. Because they often support a range of clients, agencies can also help with benchmarking how your performance compares within a specific industry or vertical.

Before committing, ask to see other clients with similar business models, budgets and success metrics, as well as a personalized proposal. Remember that an agency will only be as effective as the person internally managing it, so if that’s the founder—who already has their hands full—the agency may fail despite their best efforts.

What’s best for your company? 

While hyper growth was once a strong indicator separating winners from losers, flexibility and hyper-efficiency will become the leading metrics that impact your ability to raise capital. When thinking of the best way to resource your company’s marketing needs, ask yourself:

• What marketing resource is the scarcest? Money, bandwidth or knowledge?  

• How urgent is your need for a solution? Are you solving a foreseeable obstacle, or did you need a solution yesterday?

• What is your marketing budget? Does it allow for an agency or full-time hire? 

• What is the marketing need? Keep in mind that it’s OK to know you have a marketing need but not know the specifics.

Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer, and you will have to do what’s best for your company. In a highly evolving digital landscape—one where Apple and Google are drastically changing the digital ads ecosystem—companies are rethinking their approach to finding and using marketing talent. We’ve seen an uptick in freelance workers and an increase in the perceived value agencies provide to startups. This trend will continue as the downturn forces more layoffs and challenges B2B marketers—especially those tasked with selling into SMBs, which may be disproportionately impacted by economic conditions.

Remember that Amazon, Uber and StubHub were all created during periods of economic uncertainty, and efficiency is what helped them grow despite market conditions. The marketing tactics used to get a company where it is today may not be the same ones to drive the next 10 to 12 months of growth. Too much is changing.

As a marketing leader, the best thing you can do is reset your goals to align with your company’s projections and put the resources in place to achieve them. As the downturn drags on, the importance of capital efficiency may make an agency or freelancer your best bet. Flexible and frugal marketers will help their companies survive and flourish.

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Shannon Rosic, Flyer Financial Technologies, is joined by Robert Sofia, CEO at Snappy Kraken, and Penny Phillips, co-founder & president at Journey Strategic Wealth, to examine the crucial first steps to building a brand, the misconceptions when it comes to advisors and their marketing, and what key marketing trends exist within the industry.

Sofia is the chairman and CEO of Snappy Kraken, an automated growth program for financial advisors. During the better part of two decades, Robert has served thousands of companies across the spectrum of financial services, including RIAs, family offices, broker/dealers, TAMPs, IMOs, custodians, insurance companies, and investment companies. He has authored four books, including his latest bestseller, Blend Out: How Advisers Can Market Like the Greatest Brands in the World. His writings on marketing appear in publications including Forbes, INC Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, FOX Business, Business Insider, Investment News, Financial Planning, WealthManagement.com, ThinkAdvisor, The Journal of Financial Planning, and many other publications.

Phillips has spent most of her career coaching and consulting financial advisers and institutions. She is the co-founder and president of Journey Strategic Wealth, a registered investment advisor built for advisers seeking independence and hands-on practice management support. Prior to founding Journey, Phillips founded Thrivos Consulting, a practice management coaching company. She has worked in various leadership positions across the financial services industry and has authored multiple practice management training programs focused on helping financial advisers prepare for the next generation of wealth holder. As an industry speaker and workshop facilitator, she has spoken at financial services conferences across the U.S. and Canada. She is a monthly contributor to WealthManagement.com and runs an adviser practice management community called The Study Group. Phillips was nominated for Thought Leader of the Year at the 2021 Wealth Management Industry Awards. On a personal note, she currently sits on the board of her alma mater the Macaulay Honours College at CUNY.