by Jay Bemis | Advertising Systems Inc.
The maxim that “time is money” often is attributed to Benjamin Franklin from an essay, “Advice to a Young Tradesman,” in 1748. Other researchers say the phrase actually appeared a few decades earlier in a magazine, The Free-Thinker, while others trace the adage to ancient Greece
In any event, more than two and a half centuries after Franklin began imprinting the concept into the minds of our colonial ancestors, “time is money” is an entrepreneurial notion that applies to successful commerce today. Managing time and resources are key drivers to your company’s bottom line.
That’s why as a small business, it’s important for you to track the time you spend on your company’s marketing tasks and identify which chores might be costing you too much time — and money. It may be time to call for help from a specialized partner.
OK: Your company is well-adept at most marketing practices and techniques, enough so that you’ve grown your business significantly enough to increase staff.
But those revenues and expenditures that come with increased business have been enough that you’ve also had to add another bookkeeper to the staff. And now both bookkeepers keep peppering you with questions about payroll, taxes, regulatory compliance and employee benefits — and how to find new, top talent to replace that digital marketing manager who just left you for a better-paying opportunity.
It may be time to outsource to a human-resources provider for your business. Outsourcing your HR services to a specialized provider often results in new software that makes your payroll chores much easier, plus the company can minimize risk by helping you understand and plan for legislation and regulatory changes, save you time by lopping HR administrative duties from your daily worries and give you access to specialized personnel who can advise you in particular HR areas.
However, tracking the time your company spends on tasks may also reveal that you’re weak in some areas of your own marketing expertise and pinpoint areas that need improvement. Perhaps your growth has been good, but not enough that you can continually add staff to your ranks.
It may well be time to swallow some of your pride and outsource marketing duties that have proven to be too time-consuming.
Signs that it’s time to outsource could include: Your revenue isn’t growing as fast as you would like; your staff is overworked and finds it tough to keep up with demand; you seem to be focusing too much time on certain tasks, and not enough on strategy and new marketing trends; and, you’re not happy with your marketing results in general.
A specialized marketing firm, with its broader range of experience, can help you identify which areas are taking up too much of your employees’ time and might be best for outsourcing. After an initial assessment of your current marketing strategy, such a firm can direct and connect you to newer channels and talent that can enhance your current efforts and growth.
The firm also can deliver defined goals and metrics for your future marketing strategy, and, once those goals and metrics have been applied, offer clear and accurate analytical reporting of the results. Yes, analytics in these days of Google, Facebook and Twitter algorithms can be consequential to your marketing efforts, but they also are chores that often can seem too time-consuming for your smaller business to handle.
It’s never too late to turn to an outsourcer for help.
After all, it was Benjamin Franklin who also offered this entrepreneurial gem: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
