Growth hack to marketers – Surviving the impact of COVID-19 and growing post COVID-19

Author: Arun Pillai

We all know the impact COVID-19 is having on our communities, marketers too have their own challenges if they are not looking beyond the traditional channels such as events to engage with their prospects. It is no brainer that digital marketing is the way ahead, not only to curtail the impact but to grow. 

I hate to say this, but the fact remains – In the midst of every crisis, there lies great opportunity. 

Post COVID-19, we will all witness 4 types of businesses 

• Businesses that remain untouched – Flat curve 
• Businesses with diminishing revenue/profits – Dipping Curve 
• Businesses that might go bankrupt – Dead Curve 
• Businesses that GROW – Rising Curve

To the most part, it is the decisions we as marketers make today will decide one of the above directions for our businesses/companies. 

To give this reading a perspective, here are the engagement rates by channel

Now that we know digital marketing is the way ahead! It is time to re-think our digital strategies. 

A good digital marketing team comprises of, at a minimum:  

1. Strategist(s) 
2. Art / Creative Expert(s) 
3. Motion Graphic / Video Producer(s) 
4. Content Producer(s) 
5. Content Writer(s)
6. Social Media Expert(s)
7. Campaign Manager(s) 
8. Critic(s) 
9. Digital Engagement Head 

Additional Read: Online guerilla tactics: Marketers’ secrets of real-time growth hacking

This is where marketers need to think of an in-house digital team VS out-sourced digital team where they can get the best ROI for every marketing dollar spent. 

What can an outsourced digital marketing mean to your business? 

1. Outside insights and innovation: As marketers, we all get stuck in a rut sometimes. Either out of familiarity or necessity, or a little of both, we sometimes stick with the same strategies or tactics without exploring other options. Outsourcing is a great way to break out of this rut by giving you access to individuals who have a fresh perspective on your business and can offer new ideas for innovating your marketing efforts.

2. Scale efforts quickly: When you need to act quickly, relying on existing resources can hinder those efforts. Working with a marketing agency or managed services provider gives you greater bandwidth to scale marketing efforts quickly and respond to revenue contribution demands.

3. Avoid worrying about staff leaves or vacations: Team member time off can be a significant cause of stress for marketing teams, even though it’s a necessary part of work life. This is particularly true for longer leaves like for medical reasons or the birth or adoption of a child. Instead of worrying about who will cover for the absent employee, you can turn to outsourcing to handle that workload without overwhelming other team members.

4. Reduced overhead expenses: Marketing departments often get to the point where they would like to add a new skillset, but they either don’t have quite enough work to justify a full-time employee or don’t want to (or can’t) foot the bill for overhead expenses that come with employees like benefits and training. Outsourcing gives you the manpower and skills you need without the overhead expenses.

5. Expanded marketing channel expertise: The channels by which marketers can reach customers and prospects today feels virtually endless, and yet new ones still pop up regularly. A marketing agency or managed services provider can help you expand your presence in a new or existing marketing channel for your team, thus increasing your opportunities for reaching your audiences.

6. Shifting from tactics to strategy: Many marketing teams get so bogged down in the “what” that they forget the “why.” Outsourcing can give you a chance to change that. An agency or managed services provider can help one of two ways here. You could either task them with creating a marketing strategy or outsource some of your regular tactics so your team can focus on building out an effective marketing strategy in-house.

7. Access to the best technology: Agencies invest heavily in having the best technology to serve their customers and execute their campaigns, which means you get access to this technology too. Managed services typically come from marketing technology companies, so going this route, you can ensure you have access to experts in the technology your team utilizes.

Additional Read: Why is Branding Important to a Business in the B2B Marketing Space?

8. Increased efficiency: Do you sometimes feel like you will never see the end of your to-do list? Or like you just don’t have enough hours in the day to get things done? Outsourcing some of your marketing efforts can help increase your efficiency like you never thought possible. Agencies and managed service providers have a wide variety of resources at their fingertips to ensure they get your jobs done.

9. Decreased internal staff load: Managing too-large workloads can lead to burnout which can lead to employees seeking out new job opportunities. Outsourcing to an agency or managed services provider can help keep your marketing team members happy by decreasing their individual workloads and allowing them to focus on the parts of their jobs they find most engaging and rewarding.

10. Achieving results and ROI: At the end of the day, results are what really matter to marketers. With their expertise and ability to be an extra set of hands to established marketing teams, marketing agencies and managed service providers can deliver.