
Should I Outsource Marketing?
There may come a time when you need to decide if you should outsource your social media for your small business. Perhaps, your small business doesn’t feel like a small business anymore and handling everything has become too much. Before we answer the question of if you should outsource your social media, let's discuss what a small business is and what are common marketing tools that small businesses use.

Small Businesses Defined
In the eyes of the government, a small business is any company with fewer than 500 employees (generally speaking). What qualifies a business as being “small” actually varies by industry; some small businesses can have up to 1500 employees. Also surprisingly to some, small businesses don’t have a revenue cap. In fact, it's common for small businesses to fall in the $1 million to over $40 million range. Small businesses can be sole proprietors, partnerships, and even C-corps or S-Corps. Being listed as a small business, doesn’t mean the business is not mighty.
Marketing for Small Businesses
Marketing tools for small businesses include social media, in-person networking, building public relations, paid advertising, email marketing, content marketing, SEO and more. There are many facets to marketing and experienced business owners know that having multiple areas of focus is really important. Most experts suggest allocating 5-30% of your budget to marketing.
Let’s take a look at a business that makes $10,000 in net revenue per month. On the lower end of budgeting, the business should allocate a minimum of $500 to marketing and on the higher end of budgeting, they should allocate up to $3,000 in marketing. In another example, let's say a business makes $80,000 in net revenue per month. This business should allocate anywhere from $4,000 to $24,000 a month in marketing.
Their marketing budget may look like this:
Business One
$10,000 Net Revenue
15% towards marketing ($1500 monthly)
$550 towards social media marketing
$600 towards email marketing
$350 towards additional content creation
Business Two
$80,000 Net Revenue
%25 towards marketing ($20,000 per month)
$1250 towards social media marketing
$15,000 towards paid advertising
$1,200 towards email marketing
$2,000 towards radio advertising
$550 towards additional content creation
How businesses divvy up where the money goes is entirely up to the business and what makes the most sense for them.
When to outsource your marketing
The honest truth is that marketing is expensive. Businesses take years and a lot of hard work to build. If you only have a marketing budget to last you for three months, don’t invest in an agency. Wait until you can invest long-term to see consistent success. So how do you know when you need to outsource a social media marketing agency for your business?
Here are some key indicators that suggest outsourcing an agency may be a good fit for you:
If you are running a successful business off of social media and are ready to grow your online presence AND/OR you are running a successful business on social media and are ready to delegate
If you currently have business income and a budget to allocate for marketing
If you see the value and understand the importance of how a social media presence can help your business
If you take initiative and responsibility for the overall success of your business
If you understand that building a social presence takes time and you are in your business for the long haul
If you understand that the marketing agency you hire is a support team, not responsible for building your business
Social media is an incredibly valuable marketing tool that every business needs. Be a smart business owner and hire a marketing agency when it makes the most sense for your business. Wild Optix Designs is a full-suite social media marketing agency. We offer social media marketing packages, content creation, email marketing, graphic design, website design and more. Get started by downloading our Good-Fit Checklist to see if we are the right fit for each other.