Astute marketing investment should be a top priority when considering growing your business. From helping customers to engage with your products or services, or raising brand awareness, having a coherent and well-executed marketing strategy plays a pivotal role in the success of any company.
That said, knowing which marketing route to go down can be tricky for many businesses, especially those without experienced in-house marketing staff. There are, however, various options you can choose from to support your efforts, such as employing or training your own team or outsourcing to a marketing agency. But these options can be costly and time consuming.
So, in this article, I’ll be looking into how hiring an interim marketer can boost your business and exploring why this might be the option for you.
Wealth of Experience
In what can be a fluctuant and sometimes unpredictable marketing world, businesses often struggle to maintain their operations while also developing new talent in areas such as marketing. This is where boosting your business with an interim marketer could be the answer.
Those branding themselves as interim marketers or marketing consultants often have a depth of knowledge and experience across the business world. This allows them to create specific, optimised marketing plans that fit with your business without your company having to develop the talent internally.
With the wide range of experience usually at the disposal of interim marketers, they often adapt quickly to new business environments and can lend valuable insights into developing and implementing marketing strategies across numerous industries.
Interim marketers also understand the nuts and bolts of the marketing world that entrepreneurs or designers may not. Areas like the market climate and USPs are subjects that marketers specialise in, and engaging the services of an interim marketer can allow them to optimise your business to maximise these opportunities.
Hit the Ground Running
One of the most significant advantages of the experience I mentioned above is that independent interim marketers are often able to hit the ground running with a minimum if any, in-house training.
This vast previous experience, often across disparate and varied fields, allows interim marketing directors to enter a business at relatively short notice and implement change quickly and effectively. They can also then put in place processes and changes that can give lasting results.
Often this perk is more relevant in private equity companies where stakeholders can have a more severe need to develop and implement a marketing strategy to protect the private investment.
Network of Contacts
When boosting your business with an interim marketer, experience in the field comes with other advantages, too. For example, most marketers have access to an extensive contact network that can significantly benefit your business prospects.
These can range from product and software designers to ensure that you’re producing the best possible result, to copywriters, as well as SEO and PPC specialists to give your company the best possible exposure.
These contacts often take years to build up, and some businesses, especially younger ones, may not have access to the same scale or quality of resources as an experienced interim marketer. This means that you’re effectively reducing the chances of working with agencies or freelancers who may struggle to deliver the service you require, as your interim marketer can establish these relationships within their network of trusted service providers.
One of the benefits of an interim marketing director is that they can fit into a variety of different vacancies in your business. In addition, when staff are temporarily unavailable due to maternity leave, long-term illness or employment transition, hiring an interim marketing director provides you with a short-notice, flexible alternative.
A Flexible Alternative
With most interim marketers filling a role for between 3 and 9 months, and rarely over 12, they make the perfect stopgap for those businesses looking for experienced and trustworthy staff to maintain or implement an existing marketing strategy without having to on-board a new employee in a situation where a permanent role isn’t required.
That said, the long-term benefits of an interim marketer aren’t to be underestimated. By designing a detailed marketing strategy, an experienced marketing director can have a lasting impact on business growth despite only working with your company for a comparatively short period.
In fact, it’s not uncommon for interim marketers to remain part-time to provide ongoing support in roles such as a Non-Executive Director once their specific goal has been achieved. This allows them to keep a loose hand on the tiller of the marketing strategy and provide advice and guidance on a more on-demand basis.
Cost Saving
For many companies boosting their businesses with an interim marketer can provide significant cost savings. Where they may not need permanent or full-time marketing staff, companies can reduce outgoings by connecting with an interim marketer to rapidly provide them with a clear and concise marketing strategy at a cost significantly lower than hiring and training in-house staff.
The flexibility offered by many marketing consultants makes them an option that can suit start-ups and small businesses that may struggle with financing a full-time marketer.
A Fresh Pair of Eyes
Tunnel vision is a common problem among businesses, especially in marketing, and can result from various things. For example, perhaps your company has an effective operational manager who lacks strategy or ‘macro’ experience, or maybe your marketing team aren’t specialists and are trying to balance marketing with other responsibilities.
That’s why, when it comes to developing a marketing strategy, the impact of a fresh pair of eyes from an experienced and well-connected interim marketer cannot be overstated. They can offer strategic-level insight and effect change without the commitment of full-time cost.
With the experience and contacts mentioned above, as well as an unbiased and fresh approach, they can help to optimise your business’ marketing strategies.
Want to Boost Your Business’s Marketing Strategy?
With decades of experience in senior-level international Business to Business (B2B) marketing, strategy, sales and business development, I have experience across multiple sectors and organisations.
I can therefore offer a reliable and transferable set of skills to solve problems strategically and operationally, adding value and improving your business’ performance.
Have a look at the sectors I specialise in, or get in touch for more information on the services I can provide.
