It’s not a stretch to say that many small businesses outsource their essential functions to third parties. In fact, an article on bestthenews.com proclaimed outsourcing the biggest growth hack of 2016. Examples of outsourced services include accounting, human resources, information technology, and of course, marketing. More than ten years ago, the Harvard Business Review reported 53 percent of small businesses surveyed planned to outsource their marketing to third party vendors. Marketing is multi-faceted. There’s advertising, public relations, design, online, SEO, email marketing, content marketing and more. But here’s my two cents and the objective of this post. When small businesses outsource several marketing goals to several vendors, collaboration, teamwork, and ultimately, success are highly overrated without effective onboarding.
Onboarding, by definition, is organizational socialization; by application, it is simply the process of getting started. Onboarding sets expectations, establishes trust, nurtures relationships, defines roles, responsibilities, and requirements. As a small business owner and a marketer, I’d like to take a moment to share a few lessons learned.
- Once a contract is signed, do not file it away. It is important for all parties to use it as a roadmap, a plan, schedule, a list of what to do and who does what for overall marketing success.
- No one operates in a vacuum. All parties must be on the same page. Ensure everyone is familiar with the marketing plan and strategy. At the very least, share the brand brief, which outlines a company’s vision, mission, audience, tone, messaging, and style guidelines.
Two Sides of the Onboarding Coin
If the process of getting started sounds simple, trust me, it is far more complex.
- From a small business owner’s perspective, not being provided with the educational resources or training tools is a recipe for disaster. Further, there’s nothing worse than being bombarded with “oh-by-the-ways” not referenced in the proposal or contract. Second thought, immediate upselling may very well sink the ship.
- From a marketer’s perspective, when clients ask for deliverables outside of the scope of work, fail to provide the requested information (despite a turnaround window indicated in the contract) or request vendors to step into the lanes of the others, that’s the fast track to project derailment.
Perfect Together? Make Onboarding a Priority
If your marketing onboarding train leaves the station with vendors in different cars, pull the emergency stop cord. Make onboarding a priority or be prepared for a diminished focus on your small business marketing objectives. Sit back and watch marketing minds collide.
I welcome your thoughts. Feel free to share your onboarding experiences in the comments section of this post.
GB O’Brien
LGK Principal
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