Home
>
Small Business
>
So You Don?t Believe in Outsourcing

So You Don?t Believe in Outsourcing

Entrepreneurs are hardy stock. But sometimes hardiness can get you into trouble.

Especially when you're over committed and could use a little help.

All too often, new business owners decide they don't need to hire any outside services. You know how it goes?."I can do this myself. How tough can it be? It's just a simple direct mail campaign."

Big mistake! Trying to do it all yourself ?unless it's your area of expertise?.usually costs you more in the long run. And most of the time, the work looks pretty unprofessional.

Here's the scenario?

You're starting a consulting business. You decide you need business cards, a logo, a handout of some sort and a website. Pretty basic. You figure you can hire the right people and manage these projects yourself.

So you do. You brainstorm some names for the company, run them by a few friends and select one for your business. Next you find a designer whose work you like and meet with her. You describe the services you'll offer and what colors you do and don't like. Maybe you'll even have some sketches of what you think your logo should look like.

So the designer (working with minimal direction) starts to work. Unless you've given her detailed information on your target market, your niche, how you see your identity developing, this designer is pretty clueless. But she comes up with some designs. Once again, you go to some friends and family members for feedback. Based on the general consensus, you select a design (hopefully, it will fit with your company name and what you do). You can now either leave it up to the designer to get printing quotes for your business cards and stationary. Or you can do it yourself and get some price comparisons. You'll need to know what type of stock you'd like, paper weight, quantities, etc.

Next you want to start on some sort of handout or brochure. Do you stick with your logo designer? If so, better make sure you've seen some samples of brochures she's done. Often designers specialize in one product or another. I've worked with great logo designers who can't do other collateral.

And what about your web site? Is your logo designer also able to do site design? What about development? Not all designers are developers. In fact, most aren't. The best developers I've found started out as web folk, whereas my best designers are sticking to what they do best ? graphic design.

You also need to decide how many pages your site will be, what they are (the menu), how you want the site to lay out (site map), whether or not you need a dynamic or static site, what elements need to be included, etc.

Still happy with your decision? Better make sure you nail down the costs on all of this so you're not surprised upon completion.

Lastly, don't forget about the copy. You need some for your brochure. You need different copy for your website. They're different types of marketing tools and the copy needs to be written in a different style for each. But everything needs to work together (be integrated) so you don't look like a fractured company. Your brochure and website should have the same look and feel?.but the approach is different.

If you're still managing this yourself -- kudos. Especially if you have time to do any selling or networking or research. Because you've taken on full-time work as a marketing person/project manager.

To think?. you could have saved yourself a lot of aggravation and time if only you'd called in a marketing specialist at the beginning. Then you'd have one person who could manage all the above projects for you:

? working with the designer (or designers) and developers to making sure everyone involved understood what you do and who you do it

? reviewing, rejecting, and/or approving designs before you ever see them

? writing copy appropriate for each product

? proofreading ? overseeing all the various vendors to make sure workflow is on schedule and work is correct

... and only calling you for selection, fact verification or final decisions.

Then again, maybe you like a challenge. Or maybe you just need to micromanage everything. Because by the time you're done, you're likely to end up with a disjointed marketing "program" (for lack of a better word). And when and if you finally do call in a marketing person to revise your marketing material, you'll probably find that turning everything over to a specialist -- who does this all the time ? would actually have cost you less than doing it yourself.

At least you'll know better next time.

Rickey Gold & Associates is a small, hands-on marketing communications firm that helps clients identify, reach, entice and sell to their target markets. http://www.rickeygold.com
http://www.rickeygold.com
773.348.4973

housekeepers near Lincolnshire ...

In The News:

Account takeover threats go beyond stolen passwords as criminals exploit session cookies, SIM swaps and MFA fatigue to bypass your login security.

SpaceX is reportedly pursuing access to 80,000 cell sites to turn Starlink into a major wireless carrier rivaling Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile.

Tech advocacy groups warn that foreign nationals at AI companies like OpenAI and Google pose a national security threat amid a lack of federal oversight.

Singapore researchers built the world's first touchscreen woven into clothing, surviving 50 machine washes while displaying images and responding to touch.

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

A startup founder woke to $449 in unexpected OpenAI and Anthropic charges after stolen API keys were exploited during the "Black October" cyber wave.

Educational Testing Service hackers stole millions of California student records, but families who moved out of state years ago may also be affected.

Apple's iPhone Duo screens are cracking near the hinge just days after its $1,999 launch, and iFixit's CT scans may reveal what's going wrong.

Travel expert Katy Nastro says 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles vanished from her account after someone redeemed them without permission.

Google AI Overviews can't be permanently turned off, but adding -AI to your searches and using the built-in Web filter can help bypass AI summaries.

Attaxion researchers found 30 fake Texas campaign merchandise stores traced to just two sellers hawking gear for competing Republicans and Democrats.

GM plans to debut eyes-off driving in the Cadillac Escalade IQ by 2028, but safety testing reveals how long distracted drivers take to regain control.

Data brokers assign labels predicting your health, finances and religion based on browsing and purchases, then sell those profiles to businesses.

Elon Musk says he'll give one SpaceX share to every kid in America in 2027, but key details about eligibility and distribution remain unclear.

ClearSpace UK's robotic spacecraft with giant claws will chase down dead satellites at 17,000 mph, with a 2029 launch from Scotland planned.

A fake Social Security statement phishing email uses the SSA logo and a convincing layout, but the sender's domain instantly exposes the scam.

A clean credit report doesn't mean your identity is safe. Six ways criminals can steal from you without triggering a credit monitoring alert.

Carolyn Marvin, a 78-year-old retired professor, was arrested after blocking an Uber Eats delivery robot on a Philadelphia sidewalk for months.

The Midnight Mimosa malware campaign hides inside cheap Android phone firmware, giving attackers powerful access before owners even turn devices on.

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Meta's Muse AI was built to manage tasks, but users are developing romantic AI relationships and even calling the AI companion their girlfriend.

A Minnesota murder suspect's notebook listed 11 people search websites, raising urgent questions about data broker opt-out and online privacy risks.

Google Universal Cart tracks price drops, surfaces promo codes and uses Google Wallet to match your best credit card rewards before checkout.

Safari's Notify Me feature and Google's price-tracking tools can monitor products and send alerts when prices drop on your iPhone or Android.

George Weiner built PACspam.org to trace who sends nonstop political fundraising texts after blocking numbers repeatedly failed to stop the messages.

So You Don?t Believe in Outsourcing

Small Business