Call the doctor; my marketing is broken!

Who do you call when you need help with your marketing? As with many things, the short answer is "it depends". It depends on the kind of marketing help you need. Is it a one-off emergency? Is it an ongoing requirement? Do you need a fresh perspective, or do you need someone to climb inside the business and work with teams outside of marketing? Or do you need help with a one-off project?

I often find it's really helpful to use analogies when talking to people who are not familiar with the world of marketing and all its nuances. In this instance a medical analogy is great because most people have had personal experience with this.

Medical emergency > straight to the ER

The marketing equivalent of calling an ambulance or rushing to the hospital can often be calling in a marketing consultant.

The typical nature of a marketing consultant's work is to work on strategy or a plan to address a particular issue or opportunity. The textbook definition is someone who analyses a business's market position and strategy, then provides expert advice and actionable solutions to improve brand visibility, attract customers, and drive growth. The scope is often very specific.

Health check, prescriptions & referrals > visit the GP

The marketing equivalent of a GP is a marketing manager, or a similar title for someone who looks after the day-to-day marketing. They either oversee it, are hands on, or a combination. They are usually a generalist, just like the GP is. If you needed brain surgery, you wouldn't get your GP to do it, but they would connect you with the right specialist and you would put your trust in the GP to choose someone who is going to do a great job.

GP is too busy or on holiday? > call in the locum

Many mid-size or larger businesses have their own marketing manager, however some SMEs don't and they turn to outsource marketing managers or fractional marketing managers to fill the gap. Just like a medical practice might invite a locum in to cover for a GP on long leave, an outsourced marketing manager can do the same. They are usually integrated within the team, although this happens to different extents; they may be based on-site or they may just attend in-office meetings as needed and work remotely.

Often they are not even working for one client exclusively or full time. This is what is increasingly referred to as a fractional marketing manager or fractional CMO; they divide up the week to work for more than one business so that essentially they are a part-time marketing resource for multiple clients.

Need surgery or expert examination? Call the specialist or surgeon

I don't want a GP doing open heart surgery on me and I'm sure you wouldn't! There are plenty of times that specialist help is needed in marketing, and it can often be the marketing manager's job to flag when it is time to call in the experts. There's only so far generalists can flex their knowledge and skills, and whilst they probably all tend to have their particular strengths, sometimes in-depth expertise or even deeper resources are needed.

For example, a digital agency will often have specialists they can throw at a project in areas like paid ads, and lots of them for when it's a big job. A PR agency will have an extensive network of media contacts. A specialist social media agency is likely to have up-to-the-minute knowledge about all the trends and platform changes. It's not to say a marketing manager (and their team) couldn't "cover" these things, however sometimes it's critically important to search for excellence when the stakes are high or the budget allows.

I hope this sheds some light on why it's important to consider what type of marketing help you need. If you are in doubt, ask your marketing manager if it's something they can help with or if there is a more suitable approach.

Still confused?

If you're not sure what you need, having a chat with us is a great place to start. We'll have a bunch of questions for you that will help identify the type of resource or help you need. Get in touch for a complimentary 30-minute chat.

About Andie Johnson

Andie is the owner of Flex Marketing. Flex Marketing helps businesses grow by allowing them to have the help of senior marketing resource without needing to employ a full time marketing manager. How flexible! We call this outsourced marketing services, however, some refer to it as ‘fractional resourcing’. We help multiple businesses at the same time who can’t yet justify having a permanent senior marketing person, so we become their ‘fractional CMO or senior marketing manager’ for an agreed number of hours per month. Often we drive a particular project or help with a specific business need that may be temporary. Flex Marketing has been helping businesses in this way to grow their businesses since 2011 and is based in Auckland, New Zealand