One way to cure procrastination and be more productive is to simply outsource digital marketing tasks you hate doing. Instead of setting deadlines for yourself, set deadlines for other people.
There are few things that you can’t outsource today. So, the first clue you have that you should outsource something is that you dislike it.
But there is more to outsourcing marketing services than that.
FREE Checklist: Outsourcing For Online Entrepreneurs
Is the Time Right To Outsource Digital Marketing Tasks?
By outsourcing digital marketing tasks you either don’t enjoy doing or ones that consume too much of your time, you’re free to work on other parts of your business you do enjoy doing. Plus you’ll have the time to explore other business opportunities.
Does It Make Sense Monetarily?
Often the things you hate doing are considered (at least by you) to be menial tasks. Tasks like writing blog post, data entry, posting to social media, and so forth. These are tasks that are ripe for outsourcing because they’re boring (to you) and more than likely you can earn more money outsourcing it and turning your focus to your main money maker.
For example, if you earn $100 per hour doing your main business, and your outsourcing marketing costs are $40 per hour, you’re missing out on $60 per hour if you don’t outsource.
Are You Skilled At Doing It?
Many things that you hate doing are likely simply because you’re not good at doing them. It’s okay not to be good at doing everything. This doesn’t mean you’re deficient. It just means that you can’t do a good job doing something you weren’t trained for and have no talent for. It’s okay and not a sign of weakness on your part.
A good example is graphic design or website building. If this isn’t your core function for your business, then it probably takes you ten times as long to do it, and it looks poorly executed to boot. While hiring an expert of this caliber may cost you more than $50 per hour, the time savings will make up for the discrepancy.
You’d Rather Be Golfing (or Fishing, etc…)
Sometimes you hate doing something just because it’s taking away from the things you really want to do. When your business gets to a certain point, it makes sense to start outsourcing various activities so that you can do other things you consider fun to do.
The rule of thumb is that if it’s not your main line of work, that outsourcing it is perfectly fine. The other thing is, if you can outsource it for less than you can earn from the project then you’re ahead of the game too. Of course, you want the outsourcers to do as well as you would for the job, so pick your outsourcers carefully and pay them a fair wage.
Examples Of Internet Marketing Outsourcing
It takes a lot of varied skills to run a website successfully. A recent survey on digital marketing outsourcing trends gives us an idea of just how many roles are required, and how hot they are in terms of demand.
Content Is King
Everything on the internet starts with content, so it isn’t surprising that content creation is one of the tasks that is outsourced the most. These days, you can’t create just any old content. There has to be a reason for it, based on your target audience’s needs and the need to offer a variety of content as well.
In terms of content management, as your website grows, more and more assets are created. They all need to be managed so your audience can find what they’re looking for. Making sure everything is named appropriately or tagged makes it easier for not only for your audience but also for the search engines when they index your website.
Graphics
Graphic design, website production, illustrations, photo editing and visual design are all skills that can be challenging for one person to master while running an online business. Good graphics are essential to any successful online business these days. They are used on-site, in social media, and more. Many businesses resort to stock photographs, but this means a lot of websites start to look the same after a while, so custom graphics will always be needed.
Social Media Management
Social media is an extremely important part of online marketing and relationship building. Coming up with an editorial calendar of posts, cross-posting, and using a variety of social media tools is busy job to manage.
Analytics
Successful businesses need number crunchers who can make sense of complicated traffic and sales reports and advise on what to do next. Digital business analytics, web traffic analytics, eCommerce analytics, pay-per-click analytics, such as through Google AdWords or Facebook ads, search engine marketing and search engine optimization are all tasks that can be done by a competent freelancer.
Finding Outsourcers
There are a number of ways to find outsourcers and contractors. Conduct a thorough investigation about the people you’re going to trust with this work to ensure that there aren’t any problems. Check testimonials and references to ensure that the people are legitimate.
Free Checklist: How To Outsource Digital Marketing
Putting all this together, if you hate doing certain tasks, it’s preferable to outsource. In fact, if you’re not outsourcing some tasks, you’re doing yourself and your business a disservice. As an online entrepreneur you’re busy. Sometimes too busy to do justice to all of the things that must be done. For every business owner there will be tasks you despise doing, tasks that take up too much time or simply tasks that other people could do better, faster, and in many cases, cheaper for you.
Download my free checklist, Getting Started With Outsourcing to learn more about how to outsource digital marketing and where to find reliable freelancers,