To be competitive within your respective industry, you need to make sure you have all your bases covered. Not all businesses have the funding, infrastructure, or ability to hire an in-house employee to do everything. That is where outsourcing work comes into play.
Outsourcing work is sending work to external agencies or independent contractors so that they can complete the task for an agreed-upon price. There are many proven benefits to outsourcing work and doing so can save you time, effort, and sanity. Not all tasks can (or should) be outsourced, but there are some generalized business functions that are great options for outsourcing. We have created a list of these below.
1. Lead Generation
One of the most time-consuming functions within sales is prospecting leads. Not only do you need to find them, but you need to analyze them, outreach them, communicate back and forth, schedule a meeting, and many other steps.
There are many different opportunities to outsource lead generation. You can hire an agency to perform this for you, or you can take advantage of some of the different automated lead generation software available. Business owners and executives need to make decisions for lead generation based on where the current issues are within the process. Every business’s lead generation process should be individualized based on your sales cycle, your budget, and the product or service you offer.
2. Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization is something that requires intentional, ongoing effort – and to be frank, a lot of expertise within the realm. There are 3 different parts that you must have a working knowledge of and strategies in place for.
There are many different SEO agencies that can be easily outsourced to – and oftentimes, they are more cost-effective month over month in lieu of an in-house SEO specialist. Different SEO agencies specialize in different areas of SEO digital marketing and you should consider that alongside what you have in place within your organization to determine how best to outsource the work. For example, if you have in-house content writers, you may just need help to build out (or execute) effective link building methods. Or if you do not have any sort of internal team, you may want to seek out a full-service SEO agency to handle all strategy and implementation.
3. Accounting
All businesses have some form of spending and earning tracking in place, so having a bookkeeper to handle that is a must. Some businesses have in-house accountants to handle this, others do not.
Accounting is a fairly easy business function to outsource to a dedicated agency or contractor. In most cases, in-house accountants have other job responsibilities, so off-loading bookkeeping work can help alleviate how many hats that individual has to wear within the company – and help ensure that there are no mistakes that could create large financial or legal ramifications for your business. Some examples of accounting tasks you can outsource include tax preparation, payroll, and bookkeeping.
4. Information Technology
Similar to SEO, Information Technology (IT) is a complicated business function that requires a specific skill-set and time allocation. Data or information breaches can be detrimental for a company and statistics show that data breaches are costing businesses more and more money as time goes on.
That said, if you cannot afford to hire an in-house IT specialist and manager, it is a good idea to outsource this work. This can include things like software development, software management, data storage, and infrastructure solutions. With the cloud and the IoT, a lot of this can be automated, but it still requires the initial infrastructure setup and ongoing management. Take a look at high-risk areas and determine what the best route of action is for your business.
5. Social Media
Social media is a huge part of business models nowadays as more and more businesses are found on social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and even Tik Tok. With social platforms, consistent and unique content is key. If you have social channels, but you aren’t active, you aren’t doing your business any favors. Coming up with social media strategies and developing engaging and unparalleled content can be complicated and time-consuming.
There are a lot of different options for what a social media manager can do for you. They can come up with content ideas, run paid ads on your channels, create/establish social channels if you don’t have them, engage with followers/viewers, utilize influencers, or just run all aspects of your social media. When you outsource, be sure that you have your ducks in a row. Talk about the language you want to include, your specific niche, and what is okay vs. what you want to avoid. This clarity can help make sure that the outsourced work aligns with your voice, short and long-term goals, and overall expectations.
6. Website Design & Management
Whether you have an established website that you created, or you are a relatively new business that needs to build one, your website is one of the most critical components of your business. It sets the stage for what visitors can expect, what you offer, and your overall authority within your niche – for both customers and search engines.
One formatting issue within your website architecture can mess up your visitors’ entire user experience, so most choose to outsource their website design and management responsibilities. They can be responsible for the design/layout, publishing on your site, fixing broken pages, analyzing performance, harnessing automation, domain name registration, and many other areas.
7. Human Resources
Human resources (HR) representatives are often team members that wear a few different hats. The exact day-to-day of their role can shift greatly and it can sometimes be difficult to balance their different responsibilities.
More and more businesses are outsourcing HR-related tasks to independent contractors, HR technology vendors, and professional employer organization partners. They can take on payroll, benefits, recruitment, performance, labor law compliance, and even risk management. You can outsource one or two tasks, or you can outsource all of your HR work.
There are endless opportunities to outsource work as a business owner so that you can spend your time elsewhere with peace of mind. Look for different responsibilities like the ones listed above to find areas where it makes practical sense to outsource the work externally. Then simply do your due diligence to find the right agency or independent contractor for the job.