NFIB

Develop an In-House Marketing Department With Existing Employees
05/ 06/ 2002

During the initial start-up phase of almost every small business, the founder handles the bulk of marketing. This includes writing and distributing press releases; planning, writing and placing ads and commercials; designing brochures, flyers and newsletters; and contacting local/national journalists to place stories and special articles.

As a small business grows, many owners find they don't have time to handle the marketing and public relations functions like writing and pitching press releases, placing ads and designing brochures and flyers. Instead of outsourcing these tasks, take a look at your staff to see if there is someone who could handle the duties. In today's Workshop, Jeffrey Moses shows how to achieve great results with minimal effort.

1. Determine the skills an employee will need to be able to do the job effectively. Create a detailed job description for the new position.

2. Look for these skills in the employee: writing and designing experience, a pleasant manner so that all contact with the press will be smooth and productive, the capacity to work with you and ad sales people while planning ad campaigns and a desire to expand into marketing.

3. If the designated employee doesn't have top-quality writing or designing skills, you should consider the cost and time involved with training. If the cost is too great, then you might have to consider hiring an employee with expertise in the area or outsourcing the responsibility.

4. After you've determined the employee who will take over the majority of the company's marketing, you should work with them personally for several months before handing them the reins. This will allow you to explain why you have chosen certain ad packages (newspaper, radio or TV) and avoided others, used specific wording or taken an overall direction in your advertising. The employee should soon begin to understand your philosophy of marketing.

5. If the employee will be designing ads, it's likely that you will always want to contribute to the planning and final approval of ads. Also, you may not be able to count on the employee to originate new creative marketing ideas. For this, you may have to contribute personally. Or you may have to hire outside marketing assistance when you feel that new directions are needed.

6. Evaluate the in-house marketing program after three months, then again after six. If it's not measuring up to your expectations, using in-house staff could be costing you more than it's worth.

7. Certain types of marketing are too sophisticated and important to entrust to relatively inexperienced in-house marketing staff. Consider handling these tasks yourself, or hiring a professional: creating extensive ad campaigns, designing annual reports and important brochures, writing and coordinating large-scale direct-mail campaigns and speaking with national media.

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