When I first started my inbound marketing agency, a very wise marketing VP said to me, "One thing about being a marketing professional is everyone thinks they can do your job." I didn't realize at the time how true those words were. From the outside, marketing looks easy and in some respects, it is. What's really hard is to do the job well. And in marketing and sales, it's real easy to tell if you're doing the job well or not. The results are right there for everyone to see. You're either generating enough leads and customers to keep the business moving forward or you're not. So if you're running a company and you're also your marketing VP, here's why you should outsource your inbound marketing.
Lead generation is one of the most important functions of your business. 
You should focus on sales and strategy - period.
If you're building a company, you should focus on sales and strategy - period. You should find experts to help you with everything else, from HR to finance to marketing. Does that mean you should abdicate responsibility for those functions? Of course not. But your role in most of your business functions should be as a high-level decision-maker.
Your HR manager can tell you what you need to do to be compliant with the law and build a business where people want to work. She can also tell you what your options are to hit those objectives - your job is to weigh the decison against competing business priorities and call the shots.
You shouldn't try and figure out what HR laws you need to comply with and how you can comply with them. You should hire an HR manager or an outsourced HR provider. The same holds true with inbound marketing - unless you have training and have accomplished results, you're the wrong person to be managing that function. Lead generation is probably one of the most important functions in your business. You should hire someone who knows what they're doing to manage it.
Inbound marketing is a rapidly changing field
Inbound marketing is an evolving field - it's really less than ten years old. Things change all the time and you need to stay on top of the changes to be successful.
Take Google Authorship, for example. Google Authorship was a way to enhance how your blog posts appeared in Google search results. Among other things, it would display your photo next to your blog post listing in search engine results. Optimizing your blog for Google Authorship was a must-do 18 months ago. Then Google pulled the plug on the entire program. Inbound marketers had to find other ways to make content stand out amongst the massive amounts of content on the web.
Not keeping up with changes can actually hurt your marketing. Google has had several algorithm changes over the past few years, most of which reward web sites that produce great content. But those changes also penalize sites with questionable content and links - just ask JC Penney.
If you're a CEO and you're spending enough time to stay current with inbound marketing trends, you're probably not using your time wisely.
Inbound marketing requires a LOT of work
One thing many business managers don't understand is just how much work it takes to successfully manage and implement an inbound marketing program. You need to blog frequently. To get results to justify your investment, you probably need to publish two blog posts per week. And there's more to publishing a blog post than just writing.
You also need to manage social media effectively. You need to post daily on your social media accounts, monitor social conversations around your industry and brand and follow what your prospects' say.
You need to create premium content offers for lead generation and the associated landing pages and calls-to-action that allow leads to convert.
On top of that, you need to monitor KPIs weekly to make any adjustments necessary to hit your goals.
Do you have time to do all that?
You probably don't have the tools you need to succeed
In addition to the time and resources you need to manage a successful inbound marketing program, you need specialized resources. You need graphic design help to create professional content that resonates with your customers and prospects. You need web developers to create effective landing pages and website content.
To get results, you need designers and developers that understand conversion-centered design, the science of designing with the brain's hard-wired impulses in mind to acheive desired results. If you don't have this talent available, your content and website will look amateurish and you won't get the desired results.
Most B2B businesses should be using inbound marketing, if for no other reason than your competition is. If you're not using inbound marketing tactics, they're taking leads from you. To be successful, you need to make an investment in either outsourcing your inbound marketing to an agency like ours or hiring an experienced inbound marketing professional full-time. Find someone who knows your business and has a track record of producing results and you will be rewarded with bottom-line growth.
