That’s not just one role. It’s actually a whole team.
The questions customers ask us about outsourcing marketing
(Unfortunately) there aren’t that many B2B companies that come to us saying, ‘I really want a lot more marketing!’. They usually come to us because they realise that something is starting to go wrong.
Their business is growing. The market is changing. The sales team needs better support. The management wants to raise its profile. The website no longer adequately explains what the company does. The subject matter experts have a wealth of knowledge, but this knowledge is often not translated effectively enough into visibility, customer trust or commercial opportunities.
We see this happening particularly often in companies specialising in technology, innovation and sustainability. These are organisations with a great deal of expertise. Think: techies, specialists, engineers, consultants and product experts who are building solutions that will change our world for the better – and in a sustainable way!
However, their marketing does not always keep pace with that maturity in terms of content. At that point, the same question usually arises:
Should we take someone on? Should we hire an agency? Should we work with freelancers? Or do we actually need a different marketing model?
Well, what do you say to that as an agency?
“Shouldn’t we just hire a marketer?”
Yes, sometimes.
If you need someone on a day-to-day basis who is closely involved with the organisation, carries out a great deal of internal coordination and constantly tackles all sorts of individual, task-oriented marketing tasks, an in-house marketer may be the right choice.
But many companies aren’t actually just looking for a marketer. They’re really looking to fill a full marketing role.
After all, they want: strategy, positioning, branding, content, design, campaigns, client case studies, website optimisation, LinkedIn, email marketing, sales materials, data, a marketing or content plan, ongoing visibility via social media, videos, employer branding, etc.
Erm, well, it’s not just one role. It’s a whole team.
And what often happens then? A company like that hires a single marketer and expects that person to be able to do everything: think strategically, write commercial copy, run campaigns, oversee design, understand, set up and manage HubSpot or Mailchimp, support events, maintain and improve the website, report to senior management on all sorts of KPIs, and help the sales team with better materials. And we’ve probably forgotten a few more of this sheep’s legs.
So: this profile does not exist. And this profile is certainly not suitable for a role in which someone has to do everything on their own.
So the question is really: “What level of marketing capacity and what standard of marketing do we need for the stage our company is currently at?”
For many B2B companies with between 25 and 250 employees, the answer is: more than one person, but not yet a full in-house team.
“Isn’t a desk a bit too far away?”
Certainly, that’s possible. We often hear people express fears about that ‘feeling’ during the initial consultations. And, to be honest, sometimes those fears are justified.
Many agencies operate on a project-by-project basis. They create a campaign, a website, a brand narrative or a content series. There can be a great deal of value in that. However, it does not solve the structural problem.
The problem is often that marketing does not have a fixed place within the commercial organisation.
What do we mean by that? Well, marketing is often simply not at the table. Or there is no clear business strategy or ICP. No clear proposition or positioning. No detailed sales and marketing strategy. No translation of strategy into content. No consistent follow-up with sales. No system in which market knowledge, customer enquiries, campaigns and positioning come together, let alone reinforce one another.
The result? You end up with a string of isolated marketing initiatives. For example: a new website. A few posts. A trade fair campaign. A customer case study. A white paper. All useful, but not enough to build authority in a structured way.
That’s why you’d rather work with an on-demand marketing department than with a traditional agency working remotely.
That means we’re also fully immersed in (and working alongside) commercial practice. We want to know what sales conversations should include. What questions customers ask. What objections hold up deals. Which topics are becoming more important in the market. What knowledge exists internally but isn’t yet sufficiently visible externally.
‘Remote marketing’ should therefore not operate in isolation from your organisation. Rather, it should bring your organisation’s expertise to the market and translate that into a strategy and concrete actions. This therefore requires close collaboration with a permanent and well-established team, particularly if that team does not work on-site at your company on a daily basis.
“But do you actually understand our content?”
This is one of the most important questions asked by technical and knowledge-intensive companies. And rightly so.
If you work in technology, sustainability, engineering, data, industry, energy or innovation, marketing that merely produces ‘pretty brochures’ is of little use to you. You need people who can distil complex content into a clear message. By experts, for experts. Without simplifying the content into something generic.
Many companies in niche markets have no time for nonsense. Their customers expect them to know exactly what they’re talking about – or perhaps even better than that. After all, there are often very few genuine experts in a niche market. So what do those customers want to know?
- What exactly are you solving?
- Who is this relevant to?
- Why is this issue so urgent right now?
- What makes your approach credible?
- What results can you show?
- What are your views on the market?
- In what ways do you really differ from the alternatives?
These aren’t always the easiest questions to answer. But … they do form the basis for effective marketing campaigns.
A good marketing partner doesn’t need to know more than your specialists from day one. That would be implausible; it’s simply not possible. But a good marketing partner must be able to ask the right questions, recognise patterns quickly and translate content into market value. And context into content.
So it’s really not about coming up with some creative flourish. Sometimes it is, but usually it simply starts with the content. As a good marketing partner, your first step is to identify the expertise that’s already within the company. Only then do you start thinking about the form and the flourish.
“Won’t we end up becoming too dependent on an external party?”
We get it. We have the same arrangement with our suppliers.
And nobody wants all that marketing expertise to disappear from the organisation. Certainly not in companies where content, reputation and customer relationships are so important.
That is why an on-demand marketing department only works well if there is genuine, day-to-day collaboration. This means: the content remains with you. The market knowledge remains with you. The customer relationships remain with you. The technical expertise remains with you.
A good marketing agency helps to organise that knowledge more effectively, translate it and make it visible.
In some organisations, for example, we therefore work directly with senior management and the sales team. In other organisations, we support the existing in-house marketer. The latter is often a powerful combination, as your own marketer knows your organisation inside out. An agency like Voxx then primarily provides support in terms of strategy, various areas of expertise, consistency, execution and continuity.
The aim is not to create dependency. Marketing simply needs to be organised in a mature way, without you having to take on five different roles straight away. After all, those salaries and the sometimes heavy FTE burden on your organisation are often not (yet) appropriate at a particular stage or phase of growth.
“What are the practical benefits of this?”
That answer should go beyond simply “greater visibility”. After all, greater visibility is only valuable if it helps to build trust, raise awareness, foster better conversations and create commercial opportunities.
For B2B companies in niche markets, revenue usually needs to be visible or measurable across five levels.
- Your story becomes clearer. Customers understand more quickly and/or better what you do, who you’re relevant to, and why your approach works.
- Your visibility becomes more systematic. You no longer communicate only when you happen to have time, but build brand recognition in your market month after month.
- Your expertise is put to better use. The knowledge of specialists, consultants, engineers and senior management is translated into content, case studies, campaigns and sales materials.
- Sales will receive better support. This includes customer case studies, presentations, articles, landing pages, emails and campaigns that address genuine customer enquiries.
- You build authority around topics that are important to your market. Not so much around your product or company, but primarily around those specific issues on which you want your company to be recognised and trusted. Because that’s where you make the difference.
For companies in the fields of technology, innovation and sustainability, these five levels are extremely important. This is because their market almost always demands explanation, evidence and direction. Marketing must ensure that these three elements are aligned and organised for your company.
“When is an on-demand marketing department a good choice?”
This model is particularly suited to B2B companies with around 25 to 250 employees operating in a knowledge-intensive niche market. These are perhaps the most familiar scenarios:
- They have a great deal of technical expertise, but have not yet managed to translate this into a clear commercial strategy.
- They rely on sales and their network, and want to raise their profile in a more structured way (but how?).
- They have an in-house marketer who has to do too much on their own.
- They need both strategy and implementation.
- They want to establish themselves as an authority in a specific market.
- They sell solutions that require explanation and trust.
- They want to professionalise their operations without immediately hiring a full marketing team.
- They are realising that one-off marketing campaigns are no longer enough.
Marketing is therefore a key growth function for this type of business. However, the step up to a fully in-house team is often still too big. In such cases, an on-demand marketing department is a logical interim solution.
“When exactly should we not do this?”
Good question! We think you shouldn’t opt for an on-demand marketing department if:
- … if you have a lot of short-term, ad hoc jobs that don’t require any specific subject knowledge but mainly involve administrative tasks, then why not consider taking on an intern?.
- You shouldn’t do this if you’re mainly looking for low-cost production capacity. In that case, a freelancer is often a more sensible option.
- You shouldn’t do this either if you don’t have a clear commercial ambition. Without a growth target, a choice of market or a positioning strategy, marketing quickly becomes aimless.
- An in-house team is probably the better option if your organisation is large enough to support several permanent marketing roles and if marketing needs to be deeply involved in day-to-day operations.
- A specialist agency is probably a better option if you already have an established marketing team and are only looking for help with a single, specific area, such as digital advertising, SEO or SEA, a single-channel approach (video only, social media only, lead generation or demand generation only) or website development.
An on-demand marketing department is particularly suited to companies that wish to organise their marketing in a structured way, but are not yet at the stage where having a full in-house team makes sense.
“What makes marketing for niche markets different?”
In a broad (B2C) market, it makes sense to focus on reach, budget and volume. In a niche market, however, this approach is less effective. In such markets, the key factors are exceptional credibility and reliability.
Your target audience is smaller. Decision-makers know the market. They see right through general claims. They look for evidence, vision and substance. They want to know whether you understand their world. That is why marketing in niche markets needs to be much more closely aligned with expertise.
A sustainable technology company must do more than simply claim that it is contributing to the energy transition. It must demonstrate exactly which specific problem it is solving, for whom, what impact it has, and why its approach works.
A software company specialising in a specific sector should not just claim that it makes processes more efficient. It must demonstrate the challenges facing that sector, the choices customers have to make, and how the solution fits into their day-to-day operations.
A technical service provider must do more than simply list the services it offers. It must demonstrate the knowledge, experience and approach that make it a reliable partner.
Niche marketing therefore requires precision in content. It requires clear choices. It requires evidence. It requires repetition. And, above all, it requires a strong link between marketing and sales.
“How do you know if you’re ready for this?”
Most companies are actually well aware of this. But here are a few ‘unmissable’ signs:
- You notice that senior management continues to take on too many marketing issues themselves.
- You realise that it’s unclear exactly what you’re solving and for whom.
- You realise that your story isn’t being understood or is constantly being told differently.
- You’ll notice that sales signals and materials are missing.
- You realise that your narrative no longer reflects where the company is at present.
- You’ve noticed that your competitors are becoming more visible, even though your content is just as strong.
- You realise that you haven’t been invited to tell your story.
- You can tell that one marketer has too much on their plate.
- You realise that the market doesn’t yet see you the way you want to be seen.
- You’ll find that customer cases are left unresolved.
- You realise that you do share knowledge from time to time, but in an unstructured way.
Then your marketing needs to move on to the next stage. This doesn’t necessarily mean scaling up, but it does mean becoming more professional and structured.
Our perspective on this
We believe that many B2B frontrunners do not so much need ‘more’ marketing as they do a better marketing organisation.
The knowledge is often already there. The case studies are there. The market insights are there. The commercial ambition is there. What’s missing is a team that can bring these elements together and build on them in a structured way.
That is why, as a marketing department, we work on an on-demand basis for companies in the fields of technology, innovation and sustainability.
We help them position their expertise more clearly. We build visibility around relevant themes. We boost sales through better insights, content and campaigns. We bring consistency to marketing. And we ensure that marketing is aligned with the stage the company is at.
For some companies, this is a temporary boost. For others, it is the best way to organise their marketing over the longer term.
So, which marketing model best suits your company’s growth ambitions?
If you’re a leader in your field but need to raise your commercial profile, this is really the (only) question you need to start with. Would you like to ask us this question? Then, of course, just contact us Come on!