So it’s go time for your start up, or you’re trying to keep your small business lean. What could be more obvious than outsourcing your digital marketing and website management to a country where workers are paid less?
Not so fast. While offshoring your branding might seem like a cheap solution, it can quickly turn into an expensive mistake. Here’s why it’s important to properly understand your options for small business digital marketing, and why there’s no substitute for the high quality customer service that comes from going local.
Local understanding
A lot of people who work in digital marketing in other countries are dedicated, highly trained professionals. But they’re also working in a different market and cultural context to the one you and your customers are in. You won’t get the same market insights, lingo, references and aesthetics you would with a local team.
And while people working in overseas agency are often a more fluent in a more languages than the average Australian, there can still be language barriers that make it difficult to communicate that nuance of your business. Given that digital marketing is all about communication, this can be a potential disaster.
Guaranteed quality
It’s hard to keep a close eye on your baby when it’s thousands of kilometres away. Having your digital small business marketing done locally gives you the option to be more involved at any step of the journey.
And while some overseas agencies are highly professional outlets with vigorous quality control, it’s a lot less of a gamble to go with a trusted Australian business. When you outsource, you might end up with something other than what you were expecting, or even nothing at all – and you won’t have the same legal protections you would with an Australian contract.
No tyranny of distance
All business owners know that one of the biggest barriers to getting results is bad communication. Talking across continents makes that a lot more likely to happen.
Unless you’re going to splash out for airfares to travel to the country you’re outsourcing to (which kind of defeats the purpose) – face-to-face meetings are out. That means the connection and clarity that comes with having actually met the people you’re working with just won’t be there.
Working in different time zones will mean that calls might be difficult to organise, and you could easily find yourself doing more work outside of work, such as in the middle of the night. There’s also the constant chance that a tech SNAFU will blow out your time – is there anything better than sitting around for half an hour trying to get a video call to work?
It’s much less frustrating to find a digital marketing agency in Melbourne that you can trust.
Better service
Unfortunately, some massive overseas agencies are basically digital sweatshops. But even putting the ethics aside, what’s more likely to connect to your customers – design tailored by Australia professionals or cookie-cutter templates churned out in overseas content mills? Which would you rather have as the face of the business?
Great customer service isn’t something that can be itemised on an invoice. It’s about finding someone who’ll deeply understand your business and help you bring your vision to life.
Redline Digital is a bespoke agency based in Melbourne that creates affordable digital marketing solutions for small and medium businesses. Our friendly local team would love to have a chat – get in touch today.