When Does Outsourcing PR Make Sense?
Hiring people can sometimes become stressful. Often, companies don’t want to worry about hiring a new employee because there is always the risk that the hire won’t be a good fit. With that being said, sometimes the work grows faster than the company, and the capacity of the current team isn’t big enough to handle it all. This challenge can also affect taking on new business opportunities because the company doesn’t have the bandwidth.
With this in mind, sometimes it makes more sense to try outsourcing before trying to dive in and hire one person who may or may not work out. You never know, it is pretty common to outsource and never have to hire for an in-house role because it works out so well.
Outsourcing: When It’s Good — and When It’s Bad
When defining the term “outsourcing”, what is the first thought that comes to mind? Many people associate the word with moving jobs overseas or to cheaper options, sometimes it’s hiring someone to take care of household duties.
For this article, let’s focus on the business aspect of outsourcing. In most companies, there are specific tasks that are better to keep in-house such as industry knowledge, specific skills, etc. The owner and the people needed for the organization to succeed can’t be outsourced, either. This means no major organizational roles can be considered for outsourcing.
Unfortunately, specific knowledge and valuable relationships aren’t the only things needed to help a business run smoothly. There are certain positions and tasks you can very well outsource and PR is one of them.
Create These Lists
Use these different lists to try and narrow down what you need and can use or lose within your business.
Things you are good at doing, only you can do, and you love doing.
Things you enjoy doing, but are either not a priority or don’t fit within your expertise.
Things you hate doing and are not a priority, but should get done eventually.
Once you’ve created these lists, the next step is to identify which list to outsource. Outsource the things that are on the second and third lists, and keep the stuff on the first list because they fit you.
Don’t Outsource Business Strategy
When we say don’t outsource business strategy, we don’t mean that you can’t get perspective and help to put one together. In fact, hire a coach or bring in a facilitator to help you get through strategy planning, but the company’s internal teams should do the real work.
The only people who can decide how your organization needs to grow are you and your internal teams. It’s optimistic to think that an amazing person is just going to come in and give you all the answers you’re looking for, but in reality, that’s not going to happen. Rely on the people you have solely worked with/for your business. Business strategy is the heart of what you want to achieve, so make sure that you aren’t trying to get plans from outside sources who may just recycle an idea they’ve already used.
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