Outsourcing (“to obtain goods or services from an outside supplier in place of an internal source) has become the dirty word of business. The public believes that U.S. businesses are continually moving lucrative jobs to foreign locations to save money and avoid tax liabilities. Honestly, for some companies, that idea may be true. However, outsourcing goods and services is routine for almost all-American businesses. Small businesses routinely outsource such services as payroll and tax preparation, insurance compliance, health plan administration, and marketing, to name a few. Under the category of marketing, you should include the job of strategic marketing Event Planner. Any event you host is, by definition, a marketing event – it is an effort to get your name and brand in front of customers and potential customers. As event planning can be stressful, this might be a great category to think about outsourcing. Here are some reasons to consider hiring a professional strategic marketing Event Planner.
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
An outsourced Event Planner requires NO employee benefits. No health insurance, no vacation days, no sick leave, no withholding, no SSI. You negotiate a fee with your Event Planner and the work gets done with limited further capital investment from you.
Additionally, many businesses have had to cut budgets and cut staff. The remaining staff has often had to absorb other duties. Few organizations are able to devote the expense and resources to a full-time Event Planner. A great option to consider is an Event Planner for specific occasions, but perhaps also consider an Event Planner on retainer. Again, you need not incur the costs of employee benefits, but you will have access to a professional able to fully handle your strategic marketing events.
EXPENDITURES
Outsourcing your strategic marketing event planning will not cost you the additional expenses of employee benefits; however, it does not mean that you won’t need to spend money. But here is where a professional Event Planner can save on the expenditures incurred with a client or customer occasion. As touched on in other blogs, Event Planners have connections with all the service providers you need for a great event. Venues, caterers, florists, photographers – whatever specialized vendors you may need. And because of their relationships with these hospitality providers, they have access to discounts and special pricing which reduces the overall cost of an event.
EXPERTISE
Assigned seating for a sit-down catered dinner, 12 extra people show up. What do you do? The venue promised you sufficient wait-staff to circulate hors-d’oeuvres during cocktail hour. Now the venue says they will not have enough wait-staff. How do you compensate? A partial list of other things that can go wrong: venue issues, complicated catering, technical issues, shortage of gifting bags – it is a truism among Event Planners that what can go wrong might. Every professional has her go-to strategies for addressing the unforeseen but not totally unexpected.
EXEMPLARY
Marketing is about memory. You want people to remember your business and your brand and to seek you out first for their needs. A professional Event Planner will all but guarantee that the effect of your plans will be memorable.
Outsourcing need not be a dirty word. A strategic marketing plan should involve both internal and external resources. For the time and money involved hiring an outsourced professional optimizes both. We at Nine88 Events have the expertise to create exemplary events for you and your customers. Contact us today for more information.
