Marketing is expensive.
That probably won’t come as a huge shock. Budgets vary between companies, but it’s not uncommon to spend 5-10% of revenue on marketing.
Of course, it’s not really something you can avoid. No company can survive, let alone grow and prosper, without an effective marketing team. But boy, are they costly.
If only there was a way to save costs on marketing, without compromising on any of the benefits. What if you could access a skilled marketing team without paying the sky-high costs required to train and retain one?
Virtual marketing teams could be the answer. In our increasingly digital and globalized economy, they’re becoming increasingly popular and accessible, and with good reason.
In this post we’ll break down how they work, why more and more companies are turning to them, and how much money you could save by taking the virtual route.
What is a Virtual Marketing Team?
A virtual marketing team is a remote-based team that provides all the services of a marketing department without ever having to set foot in the office. They represent a shift away from the old approach of hiring a team on a permanent basis and having them stay in the office in exchange for a salary.
And they’re exploding in popularity. 16% of global companies are now fully remote, a trend that looks set to continue. The benefits for remote workers include increased flexibility, less time spent commuting, and more time with family, among many others.
For companies, they could also represent a major cost saving. Let’s break it down.
How Much Could You Save with a Virtual Marketing Team?
The amount you save will, of course, vary case by case. One study found that companies were able to save $2000 per employee when switching to remote workers. That’s impressive, but switching to a virtual team could save you even more.
Here’s why:
When you use virtual teams and agencies, you don’t need to hire employees any more. Instead, you can work with your virtual team on an as-needed basis, instead of paying multiple salaries year-round whether you need the work or not.
That translates to a whole host of benefits. Perhaps the most obvious metric here is pure salary savings. Let’s take a look at some common marketing jobs and their salaries:
- Copywriter: average annual salary of $60,296 according to Glassdoor
- SEO expert: average salary of $65,200
- Web designer: average salary of $57,470
- CMO: $173,120
Wow. These four members of staff alone would be costing you upwards of $350,000 per year. And that’s just in terms of raw salary; we’ve not even started on benefits like health insurance, pensions, and bonuses. Hiring and retaining a permanent, on-site team can be incredibly expensive.
There are other expenses to consider, too. Think about the physical office space required to house all these workers, the equipment needed for them to do their jobs, the heating, A/C, and staff parties. It all adds up, and fast.
Even the process of hiring and training staff is time-consuming and eats into the budget. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, the average cost to hire an employee is $4,129. You’ve already spent thousands of dollars before your new staff member has even started work.
How a Virtual Team Saves You Money
A virtual marketing team helps avoid many of these costs. Instead of spending time recruiting staff and paying for them year-round, you can work with a virtual team when their services are needed.
On top of this, you can shop around for specialists depending on the project at hand. Instead of hiring a team of permanent generalists and training them when the need arises, you can simply turn to a pre-existing group of experts. Not only does this save a huge amount of time and resources, it will also typically generate better results.
There are many benefits to working with a virtual team, and cost is one of the most obvious and important ones. The dollar figure amount that you will save is dependent on your company’s specific needs and demands, but in most cases it should be worthy of serious consideration.
