Very little financial investment: If you’re doing your own marketing, you can keep costs low. You might still need to pay for tools, training, software, printing, ads and so on, but you can manage these to suit your budget. The highest cost is your time.

You have full control and visibility: When you do your own marketing, you decide what activities you do, what kind of content goes out, the messaging you use, and how much time and money to spend. Plus, you have complete visibility over results so you can adapt accordingly.

Can be enjoyable: Once you get to grips with your marketing and start seeing results, you might find you enjoy it. I often liken it to exercise - there are so many different activities available, so chances are you’ll eventually find one or two you like doing.

Requires a time investment: Doing your own marketing requires an investment of time. How valuable is your time? If you can earn more money doing billable work than it would cost you to outsource your marketing, it might make more sense to leave marketing to the experts while you do what you do best.

Lots of bad advice out there: If you don’t have much marketing experience, it’s easy to listen to the wrong people, which can lead to disappointing results or expensive mistakes. Seek advice from people who have proven results - people who have actually built the kind of business you’d like.

Easy to miss opportunities: When you’re doing everything yourself, it’s easy to get tunnel vision. You might rush into implementing an idea that isn’t fully developed, or you could miss obvious opportunities.

No accountability: It can be hard to stay focused if nobody is holding you accountable. You have to set yourself realistic targets and get into a manageable routine. This can be tough if you don’t enjoy marketing, don’t see immediate results or get easily distracted.

Results can be poor if you don’t know what you’re doing: If you have no marketing experience and you’re just guessing or doing random things without really having a plan, it’s unlikely you’ll get the kind of results you want. And while AI can help with some aspects of marketing, the quality of the output relies on the quality of the input and knowing whether what it produces is fit for purpose. If you don’t know what makes good marketing, you won’t know how to get what you need from AI.

Easy to lose motivation: If you aren’t getting the results you want, marketing can start to feel like a slog, and you can lose motivation. If you’re not enjoying it and you’re not getting results, you’re going to find it hard to stay consistent.

Invest in training: You don’t have to become a marketing expert, but take some time to understand the basics. Understanding your ideal client is crucial. I also recommend learning the basics of copywriting, as this is a highly transferable skill (websites, emails, blog posts, direct mail, social media posts - they all need words).

Track and measure everything: Your time is valuable, so make sure you are using it wisely. Keep track of where every enquiry comes from so you know what’s working. And keep track of how much time and money you spend on each activity to ensure the best returns.

Have a basic strategy: Don’t jump from one platform to another, posting anything and everything in the hope something will eventually stick. Create a basic plan. Who are your ideal clients? How can you attract their attention, hold their interest, and convert them into paying customers?

Make time for it and set goals: Marketing is like exercise - you have to be consistent if you want consistent results. Don’t neglect it when you’re busy and then throw everything at it when you’re not, or you’ll end up trapped in the feast-and-famine cycle.

Expert advice and guidance: The best marketers know what they are doing. They are experts in their field or specialism. Rather than trying to figure out how to do something and potentially wasting a lot of time or money, you can pay someone who knows exactly how to get the best results.

Requires less of your time and input: Letting someone else manage your website, social media, email campaigns, ads, SEO, or other aspects of your marketing frees up your time and energy to focus on delivering a great service.

Can get results faster than doing it yourself: While the DIY route might appear cheaper, it could cost more in the long term through wasted time and missed opportunities. Sometimes getting it done for you is the fastest way to start getting results.

Requires financial investment: If you want someone to do your marketing for you, it requires money. If your budget is tight, you might be limited as to what you can afford, and you could end up only getting half of what you actually need (for example, you pay for a great-looking website, but have no budget left to drive people to it).

If your budget runs out, your marketing stops: Let’s say you’re paying someone to manage your social media for you, but you can no longer afford their retainer fee, so you have to end the contract. Unless you can find a cheaper option or manage it yourself, your social media activity will stop, and eventually, any leads you were getting from it will stop too.

You don’t have as much control and visibility: When you trust someone else with your marketing, you’re not as close to the day-to-day. You might not always have visibility over the analytics (although you should be asking for this). And you might not be entirely happy with all the content they are creating on your behalf.

There are lots of low-quality marketing companies: Unfortunately, marketing is not a regulated industry, which means there are a lot of low-quality companies out there offering various marketing services. Some of those companies are just scammers and charlatans. Some of them are just not very good. And some of them are good, but what they deliver won’t always meet your expectations (because you aren’t clear about what you want, and they haven’t asked the right questions).

Can be easy to invest in the wrong things: Many small businesses make the mistake of investing in marketing activities in a siloed way rather than ensuring a joined-up marketing and sales process. So you might end up spending money on something, but not having a plan for how to use it. For example, you might pay for blog posts to be added to your website every month, but then never share them anywhere, so they hardly get any readers. Or you might invest in lead generation when it’s actually your conversion rate that needs work.

Don’t rush into things you don’t fully understand: I cannot tell you how many people I’ve come across who are paying hundreds of pounds each month for “marketing” but have no idea what they are actually getting for their money. If you are going to invest in an expert, be clear about what you will actually get for your money and what results you want.

Make sure you are tracking results: You should be tracking where every enquiry is coming from so you aren’t spending money on stuff that isn’t working. If you’re paying a company to run your Google ad campaigns, but most of your enquiries are coming from social media posts you’re sharing yourself, what’s the point of paying for the ads? Track everything.

Don’t be afraid to question things: If you aren’t sure whether something is working or you aren’t happy with something, don’t be afraid to question it. It’s good to have experts you can trust, but even experts can be wrong sometimes. And unfortunately, individuals or companies that are being paid a retainer fee can get complacent (and even lazy) sometimes.

Understand what “good” looks like: You don’t need to be an expert in all areas of marketing, but if you are going to spend big money, make sure you understand what a good outcome looks like. Be clear about your expectations, or get clarity on what will be delivered.

Choose the right people for the job: marketing is such a broad industry. You have strategists, generalists and specialists. Even within a specialism, there are specialists (for example, copywriters who specialise in writing Facebook ads or web designers who specialise in e-commerce sites). Make sure you are picking the right person or company for the type of work and outcomes you want.

Make sure your marketing is joined up: Marketing and sales should be a cohesive, joined-up process. Everything should link together. How will you get the attention of your ideal customers, how will you keep their attention, and how will you turn them into paying customers? Look at the whole customer journey, not just individual stages.

You’ll develop your skills and knowledge: If you pay someone to take care of your marketing, you don’t really learn much, but when you work with someone, you build your own marketing skills, knowledge and confidence.

You get a fresh perspective and expert insight: It’s easy to get tunnel vision if you do everything alone. Working with someone means having a sounding board, getting a fresh perspective and having expert insight so you can develop and implement ideas or overcome marketing challenges.

You’ll feel more confident about future marketing decisions: As you learn more about what works and what doesn’t, you’ll gain more confidence, which means you’ll make better decisions about where to invest time or money in the future.

You retain more control and visibility: Working with someone means you retain control of your marketing and have visibility over what messages go out, when they go out, and what kind of response they get.

There’s someone to hold you accountable: It’s easy to neglect your marketing when you’re “too busy” or just not in the mood. Having someone do it with you helps keep you on track.

Greater flexibility: Because you are building your own knowledge and skills, you don’t have to worry about marketing activity stopping when the money runs out. You can plan for the ups and downs of business and adapt your marketing as your business evolves.

Won’t feel as overwhelmed: As the saying goes, a problem shared is a problem halved. Having someone in your corner helps reduce overwhelm, self-doubt and distractions.

Requires a small financial investment: Done with you still involves a financial fee, but it's generally less expensive than paying for someone to do everything for you.

Requires a time investment: It’s done with you, not for you, which means you still have to make time to work on your marketing and implement the strategy.

Be prepared to put in the work: You have to be prepared to put in some effort and do the work. You might even be required to do stuff you’ve never tried, which might feel uncomfortable at first. On the upside, you have someone guiding you so you won’t be wasting time on the wrong things.

Choose the right person to support you: Do your due diligence. There are far too many people out there selling bullshit courses that promise a secret success formula or silver bullet. Don’t fall for it. Do some research into the person or company, check out their content, sign up for their emails, look for genuine client reviews, ask questions, and start with low-cost products rather than rushing into high-priced ones. Make sure the package you are signing up for aligns with how much time you can commit and your budget.

Would like some basic copywriting training

Want to find and fix the gaps in your marketing and sales process

Feel stuck in a rut and want some new ideas and a fresh perspective

Need help crafting some sales copy

Want to review and improve your website copy

Need help planning and drafting a landing page, lead magnet, or email campaign

Want ideas for social media, blog posts or email newsletters

Know your marketing isn’t working, but have no idea what the problem is

2 x 60-minute Zoom calls: Each month, we’ll have two one-hour video calls – what we cover will depend on you. But the goal of each call is to move your business forward at least one more step.

Unlimited WhatsApp and/or email support: Got a question? Having a case of imposter syndrome? Need help drafting a response to an enquiry? Whatever you need me for, I’m here to support you between calls.

Bespoke advice and resources: This programme is designed to help you achieve your goals, so all my advice will be tailored to you. Plus, I’ll send you any resources I think are relevant and, where needed, will send mini-videos or voice notes with anything I think will help you.

12 x one-hour Zoom calls: Each week, we’ll work on a specific area of your marketing. Calls may include copywriting training, copy reviews, content planning, idea generation or a combination of several things. That’s the beauty of a bespoke programme – it’s tailored to your needs.

Unlimited copy reviews: I’m not going to write your copy for you – the whole point of this programme is to give you the skills and confidence to do it yourself. But I will review any copy you write during our time together and show you how to improve it.

WhatsApp and/or email support as required: Got a question? Struggling with writer’s block? Want me to review some copy quickly? Whatever you need me for, I’m here to support you. Just drop me a message, and I’ll come back to you as quickly as I can.

Access to my online copywriting courses: As part of my 12-week programme, I’ll also give you access to my online Write to Sell and Blogging for Business courses to work through at your own pace.

Accountability: The whole point of my programme is to get your marketing from where it is now to where you want it to be, so I’ll be setting you relevant “homework” and holding you accountable. I want you to get results.