Outsourced Marketing Professionalization
RCTReview
Small firm entrepreneurs in developing economies often lack specialized marketing expertise and spend limited time on sales generation, yet hiring full-time management consultants or attending generic business training yields low returns relative to cost.
Picture this
Imagine a skilled carpenter who builds great furniture but struggles to find customers because the carpenter has no experience with sales or promotion. Instead of taking months off work to learn marketing, the carpenter hires a specialized marketing freelancer for a few hours a week to manage sales, bringing in a steady stream of new clients at a fraction of the cost of a full-time consultant.
What the evidence says
Subsidizing small firms to hire or outsource skilled marketing professionals directly improved firm marketing practices and generated business growth more cost-effectively than providing traditional managerial consulting services.
- Who was studied
- Small business entrepreneurs in Nigeria.
- How
- Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) comparing business consulting, general training, and marketing insourcing/outsourcing.
What to do
Provide targeted matching and subsidy programs that assist small business owners in outsourcing specialized marketing and sales tasks to skilled external professionals.
From the source
"In Nigeria, helping firms hire or outsource skilled marketing professionals also improved their marketing practices, and it was cheaper than providing business consulting."
Market Access: Connecting Firms and Entrepreneurs to Markets to Spur Business and Job Growth