Things are heating up in our company and I’m getting busier and busier. I’m starting to think about where I can start to shuffle my workload so I can get some ti me back. Do you have any advice for how I might know if outsourcing my marketing efforts makes sense?

—Frenetic in Florida

My immediate answer? Outsource all of it. To me. Today. You’ll be happier and I’ll be happier.

Win. Win.

I know that doesn’t answer your question, so I’d say that we start with where you bring the most value.

I’m going to make some assumptions here. You’ve spent time building your business by focusing on providing a great customer experience, attracting and retaining strong team-members (if you have labor), and being able to draw customers in through strong marketing efforts.

We can assume that none of these things can stop happening. So, where do you bring the most value? There’s a good chance, it’s not in marketing.

It’s in your brand.

Your brand is what customers come back for and what draws new customers in. It drives the success of your business.

You’ve built a strong reputation and a culture for your company that people like. So keep doing that. Meanwhile, you can outsource much of your marketing work to other professionals who can take the brand you’ve built to the next level and bring you more time to focus on continuing to surprise and delight with everything else you’re doing at your wash.

So, my answer to your question remains the same, but with an important nuance. Yes, outsource all of it. But you have to remain your brand’s biggest steward. That means you can’t just hand everything over to a company and say, “market me please.” You need to be able to provide the right leadership and vision for your business and communicate that to whomever you outsource to.