Marketing Services Providers: Separating the Contenders from the Pretenders

During the 10-year process that has brought The YGS Group to this juncture, the company experienced a number of challenges. They include:

• Training traditional salespeople to sell entirely differently and to become proficient in areas other than printing. Kell says this took many years.
• Hiring the right people for the job. Kell points out that qualified marketing professionals are more expensive and harder to find than production plant personnel. "An MSP should be prepared for higher payroll costs and should not try to take the cheap way out," he adds. Marketing professionals routinely earn in excess of $50,000 per year.
• The marketing culture is a different animal, quite different than that of a printing atmosphere. "Everything—from personalities, dress styles, office requirements and environment, headphones, cell phones and work hours—is different. But it's very important they work together and that the cultures blend."
• It takes time, according to Kell. MSPs will spend time and money for years before they are likely to see a return on investment.

While The YGS Group was still in its growth phase, the company would outsource marketing work in areas where he felt his company lacked sufficient expertise. It was a practice that diminished over time as The YGS Group built its marketing core. He also points out that an MSP will have to outsource some editorial and content writing in order to find experts within a customer's field.