Today, outsourcing plays a key role in many businesses. There are several reasons why a business might outsource sections of their operations. While manufacturing and IT processes are the most outsourced operations, an important service like marketing is often overlooked. Most businesses might have in house marketing teams, however with growing business demands, a lot of companies are hiring marketing agencies and firms from within their town, state, or country. On shoring can be great, but off shoring can be a better option.

Do you really know your internal brand? What the people in your team think about the company, management and each other - and how that is portrayed outwards?

Today I decided to be brave enough to ask my team in Atlanta what our brand is internally. I asked them to be truthful and to not be shy in saying what they personally think my internal brand in their office is.

I was surprised, impressed and felt like we had all done something right because their thoughts on our internal brand were everything I would dream for a company I worked for to have.

Whether it's the second quarter or last quarter of your financial year, you would note that something is going on in the economy and it's creating a lot of uncertainty. 

 When I started Marketing Eye more than 9 years ago, I had a vision to be the world's best small business marketing firm. I dreamt that I would open offices all over the world that would sell marketing services backed by sophisticated technology platforms, media and education, to businesses that had revenues of $1 million to $200 million.

Primarily, the companies that would be ideal clients were one's that were entrepreneur-led, like me, and who had a dream to significantly grow their businesses and mostly be industry game-changers - although the latter wasn't exactly necessary.

In the early days, we had hurdles. The first was our own mind-set of being use to working with funded startups or medium to large corporations and shifting the way we interacted, engaged and nurtured our clients to success to cater for burgeoning SMB market.

It took time. More time than I ever imagined. 

"Same bed, but it feels a bit bigger now" is the lyrics in the famous Bruno Mars song "When I was your man".  An apt description of Marketing Eye's business expansion into the US market. It's the same company, but its a bit bigger now. 

What started out as a step to expand the international footprint of our brand, has taken on a whole new dimension. Australian and America have long been tied and now more so than ever. The ebbs of the economy has led to an opportunity for Australian companies that are geared for expansion to leverage the strength of the Australian dollar, and affordable set up costs in the US market without breaking the bank. The downside, is US dollars are not worth as much, as the dollar loses its grip on parity.

A marketing consultant is not necessarily a marketing consultant.

From one to another, they are completely different. Some have great skills in strategy, others in tactical development and execution of marketing plans. Some are great at communicating but not fully across social media or what role advertising plays in the digital age.

In the past year, I have travelled the world talking to marketers and each one has something different to offer. They all have honed their skills in one area or another.

I first started my involvement in the marketing industry 21 years ago at an advertising agency in  Queensland. I remember watching the owner of the business operate and being completely fascinated by his skills and creativity. He had started his career as a window dresser for a large retailer and way back in the early nineties was making more than a million dollars profit out of 5-man agency. Incredible.