For small businesses and start-ups, it’s often not feasible to staff up every operational area during the growth stage. It’s also vital to continued growth to have a team that can support and execute your marketing strategy. That’s where the “vendor bench” comes in. 

What is a “vendor bench”?

In the recruiting world, a “talent bench” refers to a pool of vetted candidates that can be tapped or contacted when there is a job opening, or the pool of talent within a team who may be tapped for special projects or opportunities. 

Similarly, a “vendor bench” is a pool of capable, vetted freelancers, consultants and contract workers who can be tapped for projects and work outside of your internal team’s capabilities or bandwidth. When it comes to building and enacting your business’ marketing strategy, marketing is a key function that can benefit from a  

Who’s on the Bench?

Your bench has to match your marketing needs. Depending on your business, priorities, the make-up of your internal team, these needs could vary, but in general, there are a few categories of freelancers or vendors you want to consider adding to your bench:

• Photographer
• Videographer
• Graphic designer 
• Copywriter
• SEO expert
• Web developer
• UX/web designer
• Marketing strategist
• PR and/or crisis communications expert
• Market researcher
• Digital advertising professional 
• Social media strategist

These capabilities could be filled by individual contractors or by marketing firms or agencies that can provide a number of those needs. In many cases, you’ll want multiple vendors on your list to account for availability, style, pricing or project scale. 

How to Build The Bench

Once you identify your needs and priorities, it’s time to find potential vendors. Here are 5 tips to building out your marketing bench:

1. Get recommendations from respected colleagues, peers and current vendors 

Word of mouth is a powerful way to connect to potential vendors and freelancers. Reach out to colleagues and peers in the space, or make use of associations or member organizations in your industry that may have recommended vendors. Getting a recommendation from a business you trust and/or someone within your field will allow you to ask more pointed questions about the work, and hear from a trusted source. Plus, with today’s increasingly remote and flexible work environment, you may be able to source talent from all over the country, or even the globe.

2. Treat it like a job interview

Even if you connect with a vendor through a trusted contact, you should still take time to interview the vendor, review case studies and check references. Once you engage with the vendor, ask them to provide their portfolio and case studies and set up a time to chat on video or meet in person. When checking references, ask about work quality, attention to detail, ability to meet needs and stay on budget, etc. Get a sense of what the vendor will be like to work with and if they will meet your business’ needs.  Ideally, the contractor or vendor will be a support and extension of your internal team.

3. Consider the vendor’s affiliations or partnerships

Other considerations when bringing on a contract worker or small firm is to look at who they are already connected with. Did the person graduate from a university that is a key recruiting source for you? Did the firm do work for a company you’d love to partner with? Think about how the vendor can be a point of connection for you.

4. Think about skill gaps and eventual scale

Maybe your needs are small now, but are you thinking about a new website in a year? A large product launch? Maybe you have some in house talent, but will you need a larger in house team, or agency to work with? When building your vendor bench, don’t just build for now. Think 6-12 months out for what projects or scale you may need. This isn’t to say you need to bring in a big advertising agency during your first year in business (some growth will come later), but don’t restrict yourself by only having small scale or low availability vendors on your list.

5. Build a budget around priorities 

Marketing costs money. Vendors cost money. When building your bench, do research into costs and then determine what you have available to pay for the services you need. You should not under-pay for any work, but you should think about which marketing capabilities are your highest priorities and plan the budget accordingly. For example, if you’re planning a billboard or glossy ad campaign and photography is your biggest need, you’ll need a sizable photography budget to get a high quality professional and any supporting costs for the campaign shoots (location rental, talent recruitment, etc). Whereas if photography is less essential to your current plans, say you’re only launching text SEM ads, you may be able to seek out an amateur or apprentice photographer to fill in your gaps or engage in a smaller-scale contract.