How Your Marketing Leadership Can Deliver Stronger Results by Buying Back Their Time

Two weeks ago, we took a week long family vacation where I wanted this to be the first vacation in several years that I was not in a "Get Shit Done Mentality". Instead, I let my team take care of most of our client requests and enjoyed some much needed relaxation. As a entrepreneur, it can be hard to fully checkout of your business so I took this as an opportunity to catch-up on some overdue reading, one being "Buy Back Your Time" by Dan Martell .

While the book is positioned for entrepreneurs, it's concepts apply strongly to the founders we work with at Screamin Cow and their teams who are CMOs, Directors, etc. Most importantly, it's concepts were most applicable to myself who believed that everything had to be executed by myself in my previous business.

To be honest, "80% done by someone else is 100% awesome", was a hard concept for me to recognize.

Leadership in a small businesses & startups often wears many hats. This isn't a novel concept, but when it comes to digital marketing, I find that the hat-wearing can hinder instead of help. Many leaders find themselves deep in producing blog content, designing graphics, or curating social media posts. And while these activities are essential, they often distract from the broader picture — the overall marketing strategy of the business.

As Dan Martell articulates in his book, successful leaders must focus on tasks that align with their expertise and roles. By doing so, they contribute optimally to the business's success. For startup leaders and marketing teams, this could mean letting go of some tasks, even if they seem integral at first glance.

For this article, we'll use a CMO as our example, but this could apply to anyone in your business.

Each time a Chief Marketing Officer or any marketing leadership immerses themselves in tactical work, they inadvertently cost their business more than they might realize. Every minute spent designing graphics or writing blogs is a minute taken away from high-value tasks such as strategizing and planning. It's not that these tactical tasks aren't essential; they're just not the best use of a leader's time.

Consider this: if your CMO spends an hour designing a graphic, not only do they lose an hour of strategic planning, but the business also loses the revenue that hour of strategy could have generated. Over time, these losses add up significantly, ultimately hindering the growth and scalability of your startup.

You can figure this by using Dan's calculation of the "Buy Back Rate Formula". When considering your Buy Back Rate you take your leaderships total income (their salary, benefits, travel expenses, reimbursements, etc.) divided by 2,000 hours, divided by 4 (to get a minimum 4x ROI).

To put this in perspective, the average CMO salary in the St. Louis region is $185,000. Considering the above formula (excluding benefits, expenses, etc.), your CMOs Buy Back Rate is $23.13 / hour while their hourly rate is $92.50.

Essentially, any task that cost $23.13 / hour or less should be "bought back" by outsourcing or hiring someone internally to get you an extra hour back in your day and deliver a 4x ROI.

There's no denying the value that a well-written blog or a captivating social media post can bring. However, if your leadership is too absorbed in these tasks, it might be time to reconsider the strategy. This is where specialized firms, such as Screamin Cow Design Studio, come into play. By delegating tasks like SEO, PPC, graphic design, and website development or maintenance, your leadership team can have more time to focus on things like their marketing strategy.

This doesn't imply that leaders should be completely hands-off with their marketing tactics; rather, it's about understanding where your time is best spent. Remember, your leadership team was hired for their strategic expertise, not their ability to create a visually pleasing infographic, changing text on your website, or conducting SEO keyword strategy.

Are you a startup founder or part of a marketing leadership team? If so, it might be time to reassess how you're spending your time. Shoot me a DM or let's connect at Screamin Cow Design Studio. Whether it's SEO, PPC, graphic design, or website development, we're here to help your business grow while freeing up your time to focus on what matters most – your strategic vision.