One of the vexing challenges facing financial services professionals is differentiating themselves from their many competitors. This is especially hard for advisers doing business on the Web, where consumers are faced with an impossible number of choices.

The market planning you've done puts you miles ahead of competitors who have not made this effort. At the same time, your plan relies on information only you can bring to the table. As we've shown, only you know where your best shot at marketing success is, whom your clients should be, how to get to them – or (better yet) get them to come to you! Take it much further, however, and the water starts getting a tad deep. The question is, should you be going any further out? Plenty of writing tips and Web design self-help programs are out there, but are they a smart use of your time and talents? Are you or your staff up to it?

Or does it make more sense to outsource? That is, work with experts who can put the finer-points and finishing touches on your market planning – creating parts of your plan, polishing your professional identity brand, positioning you in your marketplace, developing and updating your Web site. In effect, outsourcing puts these parts your business on "auto-pilot" so you can focus your time on revenue-generating activity.