BST & Co. is expanding its outsourced services again — this time with a new strategic marketing line of business, called CMO for Hire, led by Susan Radzyminski.
The tough hiring environment is driving more small businesses to outsource work normally done by a controller, an HR manager or a marketing officer instead of hiring internally.
It's a trend that's creating new opportunities for consulting companies like BST & Co. CPAs. The firm's managing partner, Ron Guzior, previously told the Business Review that the demand for outsourced work will grow as the labor market continues to tighten.
"People are feeling the pain of not being able to find the right talent to bring in house," Radzyminski said. "I'm offering a solution to fill a gap. It might be a short-term gap until they find the right talent, or might be a long-term solution. They might not need it all the time, but on certain occasions. They see the cost effectiveness of it, rather than having to find that talent, hire that talent, bring it in house and pay the benefits."
That's part of why Guzior brought in Radzyminski, who was also named chief marketing officer for the firm.
Radzyminski worked for years in marketing with Einhorn Yaffee Prescott (now EYP) and then for KeyBank. She came back to EYP to work with Tom Birdsey and help the architecture firm grow from a regional to national firm. She left in early 2020 when Birdsey retired and started her own CMO for Hire model.
"I launched right before the pandemic hit in February 2020, and had my first prospect meeting with Ron Guzior at BST," Radzyminski said. "At the time, he didn’t have a senior level marketing person and was feeling the pain of needing one. He was familiar with outsourcing, [BST] had CFO for Hire and HR services for hire."
Radzyminski worked with Guzior and the partners at BST to develop a strategic marketing plan for the firm, rebrand the company and create a new website.
"We did that in first year. At the end of 2020, Ron said, 'Why don’t you bring your company inside of BST and launch CMO for Hire here?'" she said. "'You can be the CMO and bring your business and clients in and we can grow a marketing division of outsourcing.'"
Radzyminski recognized a need for outsourced marketing work 15 years ago. While at KeyBank, she said the business bankers would ask her to come on a visit with a client who was struggling with marketing.
"I was meeting with business owners of small businesses that were passionate but didn’t know about marketing or business development and needed some help," Radzyminski said. "Advertising is right if it’s right, but you can spend a lot of money and not get the results you’re intending. When I left EYP, I realized that gap still existed."
The demand, she said, has grown with the pandemic. And the growth potential, based on how other BST outsourcing divisions have done, is significant. For example, BST's CFO for Hire division is now up to 22 people.
Radzyminski is a former Business Review 40 under 40 honoree. She lives in Wynantskill and has a bachelor's degree from the University of Miami in Florida.
