Digital marketing efforts will play a key role in your marketing campaigns since COVID is still on the picture and influence on the digitalization of the life being. What could be the most appropriate to your business depends on the niche you deal in. 2022 is still challenging and here we give you the key business factors to consider prior to contract outstaffing or to manage in-house marketing team.
The uncertainty raised by the economic impacts of COVID 19, marketing budgets are being thoroughly analysed. With people losing their jobs and companies falling back to consolidate their positions, how do you still manage to find new customers but reduce your overheads at the same time? Well, the answer may be as simple as Outsourcing your marketing to an agency can save you money, but is it the right choice for your company?
Deciding to move what is an integral part of your business, to an external resource can be challenging with many variables to consider. Regardless of which option you choose, the worst choice you could make is to put a halt to your marketing. If you are not proactively looking for new customers, or at the very least, reminding your current customers that you are still there for them, you are likely to slip into the shadows of the forgotten and unknown.
Thus, in-house and agency are competing to provide the best experience for candidates, and it comes down to who can offer the most robust opportunity to use their skills as well as the right training.
Lots of companies tend to outsource some or all of their marketing activities to digital marketing agencies. These agencies are fully set up with the proper staff, expertise, and resources to provide outsourced full-service digital marketing services. If you do not have the budget to hire a fully-staffed marketing team, hiring a digital marketing agency can be a cost-effective option. For the cost of employing one social media manager, you can contract a professional social media firm and gain access to a digital marketing experts.
Many businesses find that a hybrid approach works best. Most may already have at least a key expert of in-house marketing professionals; however, their range of expertise or resources may be limited. It can be immensely cost-effective to aid this in-house team by outsourcing key services to agency specialists such as professional social media, SEO and marketing agencies. However, in-house teams might struggle to implement new software or keep up with SEO best practices and paid search trends.
The key is defining your organization’s marketing goals and weighing them against your own team’s strengths and weaknesses. Evaluate what is workable with in-house guys and what would be better to outsource. It is a vital exercise to determining whether your marketing initiatives should stay in-house, or require assistance from outside experts.
What are business factors to consider prior to select in-house or out-house marketing campaign?
Culture, Vision and Values
It is evident that you prefer to work with marketers who align with your company’s culture, vision and values like most businesses do. And generally speaking, it’s easier to accomplish this by hiring from within. Naturally, a full-time internal employee is much more closely invested in a company’s success and growth than any external agency team would be. Given a marketing agency’s responsibilities to a number of different clients, it’s more difficult for external marketers to fully get a sense of a company’s day-to-day culture and values.
Thus, one of the most significant downsides of an internal creative group is that creativity can begin to stagnate over time, making it harder to infuse fresh thinking into marketing design. This perception often stems from the misconception that all creative work is completed within the company bubble, lacking visibility into what other industries are doing.
Sometimes, internal company leadership wields a heavy hand and doesn't give the creative team the space to take risks and try new things. There could also be some creeping internal arrogance, thinking that no one on the outside can understand the company brand well enough. An external marketing agency can bring a much-needed infusion of fresh ideas.
Continuous update of hard skills
Depending on your company’s marketing strategies, your team might need access to skill sets like web development, social selling expertise, email marketing, pay-per-click advertising – you get the point. And believe me when I say, building an in-house team packed with all this talent is no walk in the park. Naturally, agencies are already equipped with knowledgeable professionals who specialize in all areas of digital marketing. In other words, agency teams can be your one-stop shop for all things marketing. Expect to dedicate time and patience if you plan to recruit, screen and hire a full-service in-house marketing team.
How do the skills that an agency has compare to the skills of employees that are hired?
A digital marketing agency often comes with skills that in-house teams can't match, especially internal marketing teams at small-to-midsize businesses. These capabilities can range from accessing beta features in Google Ads to data on effective tactics or strategies.
If you can only afford to hire a small number of employees for your internal creative group, you will have to pick which skill sets you hire. For example, perhaps you hire a graphic designer, a project manager, and a direct marketing manager. Suppose that's all you can afford internally. In that case, you'll need to figure out how to cover skills like brand strategy and positioning, poetics and writing, video and animation, SEO, and web development, to name only a few, either through training those same staff members or finding contract resources.
An agency can offer you access to all of those skills, even those you only need for a few hours per week or month. Their work will be more coordinated than if you were to just contract the work to freelancers, with the agency doing much of the project management and communication for you.
Competitive Edge with Industry Best Practices
The evolving landscape of digital marketing is talking everywhere. Tactics and tools that once worked yesterday, won’t necessarily be effective tomorrow. Competition is tough, technologies change at lightning pace and if you’re caught singing the same old tune, your business will eventually get left behind. Luckily, staying on top of the latest and greatest digital marketing best practices is an agency’s bread and butter. Marketing agency teams often get their first crack at the latest, ground-breaking technologies and educational marketing conferences, most of which simply aren’t within reach for in-house marketing teams.
Depending on your situation, you might need to jump on your marketing. Let’s say, for example, you discover you’re losing sales because your closest competitor just launched an user-friendly eCommerce website when yours isn’t equipped to facilitate online purchases. Obviously, your website needs a speedy overhaul to improve your customers’ online experience. And the speediest way to do this is NOT by posting a job, reviewing resumes, conducting three rounds of interviews, calling references. Marketing agencies dedicated to jump in fast and efficiently so your team can adapt your marketing strategies sooner rather than later. Ultimately, emergencies that affect your bottom line are better handled by agency teams.
Communication
Open and efficient communication is vital to keeping any business’ marketing plan running smoothly. And with any in-house team, this is going to be relatively easy. Brainstorming sessions, content approvals and meetings can be executed or scheduled whenever the need arises. Agencies, on the other hand, aren’t able to be as immediately accessible; day-to-day communication will naturally be more sparse because of the number of clients and client needs. Typically, marketing agencies will stick to email or phone communication as needed while also facilitating weekly or monthly meetings to discuss results, projections, quarterly plans, etc. Both methods work, but success depends entirely on what you prefer.
Access to platforms and tools
A decent marketing agency already comes with all the bells and whistles when it comes to the industry’s must-have technologies. Many will also test and invest thousands of dollars in annual subscription fees in order to equip clients with the best tools. This is a time-consuming and expensive process that you don’t even have to think about if you work with an agency.
Large and fortune companies usually have marketing creatives in-house; however, they may also choose to outsource portions or all of their creative requirements to external partners such as ad agencies, design firms, and outsourcing companies if and when needed. In such a case, their in-house marketing creative teams focus on directing the creative from the client-side and ensuring that the company's internal stakeholders' requirements have been met.
In addition to strategic creative direction, there is both an internal account management and project management aspect to what these teams do. At times, these teams will also manage the workflow from one external partner to another.
Agencies are fluent in the best practices of nearly every marketing tactic. They are professionals who have worked on an infinite number of different accounts. Ad agencies are able to work far more efficiently than an assembled in-house marketing team. Because outsourced marketing agencies handle so much work, they have state-of-the-art workflows and processes that are built for quality, volume, and efficiency. Agencies usually know the best talent around.
Now let’s journey on the road to deciding which option is best for your company.
IN-HOUSE MARKETING
Employing an in-house marketing talent is expensive. You will have to factor in a base wage along with the cost of employment benefits, such as:
- Paid holidays and sick leave
- Overtime rates
- Work cover
- Hiring and recruitment costs
- Onboard training
- Office appliances such as laptop, phone, internet, desk, chair etc
- KPIs and performance reviews
- Clear reporting lines and management
Then we need to add the additional costs such as superannuation, work Cover, and then there is the time and cost of hiring, mis-hiring and learning on the job.
At a bare minimum you will need your marketing department to have talents in web design and maintenance, SEO, graphic design, copywriting, data analysis and possibly even media buying – along with the regular skills of marketing. This can rarely be done by one person, so you may need to hire several people. If they are full time, someone will need to oversee that they are busy with projects from 9-5.
These costs are adding up and vary depending on the unique business needs.
OUTSTAFFED OR OUTSOURCED MARKETING
Marketing agencies consist of a collaboration of marketing experts. For the one price you get experts in SEO, copywriting, public relations, advertising, web development and design as well as project management. No sick leave or recruitment costs to worry about, no lost days or extended time frames because people are away. But one of the biggest factors is there is no need to keep your internal resources continuously in training and up to speed with their online marketing skills – they will take care of it all.
To get the most value from your outsourcing investment, it is important to allow time for the agency to get to know your business and its culture.
Stay on trend with industry best standards and technologies
Technologies change at lightning pace and if you are stuck in old age processes, you are going to get struck, left behind and out. Marketing agencies have a variety of staff and contractors on their team. Each team member is a subject matter expert and works in collaboration with the other members of the team. They live and breathe marketing and always seek out resources to stay on trend with the latest developments in their industry.
If you go with the in-house option, you get to build your own team of specialists and oversee their collaborative efforts. This means team building, well being and supervision of staff is your responsibility. You will need to purchase any programs, licences and equipment necessary to get the job done. Factoring in the time it takes to research the best options before making that purchase. Then the time it takes to learn to use any new technology.
Control
Many businesses worry that they will lose control of the processes if the reins are handed to an agency and it is a valid concern. There is a risk that an out-of-house marketing agency will want to market your business in a way that you disagree with.
Just be sure to choose a reputable agency, with a good track record. Look for a digital marketing agency that you can trust and steer clear of agencies that use confusing jargon or who are not upfront about pricing. Open communication is important, are they happy to answer questions, do they welcome your feedback?
A good agency will value your input and listen to your individual needs and it is a collaborative effort.
Culture
In-house workers have more opportunities to connect with your brands’ culture and values. They become part of your brand and can exude your brand voice in all their communications. This includes speaking the right tone on your social media, email and content marketing.
If you unite and work together with the many talents of a marketing agency you will need to give them access and ample opportunity to be immersed in everything brand relate that you want conveyed in your marketing message.
Your brand has a unique history, vision and goals that you’ll need to explain clearly to an outstaffed team if they’re going to help convey it in your marketing message.
Newer vision
In house marketing teams can fully immerse themselves in your company culture and objectives but it commonly results in tunnel vision. As much as you try to see if from an outside perspective when you are close to you project, you have so much emotion and resources invested.
Digital marketing agencies that work outside your company bring fresh and creative ideas to the table. Seeing the situation from an outside view offers new perspectives and unique angles, insights and experiences. They have worked with a myriad of marketing issues. They have done the testing and they know what works and what does not.
A shift in perspectives can be subtle but the results profound. While you may have a handle on who your target market is, for example, one little shift in the way you segment your target market can have dramatic results in improving your bottom line.
Flexibility
As many companies are struggling due to imposed COVID constraints, employment flexibility is important.
Outstaffing or outsourcing options could be the best option to give you the flexibility, skill set and a group you can call upon.
Expertise
A great in-house marketing team is an asset that can be built on. You will need to source a wide range of skill sets in ever evolving fields like web development, social selling expertise, email marketing, pay-per-click advertising along with the right attitude and creative pizzazz. Finding this talent is not an easy task, so if you find it – hold onto them.
Outsourcing to an agency usually allows you to pay a single fee that gives you access to a larger team of experts. Hiring a digital marketing agency means you get that expert team at a lower cost than if you were to build an in-house team. You will only pay for the skills that you want and can re-align, ramp up or down, or stop completely with little notice. This means you will not be overpaying for what you don’t need.
The expertise of a marketing agency comes from being exposed to many different industries and issues. They will also come supercharged with the latest trends, techniques, and technologies.
Availability
Your own in-house marketing team means that you can fly out the door as needed, with your staff on-call whenever you need them. With an agency, you should choose one that welcomes constant communication. While it is nice to yell out to someone across the office or via a tin can and a piece of string, today’s technology makes communicating at a distance easier than ever.
HYBRID MARKETING
Another option is a blend of both internal and external execution of marketing efforts. In many cases this involves an in-house marketing manager or project manager developing the strategy.
Expertise such as research or creative execution can be outsourced to an agency. Tasks can be divided according to your terms and objectives.
Advantages of this team is the sweet spot between flexibility and performance. Control and outside perspectives.
The disadvantage is that it is time consuming. Acting as a project manager in the marketing field can be a headache if you don’t have a deep knowledge of a wide spectrum of marketing disciplines.
The key to hybrid marketing success comes from knowing your strengths and outsourcing the rest.
An efficient workflow can be created with a content calendar that can be shared between the organisation and the agency. Along with sharable open communication.
CONCLUSION
In the end, the answer to the question of whether you should outsource your marketing or keep it in-house is entirely dependant on your situation. When you go over business factors of the in-house marketing vs. marketing agency debate, do you find yourself, or your team, leaning one way or the other? Wonder about your answer - this is your choice.
If the list of pros and cons is equal on both sides, then you could be like the many businesses that do both. It never hurts to ask for help, especially in areas where you don't have an expert on the team, or with new and trending tactics you're trying to gain a competitive edge with.
Outsourcing and going it alone can both be the correct, cost-effective decision that generates the best results for your business.
The worst option you can choose it to pull back your marketing to a minimum or worse, cease marketing altogether. If you’re not out telling your story…who will?
If you are not putting yourself centre stage and reminding your customers, you are here for them, your company may slip into the shadows of the unknown.
M.System as an expertised digital agency provides both outstaffing and outsourcing options to run your marketing campaign which best covers requirements of your business. When working with clients we start by identifying and agreeing upon goals and requirements, then drafting a workable timeline to achieve those metrics.
Checking in with you throughout the process to ensure we are on the same page. Our lines of communication will be open along the way and we welcome feedback and questions. We are treating our clients as our partners providing them with up-to-date marketing tools to run your digital campaign.
The trend of digitalizing of businesses is keeping in 2022 and your marketing efforts shall be in line to adopt and breath light and easy in fast changing environment.