If you’re considering the pros and cons of outsourcing vs an in-house marketing agency, you’re not alone.
This is a common business dilemma and a decision that shouldn’t be made lightly in any case.
Determining your own marketing needs and who can best handle this is a tricky job. You may even want to hire a consultant to help you find the best match.
Read on to review some further considerations about whether or not hiring an external marketing agency is the best decision to help your business thrive.
Consider Key Business Goals for Attracting and Retaining Customers
In the past, it may have been that any organization would have its own marketing communication department or hire an ad agency to take care of higher-budget marketing activities such as print and TV ads.
Today there’s so much more that you can do to build brand awareness and engagement, from word of mouth to social media to review sites. The digital element of marketing makes it all the more interesting but also technically complex.
Before you decide on an in-house marketing department or outside agency, make sure that you have a solid idea of your organization’s key marketing goals, needs, and strengths so that you can communicate these clearly at the outset.
Here are some questions to help guide you:
- What type of ongoing marketing activities can you take care of internally?
- Do you have the capacity (people or skills) to do the work in-house?
- What are you willing to spend the most money on?
- Are there extensive high-tech elements that you require outside assistance for?
Do you want to devote a specific portion of your budget to visual production (e.g., commercials or high-quality YouTube videos)?
Ultimately, the size, scale, and nature of your business will guide you towards whether outsourcing vs in-house will work better for you—there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Consider hiring someone to help you find the best marketing agency for your needs.
You Are Responsible for Building a Good Relationship
Whether you are outsourcing or going in-house, the quality or productivity of that relationship will depend partly on how your own organization inspires great work.
Here are some tips for ensuring that whoever you are matched with brings their best to the table:
- Pay invoices promptly
- Be polite
- Be transparent
- Educate them thoroughly
- Don’t dictate creative outputs
Remember that part of what you put into a relationship will be what you get out of it! So be careful and diligent even if you are just in the search process.
Outsourcing vs In-House: The Pros and Cons of Hiring an External Marketing Agency
One of the key points to investigate when you’re considering outsourcing vs. in-house is that hiring a marketing agency will likely involve a large initial investment. They may or may not require further funding, depending on the length of your contract.
Conversely, hiring someone in-house will allow you to budget for a consistent salary, but one that is likely to increase over time.
A benefit of hiring a marketing agency is that they should have a team in place which includes a team of people with a robust set of skills, making it more efficient to complete a large project.
An outsourced marketing agency will likely offer:
- A diverse array of talent with specialized skills
- A comprehensive range of services
- A fresh outlook
- Innovative solutions
- A more streamlined project management process
- Experience in your specific industry
- Current skills, tools and capabilities
- Knowledge and experience with the latest trends
With an outsourced agency, you are also laying the foundations of a long-term marketing strategy that should reduce costs and increase profits over time.
However, some potential disadvantages may include higher costs (at least in the short term), the potential for communication mishaps, and a lack of availability if the agency juggles multiple clients.
Outsourcing vs In-House: The Pros and Cons of Hiring in-House Marketing Professionals
Hiring a small marketing team or even a single manager can work well for some organizations. The marketing manager can act as an accessible single point of contact which operates internally.
Other pros of hiring in-house include:
- More efficient communications and decision-making
- Project management can be handled in tandem with other internal company activities
- They may be more aligned with long-term company marketing goals
- They may be more aligned with internal company activities, goals, and strategy
An in-house individual or team may also make them more available to discuss various ideas as they arise in-house.
They may also be more brand-focused and generally dedicated to the bigger-picture needs of your organization, where an agency will likely have multiple priorities linked to different clients.
Possible Cons of Hiring In-House
Possible cons of hiring in-house include:
- The potential for the person to have less experience (depth and breadth)
- There may be a lack of fresh/innovative ideas—internal employees may have “blinders” on or be less likely to consider alternative solutions to problems (e.g., thinking outside the box)
- It can be more challenging to find someone who wants to work in-house when a lot of professionals aspire to work with agencies
- Salary costs may be higher
Remember in house capabilities may not solve all your needs. You may still need to hire externally as your needs grow!
Get the Most Value from Your Marketing Partners
Whether you outsource to a marketing agency or hire someone in-house, bear in mind that either way, if you want quality, you are looking at a fairly high-cost output.
Some tips for making the most of your relationship include:
- Having a clear understanding of your long term growth goals and communicating these at the outset
- Getting clear on your marketing challenge, plans and priorities before you hire any agency or professional
- Ask how they helped previous clients achieve goals (case studies can help with this)
- Learn about what project management tools do they typically use
- Ask how they measure success
- Learn who you will be working with directly
Discover The team’s personality, values and culture—will they fit well with your organizational culture and values?
Hire someone to source and recruit the ideal marketing agency to ensure you’re getting the maximum value.
Would you like some help matching with an agency? I offer marketing agency search and performance management services to organizations looking to partner with great marketing agencies.
Contact me for more information!
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