One of the most critical decisions that businesses must make is how to carry out their marketing functions. Companies can either choose to establish an in-house marketing team or outsource their marketing to an agency. To make an informed decision, managers should first spend some time determining what is essential to their business and being clear-eyed about their business goals. Then armed with a good sense of what they are trying to achieve, it will be easier to compare the advantages and disadvantages of in-house marketing vs. outsourced marketing.
The two most essential elements to consider when evaluating your marketing options are resources and time. Below we explore the details associated with each.
Resources
Effective marketing requires a variety of resources, including personnel, equipment and software, budgets, space, and more. The amount and types of resources necessary for your marketing, depending on your goals.
Space.
One of the most basic requirements for hosting an in-house marketing team is owning adequate space for them to work. However, it may be particularly hard for small businesses to find the physical space in their office for a team to work comfortably.
In contrast, agencies usually have ample room for multiple employees and teams to work. The logistical challenges associated with an in-house team are nonexistent when you choose to work with an agency.
Management’s knowledge.
Hiring an in-house marketing team means your existing staff members must possess the knowledge necessary to manage their efforts. At least, management must be aware of the basics of marketing to lead the team and evaluate their performance.
On the other hand, an agency will have the expertise necessary to carry out marketing tasks without the need for your business’s management to step in. Plus, working with a marketing agency may also be an excellent opportunity for business leaders to challenge their business assumptions.
Equipment & software.
It is essential to have specialized equipment and software for effective marketing, especially in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. A business needs to consider the resources that an in-house marketing team will need to do their jobs. Such as computers, tablets, and numerous software, including those associated with design, analytics, and reporting. Unfortunately, obtaining this equipment can become very expensive.
Compare this to an agency, which will come pre-equipped with the basics, plus more. Not only that, but you also won’t be delayed by any learning curve associated with the software.
Professional contacts.
In some cases, marketers will need to hire new talent to complete specific campaign initiatives. When this happens, teams will reach out to experts who specialize in activities outside of their internal team’s skillsets for specific campaign initiatives. For example, an in-house marketing team that needs video production will embark on a time-consuming and expensive process of searching for and vetting professionals to hire.
Conversely, an agency will often have connections to a network of supplementary professionals from their past experiences. Not only will they have resources they can call on on short notice, but they also will have a greater understanding of their resource’s skill set. Thus, a marketing agency will successfully match the talent to your marketing needs.
Skilled Teams
The competencies needed by a marketing team are wide-ranging and continue to expand. It includes skills required for traditional marketing such as print, radio, television, and direct mail. It also involves the capacity to perform digital marketing activities like social media marketing, SEO, website development, email marketing, PPC advertising, and more.
In a perfect world, more marketing professionals would be experts in all areas of marketing. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Thus, building a well-rounded in-house marketing team can be financially draining. Besides, the cost of hiring is expensive, and so is offering competitive salaries to the best-skilled professionals.
Outsourced marketing is the best use of your financial resources if your business needs a multi-faceted marketing team. Most likely, agencies will already have multiple qualified experts on board ready to solve most of your marketing issues.
Flexibility
Businesses may need to scale up or down their marketing activities depending on changes in the marketplace. To scale down, an in-house marketing team generally starts with laying-off staff members. These layoffs can be time-consuming, costly, as well as harmful to company morale. Conversely, scaling up may require a lengthy hiring process to find the right candidate.
Luckily, agencies provide superior flexibility when times call for adjustments to your marketing structure. Agencies can ramp up or slow down activities with ease. Team members move off or onto projects as needed. It is part of the business process for agencies.
Time
Time is one of our most valuable assets. You cannot create more of it, but you can implement creative ways to make the most out of it. Various aspects of your marketing function will affect your ability to execute your marketing ideas on time.
Hiring.
Shopping around for the right marketing agency can take some time. However, it is almost guaranteed to take less time than building an in-house marketing team from scratch. Lead times are especially important to consider when your company needs to ramp up marketing in a hurry. To develop their in-house marketing teams, companies will need to conduct a candidate search, interviews, background checks, onboarding, and training, all before any marketing activities begin. Additionally, new hires will initially be less effective workers as they acclimate to their new work environment.
An agency is ready to jump in and begin work on a business’s marketing needs immediately. Skilled workers, resources, and processes are all ready to be engaged at a moment’s notice.
Company culture.
Marketers will be making decisions on message and brand voice at the forefront of your company’s public communications. Thus, it is critically important that marketers gain a deep understanding of a company’s culture. In-house marketers have a physical closeness to a company and will understand and communicate company values more quickly than an outsourced marketer.
An outsourced marketer may face a steeper learning curve when it comes to an understanding of your company culture, particularly at first. However, a skilled marketing agency understands the importance of capturing the essence of your business inside and out. Many will have in-depth onboarding activities, which will help them do so.
Office politics.
An outsourced marketing function lacks a daily physical presence in your office. While this can be a disadvantage in some regards, this distance can also lead to more productive marketing. Office politics are distracting and can waste plenty of employees’ time. In-house marketing teams will find it nearly impossible to buckle down and focus when the latest drama is making its way through the cubicles.
In comparison, an agency benefits from being immune to these interferences. If office politics are a common struggle for your business, it may be wise to consider hiring a marketing agency. They will ensure a greater focus while delivering on your marketing activities as deserved.
Ease of communication.
Communication is always crucial. That is the quality of communication, but not necessarily the quantity. For sure, most of the time, in-house marketing is available whenever someone needs marketing services. And in-house marketing will likely only be a short walk away. If this level of accessibility is necessary for your business, then in-house marketing may be the best choice. However, the quantity of the exchanges might not guarantee its quality.
The right agency will do all that they can to facilitate high-quality communication. Sure, even the most responsive agency will never be able to measure up to the instantaneous nature of an in-house team. Rest assured, agencies rely on customer satisfaction, and will make efforts to be as prompt as possible when responding to clients’ requests.
Experiences with best practices.
New marketing techniques and technologies continuously impact the day to day of marketing execution. Implementing these new approaches can help improve a business’s marketing effectiveness. Unfortunately, in-house marketing teams are limited by time and resources when it comes to exploring and implementing best practices and concepts.
An agency has enough human resources to investigate new marketing developments while staying focused on client goals. Working with an agency means a company won’t need to sacrifice campaign-building efforts to chase the best practices. As a result, agencies provide a higher rate of innovation at a fraction of what the in-house team could do. Depending on a company’s goals, this constant innovation may not be necessary. However, businesses in highly competitive markets should always want to equip themselves with the latest and most excellent techniques to always be at the top of their game.
There are many factors to consider when choosing between in-house or outsourced marketing. By keeping their business goals at the forefront, businesses may find this decision easier to make. After assessing the advantages and disadvantages of each, managers may more easily recognize the best option for their business.