Hire an in-house marketing team or partner with an agency? Let’s take a look at just some of the reasons why outsourcing can often get you better results.
#1 Industry insights
Agencies partner with clients across all industries, so it’s very likely they’ve worked with a brand similar to yours. Although client confidentiality agreements ensure that agencies don’t discuss exactly what other clients in similar industries to yours are going to do next, it does mean they have an edge when you’re discussing strategies and can bring these industry insights to your next campaign.
#2 Cost effective
There’s a common misconception that partnering with an agency is way more expensive than hiring an in-house team.
According to Glassdoor, the average salary of a marketing manager or specialist is between $77K–$136K. Working with an agency can significantly reduce these costs for your business.
Note: Additional budget is needed for ad spend, but this would need to be taken into account on top of a salary or partnership regardless of choosing to go in-house or with an agency.
There are also a heap of hidden costs when it comes to hiring such as advertising, the time investment of selecting and interviewing candidates, training and onboarding, new software and equipment and ongoing retention costs.
If your employee goes on extended annual leave, sick leave or parental leave, you’ll need to find a replacement anyway – more recruitment costs, and double the salary!
Deciding between hiring one full-time marketer or hiring an agency isn’t really an equivalent comparison. One full time employee will rarely have the entire range of skills you need, and it’s unfair to expect that. A fully functional in-house team requires key roles such as social media manager, content creator, ads specialist, SEO specialist, marketing manager and web designer. It works out to be way more cost-effective to work with one direct contact at an agency that has a team filled with specialists in these areas – and even goes beyond with skills in branding and web optimisation too.
#3 Fresh perspectives
Ever wish you had a fresh set of eyes on your campaign? When you partner with an agency, you’ll have multiple people working on your account. People who can check that the key messages you want to push actually make sense for that audience.
It’s not the equivalent of being passed around from team member to team member and re-explaining your situation as you often have to do on a customer service call. You’ll have one direct contact who closely understands your business – and then strategists and specialists in the background bringing life to your campaigns.
Marketing agencies are filled with people on the forefront of creativity and the digital landscape who can bring a lot of energy to marketing a product you feel like you’ve run out of ideas for.
#4 Focused on results
An in-house marketing team is likely juggling different aspects of marketing your product or service – including traditional forms of marketing or earned media. Agencies are known for being fast-paced and focused on both rapid and long-term results. Account managers are always roundtable-ing ideas to pivot strategies and get you the best return possible – and always upping their goals for what the best means for your business.
Choose an agency with open communication that follows up on what they say they will from the start, and you’ll experience a team that’s on your side and wants to see you win! Clients have no problem telling agencies when they’ve underperformed because they’re paying for results, so you know you’re going to be getting results that are pushed to the furthest they can be.
#5 Connections to specialists
An agency plays to the strengths within the team with expert copywriters, data analysts, web builders, videographers and designers ready to take your campaigns to the next level. With access to the latest software and tools to analyse your results and create amazing ads, you get the benefit of having ultra creative video ads without having to pay for any of the software or worrying about briefing a freelancer in a way that showcases the best out of your product (and gets your money’s worth).
#6 Experts in ads
An in-house marketing team could have great overall marketing knowledge of print and digital mediums, but an agency like ours is focused on creating killer ads and getting you the best return on ad spend. If you’re a business owner who has been trying to juggle your business needs along with marketing your product or service, then outsource to the experts so you can focus on what you’re best at! If you’ve already got a small in-house marketing team, we can work with them to take your reach further.
#7 Hard to vet in-house skills
Someone can sound amazing in an interview or on paper, but even with references it’s hard to vet if what they claim on their resume is 100% accurate. Do they really have all the skills you’re looking for, or have they got some general marketing experience? That’s not going to convert your ideal audience like it would with ad experts!
It takes time to not only recruit the right candidate, but to train them and develop their understanding of your brand and strategy. A mis-hire can cost you heaps! One objection to going with an agency is that an in-house team will get to know your brand through and through while there may not be that same dedication with an agency. In reality, account managers are trained and experienced in getting onboard fast with brand style and tone of voice and using the latest trends and insights to inform their understanding of where your brand could go.
#8 On top of advertising standards
Agencies are experts in the parts of social media marketing and paid ads that you may not think about – or, don’t want to think about while trying to focus on your business. There are all sorts of industry standards and advertising regulations that agencies are across. Things like using copyrighted material – lyrics, images, videos – in ads, running competitions within state regulations, or making health claims about your product all need an expert eye so that your social media pages don’t get restricted and your ads can reach further.
#9 Flexibility to change direction
When you hire an in-house team, your marketing is limited to the skills and experience within that team. With an agency that has broad experience across industries and platforms, the growth is limitless. Campaign not getting the results you’d hoped for? An agency has the resources and experience to adapt quickly. Want to try ads on a new social media platform? An agency is all over the ad features and has probably already been seeing outstanding results for other clients on that platform. Agencies are used to feedback and can make changes fast, whereas a brand marketing manager could get precious about copy and ads they’ve worked hard to create. With remote working becoming more and more common, an agency is as accessible as your in-house team.
