Digital marketers are among the top ten most in-demand remote positions, and with good reason. Even the best product or service in the world won’t sell unless it’s placed in front of the right customers. With e-commerce on the rise, a killer digital marketing plan can level the playing field between SME’s and bigger companies.
Then again, it’s also not a good idea to outsource your overall marketing strategy, at least not entirely. Who would know your customers and your products or services better than you, after all?
So, when do you outsource the majority of your marketing efforts? And when should you keep them in-house?
Let’s take a look at all the options.
1.) Outsourcing the majority of your marketing efforts.
There are two major reasons for choosing this option.
One is that you and your in-house team are already struggling with your marketing efforts. This can either be because none of you have the expertise nor the experience for it, or that you’re all wearing too many hats. In this case, outsourcing can take a lot of the pressure off, freeing you up to focus on your core competencies.
Another reason is to bring a fresh perspective. Even the best marketers can fall back on the same tactics, so outsourcing your marketing efforts can keep it innovative and updated.
Lastly, maintaining an in-house marketing department can be expensive. It can even be unnecessary, depending on your requirements. For instance, if you only need a couple of blog posts a week, it would be more cost effective to outsource that to a freelancer than to retain an in-house blogger.
You can always re-evaluate your options once your business grows and/or your in-house team gets stronger. This brings us to….
2.) Keeping all marketing functions in-house.
Let’s say you already have an in-house marketing team. If they’re already highly-trained and experienced, especially in handling your company’s niche, you’re probably better off keeping them.
Ditto if they’ve been producing excellent results for the company. Or if your company’s current marketing technology’s been generating an impressive ROI.
Obviously, if digital marketing happens to be your business’ core competency, you SHOULDN’T outsource it.
3.) Use a combination of both outsourced and in-house marketing.
This option is the happy medium. Perhaps you’ve got some incredible marketing talent onboard, but could use some outside help implementing campaigns? That’s what various content writers, graphic artists, and SEO specialists are for.
It’s also possible to outsource specific aspects of your company’s marketing needs. For example, it would be costly to hire and train your own data scientists and engineers. But you can seek the services of specialty agencies to interpret your data for you. They can even provide data-driven insights that can help you refine your marketing plan further.
Many companies find that this option works best for them. Working with a reliable third party, such as an outsourcing agency, also helps.
No two businesses are the same. Thus, there are no hard and fast rules for determining the best marketing/outsourcing strategy for each one. It’s also possible that you won’t get it right the first time, so don’t get discouraged if it takes a bit of trial and error to find the best possible arrangement for your company.
You should also consider your financial situation as well as your in-house team’s capabilities and experiences. These, along with your requirements, ought to narrow things down quite a bit.
If you’re having a difficult time deciding, it helps to reach out to a third-party agency that specialises in outsourcing. Remote Staff has been providing various AU companies with top remote talent for their marketing needs, among other things. We can definitely help you find out if outsourcing would be a good fit for your company’s marketing, and to what extent.
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Serena has been working remotely and writing content for the better part of the last decade. To date, she's written for Pepper.ph and Mabuhay Magazine, among others, and has churned out more than a thousand articles on everything from The Basics of Stock Market Investing to How to Make Milk Tea-Flavored Taho at home. Hermits, aspiring hermits, and non-hermits with interesting project propositions may email her at serena.estrella10@gmail.com.
