Should I hire an in-house marketing team or an outsource agency for my digital marketing campaign ?’ is one question that constantly pops in every business development meeting.
While both in-house and outsourcing marketing have their own merits and demerits, it only makes sense to have an idea of which of these both can help your business achieve results.
Let’s have a deeper learning of both these types of marketing approaches and compare them to choose which suits your business model well and delivers remarkable growth.
In-house Digital Marketing: Definition
In-house sourcing means assigning tasks or marketing activities internally or to employees working within an organization. Insourcing or staffing is common for business functions such as product management, sales, engineering, and business drive.
Pros and Cons of an In-House Marketing Approach
Leverage the advantages and disadvantages of employing in-house marketing approach to achieve measurable results
Pros:
- Gives Full Control: Insourcing allows full control over the marketing process, and you can directly communicate with the in-house marketing team for better execution and results.
- Confidentiality: One of the biggest advantages of using in-house sourcing is its confidentiality attribution. In-house sourcing reduces the risk of intellectual property theft or any misuse of an organization’s information.
- In-house Expertise: Internal teams have a thorough understanding of the digital marketing goals and business objectives. This helps in developing a successful digital marketing strategy with the help of internal team expertise.
- Flexibility and Adaptability: Having an in-house digital marketers allows for seamless adaptability in strategy changes and gives greater flexibility while assigning tasks and achieving anticipated outcomes—a higher return on investment and business drive.
- Understanding of Brand Value: Hiring an in-house marketing team gives an advantage in understanding and maintaining company value, ethics, and brand objectives. It is vital to have an understanding of the brand goal to resonate with the target audience.
Cons:
- High maintenance cost: Having an internal team is expensive due to costs associated with employing own employees, such as salaries, benefits, workspace, recruitment, and training.
- Limited Skill Set: Using an internal team for digital marketing activities give limited skills and operational inefficiencies. There may be a demand for new skills, leading to project stagnation or lag.
- Scaling Challenges: Scaling your marketing efforts quickly can be a challenge with an in-house team. Factors such as hiring, training and development, and database maintenance take time and frequent adjustments, leading to higher scaling management skills.
Outsource Digital Marketing : Definition
Outsourcing means hiring outside organization team members for handling your digital marketing activities or projects. You can choose a leading digital marketing agency or even a freelance digital marketer for your outsourcing approach.
Pros and Cons of an Outsourced Marketing Approach
Outsourcing has its own merits and demerits, making it important to understand them before incorporating it into your marketing efforts.
Pros
- Having Specialised Expertise: Outsourced marketing comes with a specialized expertise team rather than limited skill sets, allowing for better marketing operations and results. Areas where specialization can be of great help are;
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Content marketing
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
- Website Development
- Provide Out-Of-Box Ideas: Having an outside marketing team means fresh perspective and an out-of-box thinking to your digital marketing strategies. External digital marketers offer innovative ideas, creative solutions, and industry best practices that help you stay ahead of your competitors.
- Time and Cost-efficient: When you hire an outsource team for marketing, time can be saved by entrusting multiple projects or activities to them when there is a time constraint. Outsourcing is cost-effective when compared to maintaining and training an in-house marketing team.
Cons
- Communication Challenges: Working with an outsource team presents a communication challenge, making it vital to share a clear brief of your business goals and marketing objectives. Poor communication or lack of clarity can lead to delays in campaign execution and poor results.
- Lack Of Control and Oversight: Outsourcing the marketing team gives a lack of control and oversight of the marketing operations. This may result in potential risks in maintaining brand image, requiring consistent monitoring and regular communication with the external team.
- Long-term Dependency: One of the biggest disadvantages of hiring an outside marketing team is long-term dependency. When a business relies on an outsourcing agency, there is a risk of dependency on them for the long run.
In-house Or Outsource Marketing : Which Should You Choose For Your Digital Marketing Approach?
So far, we have seen the pros and cons of both in-house and outsourced marketing. Still can’t choose between them? Let’s look into the key factors that help businesses in hiring between an in-house and an outsourced marketing approach.
1. Identify And Evaluate
Identify each marketing activity involved in your approach. Then create a list of potential risks incurred in each stage to design strategies to mitigate the highest-priority risks.
2. Know which Approach Suits Your Business
Understand how both in-house and outsourced marketing work to know which approach will best suit your marketing objective. Having a clear objective is essential when choosing between in-house and outsourced marketing.
3. No Negative Impact On Organization
Both insourcing and outsourcing can significantly affect your company culture and employee morale, making it important to handle these changes professionally. Maintain security and employee trust while choosing between in-house and outsourcing marketing for a positive work environment.
4. Use Best Practices For Competitive Edge
Understanding current trends in your industry helps you in choosing an insourcing or outsourcing team. Assessing industry best practices provides valuable insights in using them for your marketing success, giving you a competitive edge.
Final Overview In Choosing Between An In-house and Outsourced Digital Marketing Approach
Choosing whether to insource or outsource is a strategic decision that requires thorough analysis and a deep understanding of the latest industry trends. Your chosen approach should align with your business needs and goals.
To help you with your digital marketing needs, collaborate with us, Jeevan Tech, providing both in-house and outsourcing teams to maximize your business return on investment growth.