Marketing trends evolved tremendously in the past decade, and so is the way businesses conducted it.
When we look back 10 years ago, serious marketing teams and experts were only a part of the large, usually international, extremely successful, and globally present companies. Mid-size companies, local businesses, and small tremendously were conducting so-called in-house marketing. In other words, it was a DIY part of the job because the smaller businesses didn’t have the means to hire well-known and established marketing experts, as companies such as Coca-Cola, Mercedes, Apple, Mc Donald’s, and others could easily put to work exclusively on their projects.
During that period of time, generally speaking, in-house marketing had its evolution and some well-deserved accomplishments, credibility, and a decent level of satisfaction, but the ratio of the money spent and the results obtained were not that satisfactory. Statistic data collected by market researchers provide the information that companies, no matter what size they are, have reduced costs of advertising by more than 30 percent and increased brand awareness, a number of clients, and ultimately income, just by outsourcing and shifting marketing activities from in-house to specialized marketing agencies.
In-house Marketing
The term „In-house“, as the word itself says, means “in the house”, in your own company. In-house marketing refers to creating and implementing all the marketing activities and operations within a company, instead of outsourcing and hiring external partners to utilize and conduct your companies marketing activities. That means that the company relies on its own resources, assets, and employees to perform and execute a business marketing strategy. This model of handling marketing activities is the direct opposite of outsourcing.
In this operational model, the company can make a decision to keep all the marketing activities in-house or to keep some and delegate one part of activities to external marketing partners (marketing agencies).
This process is called “insourcing”. Insourcing can include content creation, digital design creation, web support, event management, and others.
So, In-house marketing is basically marketing that is not outsourced to a third party and all company marketing activities are conducted inside the company and without the help of marketing agencies.
Some companies choose to hire an expert to lead an in-house marketing team and thus improve the performance of the marketing team and achieve better results in the market race.
What Are the Benefits of Having an In-house Marketing Team?
Marketing requires eyes wide open every second and constant brainstorming and engaging to be successful. If you feel that your company needs a strategically consolidated and long-term marketing plan, you should consider assembling a marketing team who will create, execute, monitor, and evaluate all company marketing activities.
An in-house marketing team will put team focus only on marketing activities and your brand, but this kind of organization will also bring other benefits like:
Faster project delivery
Marketing agencies and external associates’ purpose is to serve businesses like yours. But, it is naïve to think that marketing agencies haw only you for a client. They serve simultaneously usually a large number of clients, and that fact can affect how fast the job/project will be executed. Various clients have different wishes, ideas, goals, and delivery frequencies. So, marketing agencies are often under lots of pressure to satisfy multiple client demands.
Looking from that perspective, by building an in-house marketing team, you can expedite workflow significantly, because the only client is you, and the focus of the entire marketing team is only on you and your business expansion. In-house marketing, as one solution, can bring you results in a shorter time frame, because all hands are on deck.
Easier communication and information exchange
The value of communication is essential when it comes to marketing, as in any other creative process. Information exchange and brainstorming over ideas happen much easier and more effectively if there are no obstacles or feedback delays. Collaboration and fast traveling information, as well as close teamwork, are one more benefit of in-house marketing.
In in-house marketing the whole team is in one place, they can talk, exchange ideas, communicate and collaborate without any distractions. And one more important fact – they all possess in-depth knowledge of your product/service, which makes the job much easier.
Easier access and data security
When you have an in-house marketing team that narrows the possibility of data abuse and helps keep your important data secure within the company. If your marketing team handles all your activities, there’s no need for you to share company data with a third party for any reason. Companies’ data security is an important advantage of in-house marketing.
Access to data is also much easier and more approachable with an in-house marketing team. Depending on the tool you use, you can provide access to your data to employees you choose and change that when the need arises.
Deeper knowledge of the brand and product
One of the benefits of an in-house marketing and design team is that your team members develop a deeper understanding of your brand, your mission and vision, products or services, customers’ needs, and target audience. To be efficient, marketing requires extended research and comprehension skills. Therefore, ensuring that this knowledge remains within your “walls” can help you improve your product/service offerings as well as your overall brand image.
What Are the Benefits of Outsourcing and Hiring a Marketing Agency?
Although in-house marketing has its benefits and the pace that companies need, it is still important to review the benefits of outsourcing and collaborating with marketing agencies. Let’s see why.
Fresh Ideas in the House
Your marketing strategy can be very well conceived and without any flaws. But, this perception can be distorted, and the reason for that is that it is only been reviewed by your internal marketing team. When one time does similar tasks for a long period of time, they can lose the “edge” in perceiving their own work. Or, they can run out of new and exciting ideas.
That situation can create gaps in your marketing strategy or plan. What you need in situation like that is a fresh pair of eyes and a new perspective. And that is the time and situation when you should consider including a marketing agency, especially those where the experts have substantial experience in the marketing field and particular industry you represent. Marketing agency experts can bring you a whole new perspective on things and ways you’ve done it before and see potential where you couldn’t find it. Fresh ideas will bring new energy to your marketing strategy and will fill those gaps we mentioned.
Deep Knowledge of Industry and Best and Proven Marketing Practices
We need to emphasize that specialized marketing agencies have extensive knowledge and experience, built on many decades of experience. But, marketing experts with decades of industry experience might be difficult to mix properly with an in-house team, and that can be a challenge. Well-established and properly delegated tasks, open channels of communication, and teamwork are essential in this combination.
Advice: When you decide to hire external marketing experts – do this by hiring an agency with proven records of success in an industry you represent.
Larger Skill Sets
The level of expertise of the in-house marketing team can be limited. And at some point that can become a problem. An established and certified marketing agency brings a wide range of skills in its arsenal, including SEO, PPC, Google ads, content creation and editing, backlinking, social media management, advertising campaign management, and much more. By hiring a professional marketing agency like Monument SEO & Design, all these assets will be at your disposal.
Agencies are good elaborated machines that have experts in the various and specific areas of marketing, required to bring your goals to fruition. If you aim high with your business goals, this is an opportunity that you really should exploit.
Delegate and Release Yourself from Stress
Marketing activities require a lot of time, attention, and energy. Not to mention that the digital marketing field is one that’s evolving on a daily basis and you need to be up to date with all new trends and practices and know how to implement them in your marketing strategy. That can be a lot.
By hiring an experienced marketing agency, you can unburden yourself and let the experts do what they know best. Also, agencies often provide short-term and/or on-demand support for specific topics and tasks. This kind of support grants your team the opportunity to improve flexibility and focus on other more productive tasks that are within your areas of expertise.
