Marketing is amongst the leading functions which UK businesses either partially or fully entrust to an external partner.
But, why do so many companies and organisation choose outsourced marketing over employing an in-house team? What are the costs and benefits?
In our latest blog, we’ve taken a look at five common questions to consider when choosing to outsource your marketing:
1. What does outsourcing marketing mean?
Outsourcing marketing is a broad term which means using a third-party agency or expert to deliver any element of your marketing mix.
It can range from a single project or piece of marketing, to complete outsourcing of both your marketing strategy and all its delivery.
Outsourcing marketing can include:
- Strategic planning and market research
- Branding, messaging and positioning
- Digital marketing, including web development, PPC and SEO
- Content marketing, including press releases, blogs, videos and social media
- Creative design for digital, print and exhibitions
- Analytics, optimisations and reporting
As a full service B2B marketing agency, our own experience is primarily with medium sized companies making a choice between hiring a small team (e.g. a senior marketer and marketing executive or two) or entrusting delivery of the majority of their marketing to us.
2. What is the cost of outsourcing your marketing?
As you might imagine, the cost of outsourcing some or all of your company’s marketing can depend on what and how much you need support with.
Outsourcing marketing has a few cost components:
Agency or consultant fees
These can be charged via an hourly rate, monthly retainer or project-based.
The cost depends on the scope and experience, with a solo consultant or freelancer typically costing less than a full service agency. Location can also influence costs, with London agencies often more expensive than those in areas such as East Anglia!
Many marketing agencies and experts charge by the hour. Whilst this is simple and easy to understand, it can result in unpredictable and higher costs.
Other agencies – like Full Mix Marketing – charge per project or, more commonly, a fixed monthly retainer. This includes the guarantee we will deliver all the marketing channels agreed (e.g. social media, SEO, content marketing) and includes the additional flexibility to help with ad hoc needs as they arise.
Third-party or media spend
Depending on the channels of marketing your strategy uses, they may incur additional third-party costs – most often for production or advertising.
Examples include the printing costs of brochures or leaflets or the costs of digital advertising (PPC) on platforms like Google and LinkedIn.
In business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing, this can be the biggest cost of marketing when advertising across TV, publications, online and social media etc.
However, for business-to-business (B2B) marketing, this tends to be a smaller cost as the channels used are more targeted.
Technology and tools
Software is an ever more common cost within marketing, though it is often regarded and budgeted as IT.
For example, many customer relationship management (CRM) tools, like HubSpot or Salesforce, provide ways to automate marketing in addition to storing and managing customer and sales data.
Other costs can include email software (enabling emails to be sent to large audiences) and analytical software for use with SEO, PPC and web development.
3. What is the value of outsourcing your marketing?
Companies choose to outsource their marketing to a skilled marketing agency based on an individual mix of benefits:
Access to wider expertise and an entire team
An experienced marketing agency can provide specialist skills in strategy, digital marketing, creativity, analytics and more.
For smaller businesses, a full service agency provides access to every facet of marketing. For larger businesses, it also provides the opportunity to easily scale the volume of your marketing as your needs grow.
Fresh perspectives and innovation
External marketing agencies can offer new ideas, outside references and creative approaches which an internal team might not have considered. This helps keep marketing fresh, innovative and competitive.
Many businesses suffer from ‘group-think’ where, despite situations changing, things continue as before because “That’s the ways we’ve always done it!” Even new people joining the team can end up thinking the same way.
Not so, with an external team…
By outsourcing, you get access to professionals who live and breathe marketing, often with experience of multiple industries from which you can benefit. As they remain external, they can also provide critical observations and advice which internal staff cannot.
Speed and flexibility
Rather than the time and cost required to hire and train an in-house marketing team, outsourcing lets you quickly scale up, try new marketing or shift focus – all without the headache of managing and equipping staff.
Cost savings
Outsourcing marketing can produce both short-term and long-term cost savings.
In the short-term, outsourcing your marketing can produce faster results than recruiting and onboarding new staff. Multi-channel marketing can commence within a matter of days, leading to a quicker success.
In the long-term, outsourcing enables an agency to deliver your marketing with greater efficiency. With specialist staff and streamlined processes, they can deliver quicker and better marketing. Unlike an internal team, they won’t be distracted by the day-to-day working or politics of your organisation.
Particularly in smaller businesses, outsourcing can avoid the costs of hiring full-time staff for tasks that are project-based, irregular or short-lived.
Focus on core business
This is perhaps one of the greatest benefits of outsourcing marketing.
Whilst many people have opinions about marketing, it is an increasingly specialised area in which experience and skills help to reduce risk and increase return-on-investment (ROI).
By delegating marketing to an external partner, you can free up internal time to focus on the product, service, operations and customer relationships which generate your company’s income.
Better results and ROI
The ultimate goal of all marketing is to increase sales revenue.
By outsourcing to experts, you can benefit from quicker, higher quality and more successful marketing – whilst avoiding being distracted by the pressures of managing a marketing team.
The result? A greater return-on-investment from your marketing spend.
4. How do you get the best from an outsourced marketing agency?
Having made the decision to outsource your company’s marketing to a full service marketing agency, there are a number of factors which can help maximise your success:
Look for experience and capacity
Identify a marketing agency which understands your sector. They do not need to have exact experience but should be able to demonstrate an understanding of similar industries, products, services and customer types.
If you predominantly operate B2B, make sure the agency are B2B specialists. Consumer marketing tactics rarely work.
Particularly if your marketing needs are undefined or might increase, ensure the marketing agency has skills and capacity in every area – from strategy to digital marketing, graphic design to content creation.
Establish your objectives and goals
Be open with your new marketing agency by sharing your objectives, experiences and any internal developments. The more information they have, the better results they can deliver.
Ensure your timescales are realistic and achievable, as results – especially within B2B marketing – can take a little longer than some might expect. Marketing is ephemeral and – just like an internal marketing team – it can take time to optimise the approach so it resonates with your audience. Have faith in your decisions and give your chosen marketing agency the space to deliver success.
Decide who will manage the relationship
Even if outsourcing, someone internally needs to be responsible for strategy alignment and communication.
The relationship is a partnership, so make sure your team are ready to support the marketing agency with the information, feedback and decision-making they need.
Maintain constant communication and have a regular formal catch up (we recommend monthly) to encourage two-way feedback.
5. How do you choose the best full service B2B marketing agency?
Outsourcing marketing can be one of the best investments for growing businesses.
When aligned with clear objectives, solid oversight and the right marketing agency, it offers access to expertise, speed and innovation that can be hard to reproduce in-house without higher costs.
At Full Mix Marketing, we’re a full service B2B marketing agency, specialising in delivering the full mix of strategic, digital and creative marketing for companies and organisations who provide products or services business-to-business (B2B).
We make it easy for our clients – in sectors including manufacturing, engineering, technology, logistics, construction and business services – to access and benefit from all the marketing they need for success.
If you’d like to explore outsourcing your marketing, we’d like to help. More information can be found here