At Raven Creative, we’ve all worked on an in-house marketing team, some of us even as an in-house team of one. And we know that sometimes, you just need some fresh, external perspective (and extra hands) to take your hard-working team’s marketing strategy to the next level.
In-House Marketing Team vs. Outsourced Marketing Support
An in-house marketing team is a group of individuals that work for a single company. With an in-house team, you either hire more members, each with a specialized skill, or a team of generalists with a breadth of skills. This team can be comprised of Graphic Designers, SEO Specialists, Social Media Managers, Content Strategists, Web Developers and Marketing Managers, to name a few. In a growing business, it’s not always feasible to hire an entire team to run your marketing efforts. This is where an agency can complement your business through an established group of subject matter experts ready to hit the ground running.
If you are considering partnering with a marketing agency to grow your business, then you have probably asked yourself the following question: Is it best to keep marketing in-house, or look to a third party for support? Maybe it makes sense for your company to enlist the help of an agency for big-picture projects, such as designing a new website or guiding your SEO/SEM initiatives. Or maybe your business needs continuous support from outside talent to help you get it all done while your focus is elsewhere.
In our experience, a union of the two can yield powerful results. Here’s why:
Breadth of expertise meets subject matter expertise
Marketing agencies can provide your in-house group with direct access to a wide range of skillsets you might not have on your existing team, such as web development, graphic design and digital ad management. Agencies also invest in a multitude of technological subscriptions and services to provide your in-house team with all the bells and whistles that might not be in your current budget.
On the flipside, with unmatched subject matter expertise and internal insight, in-house managers provide an agency with clear and direct lines of communication with their company. In-house teams also help agencies better understand their company culture and provide industry-specific knowledge that comes from working within an organization.
With your power-house internal team committed to your company’s success, they are undoubtedly pulled in different directions throughout the year as priorities shift. Agencies offer a deep bench of seasoned experts, ready to jump in when and where you need it most and can offer the manpower necessary for quick turnaround time on projects.
The bottom line
Ultimately, agencies exist to help your business achieve its marketing goals. They bring with them first-hand insights into best practices, emerging trends and a network of industry peers such as PR firms, video production firms, and printers to stay on top of new techniques that help get you where you want to be faster and more efficiently.
Being a healthy business means having a firm grasp of where you’re doing well and where there’s room for improvement. Realizing the power of pairing industry-specific knowledge from an in-house team with the technology and manpower behind a marketing agency is a recipe for total marketing success. Quality results happen when incredible communication, intentional partnerships and a lot of elbow grease come together.