Deciding to Outsource Digital Marketing or Keep it In-House

It is undoubtedly one of the most important decisions you will make. Your next steps will determine the success of your efforts and your company's growth.

The problem is that most people who wish to help you have an agenda: to sell their outsourcing marketing services. Today, however, I'm going to turn that idea on its head. I don’t think you have just one decision to make.

As a business and digital marketing consultant, I think you have several decisions to make. Each role or function within the digital marketing team must be evaluated on its merit.

Additionally, the best answers for every organization will differ if you are truly trying to support their unique goals and needs.

Instead of giving you a list or detailing the pros and cons of outsourcing, I will show you how to make a strategic and informed decision for each case.

Five Questions to Help You Decide if Outsourcing a Digital Marketing Position is Right for You

My background in business has allowed me to build digital marketing strategies and teams that are tailored to the needs of an organization. This is how you can do it: Ask yourself these five questions about each role that you are considering outsourcing or in-house.

1. Does your internal team possess the necessary skills?

Learn about the job and the skills required to perform digital marketing tasks. Start by making a list of these skills. Consider how difficult it would be to find someone who has these skills if your team does not have them.

You may be able, for example, to determine whether someone can write, but do your background and education allow you to evaluate whether an SEO writer is capable of writing for search engines?

If you are unable to judge accurately, or if you cannot easily hire someone who is capable of performing the job, outsourcing is usually a better option.

There is one caveat to this: Sometimes, you will need an "insider" who can understand what's going on within your company every day. Before you settle on outsourcing as your solution, consider whether you need someone with a pulse on your company and, if so, if it’s possible for an outsourced provider to have one.

2. Do your employees have the tools they need to be effective?

If you decide to keep the job in-house, make a list. Think of "tools" as a broad term. For example, an in-house writer will require a workstation and some software. This will be required by an in-house video production crew, as well as recording equipment, props, and editing software.

Although you might be able to get a writer to work in-house, it is likely that purchasing all the tools your video production team will require quickly becomes expensive. It may be cheaper to hire someone with the right tools than to purchase them if you don't own the tools.

3. Is your internal team able to manage the role effectively?

Next, consider how long it takes to do the job well. It may be necessary to do some research in order to determine how long it takes. You might think that one of your team members could handle your email marketing.

You may already have the tools and skills that they have. Did you know that an average email campaign takes 12 hours to plan, implement, and maintain, with most companies running several campaigns per month? This will take time, and if your employees don't have the resources, they will be underperforming or burnt out quickly. If your marketing team isn't able to handle the task effectively, you will need to hire more staff or outsource it to another company.

4. Are you able to track the success of your role using KPIs?

Another consideration is how you will measure success in the role. How do you determine if your marketing professional is meeting their objectives? You should not be able to see the results of your digital marketing efforts if you aren't sure.

5. Have you done a cost analysis?

If all other things are equal, you should consider how much money you spend on digital marketing roles in-house as opposed to outsourcing. Outsourcing is often more cost-effective because the professional is specialized in the role and has the tools.

Your in-house team may be able to use cheap software to create explainer videos for marketing. However, if that's not what they do, they can easily spend a whole day doing something that a professional might spend an hour on.

Role-By–Role: Should You Outsource Digital Marketing or Keep it In-House?

Let's now put these five questions to use. Below I will break down the most popular digital marketing roles and help you decide whether you should outsource them or keep them in-house.

Copywriting

Copywriting is one of the few jobs that can be outsourced or retained in-house. The role was briefly mentioned earlier. This role requires very little in the way of tools, and success is dependent on the skills of the person performing it. Are you able to maintain your brand voice and create copy that people share? Do they have the time and ability to write quality copy? This role can be kept in-house if you are successful. It is possible to outsource if you are unable to find someone capable of meeting these goals.

Read the Deep Dive: Should You Outsource Copywriting or Keep it In-House?

Email Marketing

Email marketing, like copywriting, can take a variety of directions. This role requires the same skills as copywriting. It also requires a better understanding of sales processes and sales optimizations. Email marketing can be kept in-house if you have the right person to do this job and they are available for any questions.

Many email service providers also offer stats that can be used to gauge performance. This makes it easier to see if your team is reaching their goals. If your team isn't able to perform the tasks or has a lack of time, you can hire an external consultant.

Read the Deep Dive: Should You Outsource Email Marketing or Keep it In-House?

Social Media

Social media marketing is one of the most important roles you want to keep within your company. Here is where the cautionary tale in the first question comes into effect. You will be interacting with businesses and people on behalf of your social media person. They will not only manage the posts. They will be your brand's voice.

There will be times when the individual must make quick decisions about how to respond to questions, comments, and concerns from your audience. Your social media marketing professional needs to know the brand and its voice. They also need to be aware of what is happening within the company on a daily basis. This is not an easy task to do through outsourcing.

If your outsourcing partner has one person who is dedicated to your project and gets to know your brand enough to be able to provide consistency for your audience on social media and a pulse on it, then you can also outsource this role.

Read the Deep Dive: Should You Outsource Social Media Marketing or Keep it In-House?

Analytics

Analytics will be a key part of your business that you’ll probably want to keep in-house, too. This is a very specific role and may prove difficult to fill. However, your data is what enables all of your digital marketing efforts to align with business goals. This requires a keen understanding of the company's daily operations, as well as being available for any reporting requirements.

Read the Deep Dive:  Should You Outsource Your Digital Marketing Analytics or Keep it In-House?

Digital Marketing Management

You can outsource digital marketing management if you are hiring someone like me. If you don't have the budget, keep this crucial role in-house. What is the difference? Most outsourcing companies only meet with clients once or twice at the beginning of a project. They then create a strategy, explain what they are doing, and then execute their plan.

Already seeing the problem? Yes! You can’t effectively manage a company’s marketing if you don’t live and breathe that company every day. You’ll never understand its objectives, who its customers are, or what metrics to measure that way. You may not even know if your marketing plans are performing if you’re not tuned in. That’s exactly why I don’t just meet with the company.

While I was consulting and managing their digital marketing, I became a part of the team. Outsourcing digital marketing management to someone who does this can be a viable option. If not, you will need to fill the role in-house.

Read the Deep Dive: Should You Outsource Digital Marketing Management or Keep it In-House?

App and Website Development

It is usually best to outsource development projects. Outsourcing is a good option in this area because the field is highly specialized. You're unlikely to have an individual in your marketing team who has the necessary skills. Most projects require multiple types of development specialists, so it's better to hire a team than a single developer.

Additionally, you would need to buy a lot of expensive tools and only use them once -- during the initial build of your website or app. It would cost too much to have everything you need for a single project.

Read the Deep Dive: Should You Outsource Your Apps and Other Development Tasks or Keep Them In-House?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

It is a good idea to outsource SEO. As with development, SEO is usually performed by multiple specialists. Keyword research is performed by analysts, strategists, and on-page optimizers. It would be unreasonable to hire a whole team to do all of these tasks, especially when some of them don't have to be repeated.

People who are skilled in SEO will be able to perform it faster, more efficiently, and at a lower cost.

Read the Deep Dive: Should You Outsource Your SEO or Keep it In-House?

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

You will often get better results if you outsource PPC. It is possible to make costly mistakes with digital ads if you take the wrong path. Strong PPC professionals will have many skills. They can do customer research and keyword research and understand analytics and consumer behavior. The person must also be proficient in all ad platforms.

Although you might be able to hire someone to handle this task in-house, managing PPC for small and mid-sized companies isn't usually a full-time job. You could spend ten hours a week or ten hours a month. The amount of advertising you spend will affect the time investment.

But, let's say your in-house expert is only dedicating a small portion of their time to PPC. It's going to be difficult for them to keep up with the latest trends in PPC and continue to get you the results that you want from your investment.

Read the Deep Dive: Should You Outsource Your PPC or Keep it In-House?

Video Production

You can also outsource video production for the best results. High-quality videos require specialized equipment and expensive tools. While you can make simple explainer videos or slideshows with inexpensive software, your in-house staff will likely do it slower than a professional because they won’t be doing it as often, and it won’t have the same professional polish.

This means that you will pay more over the long term and not get the same results as you would otherwise. Video production is not usually done by one person. Writers, videographers, and animators are all necessary.

Making videos at home is a big undertaking and will not result in a high return on investment. Outsourcing is a good option if you plan to include videos as part of your digital marketing strategy.

Read the Deep Dive:  Should You Outsource Your Marketing Video Production or Keep it In-House?

How to Choose a Digital Marketing Agency or Partner

You're likely to have decided that outsourcing one or more of your marketing functions would benefit your business. For most business leaders, the natural step would be to find a digital agency that can handle all your marketing needs. You may be thinking this was the reason you made your decision. Take a moment to consider all the skills and resources needed to perform the job you are outsourcing. You can't take it all in.

You should not hire a digital marketing agency. Although many agencies offer many services, they aren't experts in all areas. They are a "Jack-of-all-trades, but master of none," as the old saying goes. If you have to outsource marketing because it is too difficult for you, don't let someone else do it. It's best to entrust the job to someone who can create the systems and find the right talent.

Get the Support You Need to Build a Digital Marketing Team That Strengthens Your Organization

Are you still unsure of the right path or overwhelmed by all that is involved with digital marketing? It's completely understandable. It's easy to lose yourself in the many options if it's not something you do every single day. It's what I do every single day, thankfully. I have helped Fortune 100 companies grow, taught college-level digital marketing, and taught Google Partners how to use Google's marketing platforms efficiently.

My passion is helping small businesses that want to grow to reach the next level by putting the right people in place and developing comprehensive digital marketing strategies that match the business goals. Contact me if you think this sounds like you.

You can also read this article on my website, Should You Outsource Digital Marketing or Keep it In-House?

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