There is a growing trend in which corporations are turning to full-service agencies as a replacement for internal marketing teams. In a recent conversation, we discussed why companies are moving in this direction, and how we, as an agency, can provide the kind of support this shift requires, and the strengths and weaknesses of this type of partnership. Ultimately, we came down to a few factors that we believe are necessary when making a shift to a full-service agency over an in-house marketing department/team. Those factors are industry knowledge, understanding of the business and sales integration, communication pathways, comprehensive strategic approach, and regular analysis for goals and metrics.
Industry knowledge is crucial to success in marketing any service, property, or product. As an agency, we have a few defined niche areas of expertise and a growing understanding of various industries that our clients operate within. In addition, our team members come from different backgrounds and bring their own expertise, which makes for a solid knowledge base across a wide range of industries. When we partner with a business to provide their outsourced marketing our first step is to assess their market position in their industry and understand how we can serve to improve it.
This assessment must also include a thorough understanding of their business. In essence, we feel it is important to build the ownership that would be present in an internal team with our external agency. This integral partnership approach allows us to see how their business development and sales integration hinge on our efforts and show us where we can add value to their business. As an agency, one of our core beliefs is that we must add value in as many ways as we can for our clients. This starts with us caring about their success as much as we care about our own, and recognizing that the value we bring should exceed that of an internal department.
Agency outsourcing is only as good as the communication pathways we create. When we onboard clients, we determine the best communication outlets and frequencies; we discuss the scope of work, deliverables, and terms of service. However, as a full-service agency, we also make it clear that we are their team, and we want to be able to serve them in any way we can. Often, this means our scope grows when needed to accommodate the new or growing needs of our clients’ businesses. This is where communication is key. We aren’t in everyday meetings, briefings, or on company email, but to be efficient, we need to know what is going on and how we can partner to make it work. From shared files to regular touchpoints and clear approval processes with specific shareholders, we aim to create a communication flow that reduces redundancy and increases efficiency whenever we can.
A comprehensive strategic approach is vital to the success of any marketing, period. A campaign is only as good as all its parts. This is especially true in an outsourced agency situation. Just as we aim to have knowledge of the industry and an in-depth understanding of our client’s business, we also must create a comprehensive strategy to ensure we have goals, clear messaging, and a plan to reach market their business that will yield the best results. We dig into business development avenues, audiences, audience-specific messaging, assessment of current assets, deliverable needs, timelines and yearly flow, distribution methods for their messaging, metrics for success, and more. This strategy helps us define success and we revisit it on a regular basis to see if changes need to occur and how we can continue to improve and grow.
The analysis is how we gauge success. In marketing, there are short and long-term goals; there are loads of numbers, metrics, and algorithms that we must understand and work within to determine success. Our clients don’t need to dig into all these because that is our job as their marketers. However, they do need to be able to understand how successful our efforts are and if their investment is yielding results. Results are always goal-oriented and where one business might be aiming for more followers and interaction on social media, another may need website traffic to increase, and yet another only cares if the phone rings and meetings are booked. Clear goals allow us to create tactics in our marketing efforts to reach them. When the goals change the approach must as well. This is why we frequently revisit the goals in our strategy and look at the metrics surrounding those goals to ensure the approach is working.
As more and more corporations and businesses look to outsource their marketing department and teams to full-service agencies, they must ensure that the agency they choose will, in fact, be the right replacement option. We have, unfortunately, heard about many of these failures and found that it came down to one of the above factors not being present in their partnership. If you are looking to change your structure and outsource marketing we hope you have found this informative in your decision-making process. If you are looking for a full-service agency we are always happy to discuss your needs and determine if we are the right fit or try and point you to someone who is. In the end, we want to partner with and be the right kind of partner for the clients we serve, bringing value wherever we can.
