Outsourcing digital marketing becoming a concern
Data insights and analytics for marketing continue to rise in popularity and importance. In ten years, marketing without data will be like brushing your teeth without toothpaste. Ridiculous. As a result, organisations are asking whether they should outsource digital marketing or build their own data teams.
The insource vs outsource debate is nothing new. Organisations have spent the last 20 years yo-yoing between this concept for several business functions from finance to IT. However, given the rise in data as a critical tool to inform strategic marketing decisions, organisations are yet again contemplating their next steps.
As a digital marketing consultancy that considers ourselves as our client’s marketing “data brain”, we have a vested interest. Therefore, we will try to be as impartial as possible (promise!).
The case for insourcing
While it can be tempting to outsource digital marketing, so you don’t have to think about it, building internal capabilities has many benefits.
One benefit includes avoiding the dreaded “brain drain”, often accompanied by hiring marketing consultants. What happens when that SEO wizard leaves with the marketing consultancy you hired?
Often, we see clients who have hired a digital marketing agency only to feel isolated once they leave. However, people will leave your organisation too. Unless you master succession planning, this can be an issue even if you build an internal marketing team.
Insourcing can also enable organisations to build digital teams within their image and culture. It is unlikely you will find a digital marketing consultancy that can understand your organisation as well as you. That’s why at Antlerzz, we specialise in health and help upskill our clients in digital marketing while respecting they are the experts of their organisation.
Keeping your marketing digital insights insourced also facilitates greater control. You can determine who you hire and avoid agencies that may harm your rankings by generating AI content or buying fake followers.
It can provide a competitive advantage because competitors cannot replicate your content strategy or off-page strategy.
Nevertheless, employees often leave to join competitors. Therefore, it is not a foolproof strategy. However, it does provide greater control and may help drive your strategic digital marketing.
The case for outsourcing digital marketing
Cost and flexibility are often important factors for clients when outsourcing digital marketing. Great digital marketers are in demand worldwide. This trend will continue as online competition increases with the emergence of AI search engines and multichannel SEO.
The result is permanent employees are becoming more expensive to hire. The average UK salary is approximately between £27.5k and £31.5k. Even if we take the lower end of that estimation and factor in recruitment costs, training, National Insurance, office space, software licences, bonuses, sick days, etc., the cost is almost double at £53k.
When you consider a good digital marketeer will cost considerably more, the total cost of one person can total over £100k per year. That’s before you have even factored in building or licencing marketing tools such as AI copywriting assistants or AI chatbots.
As a result, working with a digital marketing consultancy like Antlerzz is beneficial when trying to meet your organisation’s changing demands. For example, during the pandemic, many organisations needed to prioritise budgets.
Outsourced digital marketing offers fresh perspectives.
Furthermore, whilst the cost above was for just one person, outsourced digital marketing gives you access to a team of people. As a result, you can quickly access vast industry-wide experience.
Digital marketing consultancy firms like Antlerzz provide a unique opportunity to gain an outside perspective. You can learn what industry best practices look like from people who work with multiple clients.
For instance, at Antlerzz, we work exclusively with health brands. Consequently, we understand what works and what doesn’t in the industry.
Take, for example, the longevity supplement NMN. While interest in NMN has risen 480%, ranking for the term is difficult. As a result, we understand what related topics people might look for, like NAD+.
However, there are many different digital marketing consultancies. It is crucial to identify the best marketing agency for you. Moreover, with AI transforming online marketing, it’s critical you work with a partner abreast of the latest developments. We already seeing a seismic change.
Consequently, the best agencies understand how to build an effective niche on Instagram to drive the algorithms and drive views and engagement. Moreover, they understand how entity SEO and topical authority optimisation and crucial to the future of AI search engines. This includes optimising for AEO and Google Overviews.
To avoid losing knowledge, you should find a digital marketing consultancy aligned to your strategic goals and empowers your team
Furthermore, many digital marketing consultancies use traditional consulting models and work with clients for a defined period. This approach is sensible for a well-defined project. However, it can also cause the brain drain phenomenon. At Antlerzz, we avoid this by offering digital marketing strategies. Consequently, we empower our clients and upskill them at the same time.
Outsourced digital marketing also offers convenience. Many clients want to focus on doing what they do best – marketing.
Working with a strategy agency enables organisations to avoid all the issues of building a team from scratch. We work closely with our clients so they get the benefits of having an internal team without the complexities of setting it up. We analyse all our data through the lenses of cognitive science, commercial insight, and technical analysis. These machines, methodologies, and techniques could take years to build and perfect.
So, which one is best?
As much as we would love to say outsourced digital marketing is best, this would be disingenuous. There is no correct option when contemplating whether to hire a digital marketing consultancy. The best option is dependent on your strategic objectives and capabilities.
At Antlerzz, we believe we can provide an unrivalled service that gives our clients greater control as we empower them to make decisions. Consequently, our clients feel like they are insourcing while receiving the full benefits of outsourcing their digital marketing capabilities.
0 Comments