INSIGHTS

When it comes to growing your business and achieving your goals, your design, brand and marketing are important investments both in terms of time and budget — yet it can be difficult to find the time and resources needed to develop and execute your marketing plans. Outsourcing one or more of your marketing functions to a good agency (us for example!) can result in many benefits — such as reduced overheads, and accessing talent with the latest tools and industry expertise.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is the practice of delegating work to third-parties who are not employed by your company — these could be freelancers, contractors, subcontractors, or other companies and agencies. You may either delegate tasks that are related to your business development (such as our brand, design and marketing services), or you might delegate work that you directly deliver to your clients, or both. It depends on your goals, budget and business structure.

Here are a few interesting stats about UK businesses that outsource their marketing:

• A survey in 2019 said that 42% of UK-based businesses don’t do their marketing in-house, with digital marketing being the least likely sub-category for companies to do themselves.
• A Hubspot report from 2019 revealed that more than two-thirds of B2B companies outsource some or more of their marketing.
• In a 2020 article by Marketing Gazette, one-third of companies that weren’t previously outsourcing their marketing said that they would consider doing so as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Who is outsourcing for?

Outsourcing is attractive to businesses that have limited resources, skills and time. Employing somebody in-house can be very costly, not just from their salary, but also taking into consideration the time and money spent training them, paying for their office space and equipment, payroll costs and other employee benefits. That’s not to mention the admin and HR around managing employees as well. By contrast, a business can simply just receive an invoice and project scope document, and then pay a fee to a contractor to deliver the required work.

There might also be an instance where a business has tried to recruit an employee but has struggled to find the right talent through this route. An experienced outside agency may be the perfect solution to step in, hit the ground running straight away and keep the project on track.

Benefits of outsourcing

1. Gain access to expert knowledge

Marketing has changed so much over the years and now needs many different skills to execute one campaign across channels. By outsourcing, you widen your resource and talent pool when needed without having to hire 5 different people.

2. Succeed, maybe even exceed your goals

From developing your brand identity, marketing collateral and redesigning your website, to social media planning, we are an extension of your team, taking your visions and transforming them into reality quickly and efficiently.

3. Fresh perspective and flexible skills when needed

We have a plethora of expertise but also have the advantage of an outside perspective. We can bring those creative ideas and collaborate without being burdened with internal issues. We bring unbiased views along with our skills that can be utilised when needed. Because you don’t pay our full wages, you can mix and match the teams’ skills as and when the campaign calls for them.

4. Reduce stress, late nights and the pressure of a stretched team

You’ll have a team of experts at your fingertips that won’t be bogged down by internal elements. We are also working on specific tasks within our skills that we are quick and efficient at. We take the workload from you and your team, meaning you can focus on the bigger picture without the bottleneck lists of tasks. We are here for when your project or campaign needs us. Remember, outsourcing shouldn’t be viewed as an expense but as an investment in the future success of your business.

How we can help

We’re an agency with a full team that brings a range of skills, experience, knowledge and resources from across many industries. We have over 20 years of experience in providing any service from branding, graphic design, traditional and digital marketing, email marketing, social media, video, website, content, SEO and paid advertising (PPC and social advertising). We can provide your business with one or more of these services, whatever your marketing requirements are.

Outsourcing is often more cost-effective than employing someone. However, even if you are on the lookout for the right marketing employee, we can fill that gap in the meantime. We can add the extra value of being your sounding board, challenge your ideas and bring new ideas to the table. We currently work with companies to be their ‘extended team’ to fully support their branding and marketing needs, whether that’s in the long or short term. We can offer retainer packages of 3 months, 6 months, or rolling months, depending on your needs.