For some reason, B2B businesses tend to want to do everything themselves, and that includes marketing. Some assume that their strategy is working because they’re getting clients, but they might not know how much they’re missing.
They might also not have a good system in place to monitor their results and see how they’re actually performing. This is why you should consider working with an agency in certain cases. But when? Let’s take a look and when you should go DIY or work with outside experts for your B2B marketing.
Do You Have Enough In-House Expertise?
You might have a marketing team, and they might be good at what they do, but they may not have the expertise you specifically need. Working with someone in-house to perform a task even if they’re not qualified or experience could lead to time and money lost. You could’ve worked with someone who’s qualified instead and have it done right the first time. It’s all about evaluating the cost-benefit of choosing an in-house worker and the risk that comes with it.
How Much Time and Resources Do You Have?
One of the biggest benefits of outsourcing your marketing is that you won’t have to train people in-house to do so. It’s also very hard to find people that have the right mix of analytical skills and creative skills needed to be an effective marketing team member.
With an outsourced team, all that work has been done for you. A good specialty b2b marketing agency will have the expertise needed to deal with a much wider scope of projects that the average B2B business. Training your employees could be an alternative, but a costly and not particularly efficient one.
Hiring and finding talent is extremely costly, and it’s hit or miss. One study by Deloitte found that it costs $4,000 on average to fill one position, not to mention all the time wasted screening resumes and interviewing potential candidates.
How Important is Control and Intellectual Property to You?
While it’s often the better option, outsourcing is not perfect. The one biggest flaw is that you are giving control away to a third party. Also, one thing about training your employees is that their expertise will stay in your company as long as they’re there.
Expertise is an asset, and if you don’t have issues retaining employees, training can be a good investment. However, for the short term, outsourcing is ideal. Even if you want to train your employees, outsourcing most of the marketing work allows your employee to focus on the necessary training without feeling the pressure.
How Nimble Do You Need to Be?
Outsourcing allows you to free up your HR department and payroll. You also won’t have to worry as much about building a competitive benefits package, and you won’t need as much space to operate. This is the perfect solution for businesses that want to keep things as lean as possible.
Choosing between going in-house or outsourcing your marketing can sometimes be difficult. You have to look at the specific needs and resources in your organization and if you could benefit from outside help.
Interesting related article: “What is Business-to-Business?“