Like everything else in life, everyone has an opinion on whether it’s best to insource or outsource digital marketing. Proponents of insourcing will tell you that you need to keep control of your digital marketing and you can only do that in-house. Or they may point to the cost of outsourcing and claim that you can do it cheaper yourself.
Those who like outsourcing will point out how it frees up your time to focus on pressing business issues. They may refer to the timeless and true saying that “time is money” or discuss the costs you’ll incur by hiring someone.
These are all valid points. The bottom line is that there’s no “right” way to manage your digital marketing campaign. There’s only the way that’s best for your company.
“There’s no ‘right’ way to manage your digital marketing campaign. There’s only the way that’s best for your company.” –Stoney deGeyterThe question is, how do you figure out what the “best way” is? We mentioned the 3 major issues above:
- Your time. Not just how much of it you have but how it would be best spent.
- The cost. Is it more cost-efficient to do it in-house or outsource?
- Control. How much control do you want/need to have over your campaign.
But within each of those issues, several more questions come up. And even if you can definitively say right now that you want to keep it in-house or you’re sure you want to outsource, there are different ways to go about both methods. If you insource, will you do it all yourself? Task someone else in-house? Hire someone? Or maybe you’ll take on some of the work while offloading the rest to someone else. Similarly, when outsourcing, you could choose an agency or a consultant (they are NOT the same). And how do you pick the best one of either?
Suffice to say, this isn’t an easy decision you can just make overnight. It will take careful consideration.
We just created a resource that can help you with this important decision-making process: The free ebook “55 Questions You Must Ask Before Deciding Whether to Insource or Outsource Digital Marketing.” It contains questions related to all the issues discussed in this post as well as an analysis of each question to help you answer them fully. By answering all the questions, you can confidently choose the right path for your company’s digital marketing campaign. Download Ebook Now
Whether you use the ebook or not, we again urge you to think carefully before you choose how to handle your digital marketing management. How you proceed can impact the success of your campaign and the future growth of your business.