Agencies & Outsourcing

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Outsourcing to agencies and freelancers is commonplace to ensure a business has coverage across key marketing functions.

Comparison vs hiring an employee

Benefits

  • Faster ramp-up and onboarding time
  • No impact on team headcount and associated HR restrictions
  • Scales more easily based on workload
  • More likely to Introduce innovative ideas and trends from the wider industry

Drawbacks

  • Learnings and knowledge doesn’t entirely stay in the business
  • More costly than hiring a staff for the same amount of output
  • Administrative hurdles with sharing systems and data access

Outsourced Functions & Roles

CMO/Head of Marketing: Fractional CMOs can provide marketing expertise to small businesses with limited headcount.

Digital: Paid Media and SEO are commonly outsourced to digital agencies, especially if the channel budgets are too low for a full time role. Some media and full service agencies will also offer this service.

Web Development: Depending on the website’s complexity, the agency that built the initial website commonly handles this. The agency can also work with IT departments to host and set up domains.

Design & Creative: Agencies can produce design and creative assets for marketing activities such as images, sales material and photo sets. They can also design multi-purpose templates for internal staff members to reuse. Creative agencies can specifically ideate new concepts for major campaigns.

Rolling out assets via a production focused agency can be more cost effective than relying on a single agency for both concept and production. However, consider the additional effort necessary to co-ordination between the agencies.

Content: These agencies can produce assets such as videos, case studies, articles or whitepapers. They can also develop a content strategy based on your business needs.

PR: Local agencies can provide specific journalist and media connections for optimal reach 

Analytics: Analytics agencies provide marketing and web analytics support via tools such as self-service dashboards or reports. They can also support broader, more complex data analysis requests by businesses.

MarTech: Agencies with platform specialisation are used for implementation, enhancement and troubleshooting projects. Common MarTech agency specialisations include Salesforce, Hubspot, Marketo etc. 

Media Buying: Almost all companies will outsource this to media agencies, as it’s not practical to run a media buying function internally. Simple direct to publisher buys (Eg smaller niche publications) can be managed in-house as an alternative solution.

Qualities you want in an agency

  • Appropriate size agency for your company and workload required
  • Expertise in the field and delivers results 
  • A partner to your business, not a hands-off vendor that constantly tries to upsell services
  • Educates your business on the latest marketing trends
  • Provides a counterpoint or pushes back on your requests with suggestions that consider business requirements
  • Previous experience with clients in a similar vertical/industry – nice to have
  • Robust budget reconciliation and invoicing system – specifically for media agencies
  • Positive vibes – life is too short to work with grumpy agency folks

Note that the client and agency are both responsible for ensuring a productive business relationship, especially past the initial honeymoon period. The best work is produced with consistent feedback and collaboration between both parties. 

Commercial Models

Multiple commercial models exist for agencies and freelancers, with the work involved and length of engagement determining the ideal model. Some agencies will only accept specific models if they represent low commercial risk.

Retainer: Ideal for long term engagements with a clear scope of work. They provide budget stability whilst having a longer ‘notice period’ for contract termination. 

Hourly Rate: More cost effective than a retainer when workload fluctuates across a period of time. Structure and communication around upcoming work can reduce unexpected cost blowouts.

Project Basis: Best used for one off projects and initiatives such as platform implementation, individual campaigns or work with clear completion criteria.

Percentage Of Media: Common for media buying activities. The fee percentage usually scales down as the budget increases. It is sometimes combined with a fixed retainer fee to ensure the agency is covered.

Performance Basis: Agency compensation is based on the volume of leads or sales generated, which incentivises them to maximise performance on your account. It is an uncommon model that’s effective when there’s high, predictable conversion volume

Common Challenges & Causes

Cost Blowouts

  • Scope creep from a lack of understanding or agreement on the work required 
  • Poor budget reconciliation and tracking processes
  • Using an agency that services clients paying significantly more for the same services that you need. You don’t need (and can’t afford) agencies like R/GA or The Monkeys if you have a low marketing budget.

Low Quality or Wrong Work Output

  • The brief didn’t reflect the business requirements or changes were not communicated
  • Unrealistic deadlines imposed by the client
  • Poor QA process on the agency or client side
  • Agency doesn’t have the right talent, industry expertise or resources to perform the work 
  • Poor communication – see below

Poor Communication (or feeling of)

  • No kickoff meeting with key stakeholders for initial alignment
  • Lack of consistent weekly, monthly or quarterly WIPs
  • Not providing timely client feedback for work in progress
  • Inconsistent reporting structure and processes
  • Instability with agency team members on the account
  • Missing Asynchronous communication structure for teams in different timezones

Example Agencies & Resources

The following list does not endorse their services, but provides examples to help you find similar providers that fit your needs.

The easiest way to find quality agencies is to ask for referrals from your network.

Media Buying

MarTech

Digital

PR

Analytics

Content

Design & Creative

Web Development

Hey there.

My main goal for this website is to provide an information hub for Australian marketers looking to learn about the various topics and concepts in the field.

Given that marketing is in constant flux, tactics and strategies that drive results today may not be as effective tomorrow. My approach is not to be a comprehensive source of information, but a bridge to many other websites and experts in the field for further exploration.

My thoughts are based on my own experiences and learnings from other marketing peers over the last 10+ years. Your mileage may vary.

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