The Case For Partnering with an Agency August 13, 2019, | Posted by erin

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With so many DIY tools for digital marketing in general and email marketing in particular, a lot of brands of all sizes have been bringing more of their online advertising efforts in-house. However, a recent study by the UK Data and Marketing Association (DMA, not to be confused with the Direct Marketing Association) finds that bringing more functions in-house comes with some pretty steep consequences: companies that have tried it reported an average 15% drop in productivity and an 11% decrease in creativity. While this report is specific to the UK, the results are likely to be similar in the US, so Site Impact wants to take a moment to make the case for partnering with an agency.

 

Agencies increase marketing productivity

The case for increased productivity is easy to make: every business, at some level, is constantly striving for increased productivity in any way it’s possible to achieve. What may be less intuitive is how working with an agency can increase the productivity in the marketing department: after all, if your marketing department isn’t actually doing certain marketing tasks, how are they going to be more productive? And how is adding people to the mix going to make more things happen more quickly? The trick with this is that an agency has specialists who know the ins and outs of each part of the process, where your in-house marketing team is mostly--of necessity--going to be comprised of generalists. It’s the factory format: instead of having a small group of people creating something from start to finish, you have a large group of people, all of whom are responsible for one piece--and all of whom are well-trained and highly skilled at that one piece. There’s no floundering around for subject lines when you have a copywriter who can hammer out a dozen of them in 15 minutes for approval. There’s no need for lengthy discussions on the creative when you have a talented group of graphic designers who can take a vague description and create multiple mockups for you to approve in a short timeframe. More gets done because it gets delegated to people who know how to do it, who do it all day.

 

Agencies increase your creativity

Creativity is absolutely vital in any marketing efforts, and it’s especially important in email. So how does partnering with an agency boost the creativity of your campaigns? On the most basic level, just bringing more people, and more perspectives, into the mix on its own increases the possibility of something really original being developed. Add to that the fact that the perspectives you’re bringing in are informed by a wide range of different campaigns past and present--and what has worked and what hasn’t--and you get a much richer pool of ideas and less time spent on blind groping for them. By partnering with an agency, you ensure that you cast as wide a net for ideas as possible.

 

While an 11% or 15% decrease in creativity or productivity may not seem all that significant, it can make a huge difference in your bottom line--getting more campaigns ready in a timely fashion, and creating better, more interesting campaigns, means that your brand gets more conversions, and that’s easy math. Contact Site Impact to learn how we can deliver for your business.