The age-old question, should you hire an outsource or consider in-house? A recurring question has been crossing the path of every construction business, especially this 2022. It is already proven that any construction company greatly benefits from digital marketing efforts. However, this is not everyone’s forte, right? Yet you choose to invest in a marketing team and are torn on whether you want to build an in-house team or perhaps hire an outsource from a marketing agency.
Read this blog to find out what’s best for your marketing needs.
In-House or Outsource: Important Questions You Need to Ask First
Construction marketing is becoming a strong pillar in your marketing strategy. Hence, there is no doubt it has to be managed one way or another. So, who handles your digital marketing? Here are some questions you must ask first when choosing whether to outsource or in-house for your construction marketing needs.
1. Who has the skills?
Digital marketing agencies are most likely to employ a lot of individuals who are experts in one aspect of marketing. Collectively, agencies like them can generally offer better marketing strategies compared to an in-house team. There are also some top agencies that specialize in digital marketing for a specific industry, including construction. A lot of construction companies nowadays hire marketing staff from other agencies. The ability to tap an outsider with expertise in your construction industry can be invaluable in many cases.
Advantage: Outsource
2. Who has the tools?
There are tons of marketing tools nowadays that are low-cost or free! And some tools cost more yet can significantly provide more data and insights about the people who are viewing the integrations, marketing, automation, and more.
By partnering with a digital marketing agency, you can access these techs for less cost compared to buying them. However, if your digital marketing campaign only focuses on web development and popular social media sites, a marketing agency loses that advantage compared to an in-house marketing team. It depends on your marketing needs. You can choose one way or another.
Advantage: Outsource
3. What Do They Know?
An in-house marketing team breaths and live your construction company forty hours per week. They understand your service, products, culture, market, clients, etc. A digital marketing agency has other clients and only spends some time learning and promoting your business. A digital marketing agency can take more time to fully understand your construction company and appreciate its unique vision.
Advantage: In-House
4. A World Away or Across the Hall?
Having a much better understanding of your construction company is having greater access to company files and personnel. In many cases, an in-house team can easily and quickly reach other company staff compared to a marketing agency. Also, face-to-face meetings are most likely effective than phone calls and emails.
Advantage: In-house
5. Are your marketing and sales aligned?
One of the core motivations for investing in digital marketing is to drive more sales. If your sales and marketing efforts are not functioning, you are wasting marketing dollars, thus, losing sales. When you choose to build an in-house marketing team, your team tends to understand marketing and sales initiatives better. In addition, they work more closely and collaboratively with your sales team than a digital marketing agency can.
Advantage: In-house
6. Who is the most creative?
Digital marketing agencies make a point of being extra aware of the latest marketing trends. And their capability to compete within their market space relies on how knowledgeable they are on what is new and what works well. Most companies today do not put that same kind of investment in it. An in-house marketing team is only as good as you build them. They will probably stagnate over time.
Advantage: Outsource
7. Who is the quickest draw?
Since the in-house team has much better access to company details, this often leads to having tasks completed more quickly. However, in-house marketing may bog down in daily activities that do not do with marketing. So, activities related to big-campaign, long-term marketing initiatives can get delayed.
Marketing agencies do not have these types of distractions. It only shows they are more likely to deliver on these marketing initiatives.
Advantage: Tie
8. Who hits the wallet the hardest?
If your marketing budget is small, hiring a marketing agency can be expensive. However, they can drive value when you want to take advantage of the latest marketing technologies or multiple marketing channels.
As for employees, they can be expensive too – office, salary, benefits, phone, computer, etc. Outsourcing allows you to pay for services only when necessary instead of the fixed ongoing costs of employment.
Advantage: Outsource
On Building In-House Team
Let’s see what the advantages of building your in-house team and the things to consider when picking between the two:
Benefits:
- Cost: One advantage of building in-house is the flexibility of your costs and the freedom. There are no additional costs. In fact, you can re-strategize and try new ideas and tactics without worrying about gaining costs. You can also be budget smart.
- Control: With building in-house, you will have complete control of your construction marketing, straight to the nitty-gritty of your campaigns. Also, it gives you a quick reaction rate. Any strategy adjustments and changes can be made instantly without needing to depend and wait on another company to do it for you.
- Culture: When the marketing is done in-house, the company culture will be easier to convey to your clients. There is a more direct approach to connecting with clients without the middleman.
Things to Consider:
- Time: It is a significant factor when building a team. How long will it take for an in-house team to start working? Training your people and onboarding them can be challenging and take a lot of time and resources.
Outsourcing to an Agency – Benefits and Things to Consider
Benefits:
- Creativity: An external team provides a unique perspective and approach not influenced by any internal company politics. A construction marketing agency is most likely to push the limits with their creativity, which can benefit your outcomes. Meanwhile, in-house marketing can suppress by taking the “safer” approach.
- Networks and Channels: A construction marketing agency knows many other businesses and agencies within the industry. Using the network itself saves time when looking for help with something. In most cases, referrals are trusted experts and perfectly suitable, so there is no worry about finding the proper help.
- Low Time Commitment: A huge benefit of outsourcing to a digital marketing agency is the low-time commitment. You can be just honest with them on what outcomes you want and they will get on with it. Of course, the agency will need your approval before anything can go out for the world to see. However, this will be less time-consuming than carrying out the tasks yourself.
- Monthly Reporting: With a digital marketing agency, you will get monthly reports showing you the results and work. For instance, on your blog content creation, they will show you precisely what has worked and what has not, advising you on what can be altered. This only shows how well the strategies and campaigns progress towards your target marketing goals.
- Expert Data Analysis: A marketing agency knows exactly what metrics to keep track of and the strategies to improve and optimize them. Experts are behind this, analyzing the metrics daily to understand and adjust campaigns and strategies when required fully.
Things to Consider:
- Cost: Of course, with specialized help, expect that there will be a cost to it. While outsourcing might look costly in the short term, the larger picture may prove otherwise. When partnering with an agency, you would not just pay for work on one campaign. In many cases, it will be multiple, targeting different channels and using many strategies.
- The Right Fit: The one thing you should consider is if the marketing agency you are looking to outsource to is the right one for your construction business? Is it a specialized agency or a full-service one? There are a lot of digital marketing agencies out there that provide different services. Since your business is construction, the right fit for you is a construction marketing agency, like ConstructionMarketing.io.
About ConstructionMarketing.io
It’s already 2022! And if your construction company is not pulling your weight and you need extra manpower to drive your marketing strategy, you might need us! We are your solution. We have a strong background in construction, and we work exclusively with contractors and construction professionals. Our expertise in helping contractors share their message thru digital marketing, content creation, and branding development helps them advance to the next level. We offer various digital marketing services, starting from Local SEO, Keyword Research, custom blog articles, Web design, Google My Business, etc.
See how ConstructionMarketing.io increases your sales and reputation, reduces marketing costs, and distinguishes your brand in your industry. Contact us today, let’s begin dominating the web and learn more about our service offerings.