Is it good different, or is it bad different? We think it might be good different. Either way, there’s been a shift. Businesses like to do their own thing and that seems to be the recent trend with marketing. They’re taking it internally, and however disgusting that sounds, it’s happening.
We think that’s for a few reasons. Companies want more control, and who doesn’t want more of that in their life? Lack of control makes us feel pretty bad, it’s something that causes repercussions further down the line.
That’s what our therapists have said. Yes, we’ve seen more than one.
Organisations are hiring their own specialists so they can watch them with close, scrutinising eyes. Then there’s the ever-changing budgets. The hard cuts that force businesses into taking work in-house, despite not knowing how well that will go, and actually how much money will be saved in the long term.
Probably. We’ll likely be forced out onto the streets, begging for a strategy or campaign – anything!
We’re (sort of) joking but we shouldn’t get complacent. Change happens and we need to adapt and meet the new priorities of our clients.
That sounded sincere, right? Reading that back makes us sound a little like we didn’t mean it but we do.
That’s what TIN ROBOT is mostly about, changing and growing with the client (or scaling, if you like that better).
Using an agency will probably save you some time, along with a few shillings here and there. Wasted time learning what it is a marketing agency does costs you cash. You’ll be playing catch up and that saps your resources. Never take for granted the power of delegation. Handing your marketing over to people that have the right experience and cross-industry knowledge sure takes a weight off.
You don’t have complete control and if you’re a control freak, this might induce anxiety. There’s a possibility you’re paying a huge wedge for services you don’t need. An agency will not completely get your business either, because it isn’t theirs. The insider knowledge of how you work might be the biggest thing you value.
If you like to keep all aspects of your business close, the in-house route could be a great option. You get full control and no one knows the organisation like you do. You’ve built relationships with your team and you have a clear working process. You can hire and train the disciplines you want and need.
You’ll need space and resources for your new marketing team. And you thought you’d be able to reduce costs! The initial outlay is pretty huge. That might include hiring new staff, buying new equipment, and maybe even finding new premises to house your new marketing department. Then there’s the time needed to train staff and set stuff up. To add some further pessimism, there will be gaps in your knowledge.
Yeah! That sounds too good to be true. But it is true, and good, you really can have it all.
You get the control, the insider knowledge, the senior level expertise, everything. And a much leaner, less-waste way of working.
But there’s another choice to make.
We know. Life gives us too many choices and sometimes you don’t want to have to make another but we’ve only got two for you to pick from.
You hire agency marketing managers to drive the strategy and your own team carry out the work.
What you get:
You get access to senior-level experts with a range of experience. That experience spans various disciplines. Your team will start to become familiar with how to go about planning a project and take it through to launch. This is about 20% of the overall marketing process. Everything else is the day-to-day running, all of which you can have your team handle.
These terms sound weird. We wanted to call them something else but then you probably wouldn’t know what we were talking about.
In this situation the strategy sits with your organisation. You handover to the agency to execute the work.
What you get:
You’ll have access to more disciplines. You can drive the in-house activity channel by channel, which gives you more control. Plug any holes of staff absence with your agency.
Both options are a kinda pay-as-you-go approach, and it moves you away from the full-time agency model. You pay for the services you actually want.
Now for the prep work, and you know how important that is. Don’t cut corners here.
If you fake tan over skin that hasn’t been properly exfoliated, patches happen. Patches are not a good thing in this metaphor.
Figure out a clear business objective. Do detailed work involving SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). That’s all about how your business sits within its environment. Make risk assessments. Create a clear handover so the agency is aware of what’s expected of them. Work out a CBA (Cost Benefit Analysis), look at the potential rewards and the costs associated with those rewards.
This is all about tailoring the agency to your business. It doesn’t have to be like the old days, you can have a pick-and-mix approach – and everyone loves a pick and mix!
Do you want an agency that can give you the best of both worlds? If you’re foaming at the mouth to taste some of that, get in touch.
