Will outsourcing transform your marketing communications processes?
It's common practice to contract agencies for capabilities that don't exist in-house – like branding or design – but these are typically one-off projects. With outsourcing, a marketing director makes the agency focus on results rather than on the process itself. Instead of instructing the agency how to do the work, the client specifies what it wants to achieve and lets the agency determine how to achieve those ends. The agency becomes directly (and contractually) accountable for success. Outsourcing offers a number of important business benefits:
Improved productivity
Through increased speed to market and contractual agreements that mandate shorter cycle times, more targeted localisation and increased output. By outsourcing, marketing directors have the skill set they need to be first in the market as new opportunities emerge without the limitations of in-house skill sets. A study conducted last year by Accenture found that executives frequently struggle to shorten the time it takes to create and launch a campaign. On average the campaign cycle time is 2.5 months, with a third of companies taking up between two and four months to launch.1 If your competitor can launch in two months but it takes you four, you are clearly at a disadvantage. Outsourcing levels the playing field.
Increased revenue
Marketing communications are essential tools to support the sales process. Ones that work well are effective in building a reputation and progressive relationships that ultimately lead to loyalty with customers. This is good for the revenue stream over time and contributes to the value of a client's brand, making the business more resilient in a downbeat market. Despite difficult operating conditions, global brands like Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Dell and BP increased in value according to the latest Interbrand Special Report for Business Week on the 100 top global brands. Outsourcing marketing communications offers potential to improve quality of results and take advantage of process efficiencies within a more scaleable and more controlled cost structure.…
Learn more
