Digithoughts

There are marketing teams in-house, and then there are marketing agencies. If you’re in-house, you’re concerned with developing ongoing campaigns and programs to exceed the past year’s bottom line -  revenue, awareness, you know the target. At an agency you’re tasked with developing innovative ideas that will enable your clients to pave the way as industry leaders, and support their day-to-day tasks to enhance their initiatives, effectively making their lives easier.  

Clients often ask: Why bring in an external agency when we can hire in-house? There are pros and cons to each, and here’s what a marketing manager should consider before making a decision

In-house
Working in-house provides an immersive full-circle brand experience where it’s easier to gain access to a plethora of content, including quotes from internal members and upcoming breaking news. While the execution of certain technical tasks may be outsourced, working inter-departmentally to align ideas and develop cohesive campaigns is often simplified - and critical to success.  

Working within a company provides streamlined access to content in real-time, enabling social content production at a more rapid pace, from the development to approval process. Digitaria supports these efforts by utilizing brand-centric content in a story-like format to resonate with the end consumer.

Agency Life
In the fast-paced agency life, brands have access to collective groups. While team members and point of contacts may be involved in day-to-day activities, their engagement in other agency initiatives allow them to be more open-minded, which often results in innovative thinking with a fresh approach.

At Digitaria, we have the opportunity to work with various specialized groups - analytics, creative, web development. We sit in the same room and construct meaningful campaigns that are forward-thinking and flow smoothly, exceeding expectations and business goals. From a clients’ perspective, being able to actually sit around a table and ensure all parties are on the same page in executing certain initiatives is critical, and certainly the benefit of working with one external group to achieve multiple goals.

Resources
The ability to scale up and down accordingly is important for brands, especially when executing and monitoring campaigns.

For example, Digitaria usually monitors events in real-time, mining conversations across the web to ensure customer questions are answered and red flags are addressed appropriately.  While our clients can certainly take on this task in-house, they are often busy preparing for events and supporting on-site activities, and therefore don’t have the ability to play community manager in real-time. However, relying on a community manager that knows your brand, understands your tone, how customers need to be addressed, and the importance of interacting in real-time -- this is where true value comes in, and often supports what is occurring on-site at these events to drive success.

While both have their advantages, a healthy mix of internal and external resources will produce the most effective ongoing social strategy, execution and ability to meet and exceed the brand’s bottom line.

Stephanie Shkolnik Social Media Strategist

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