HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY OUTSOURCE YOUR MARKETING · marketing agency, the easier it will be to find one. Assess your skills internally and how you want to use them – then look at your

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HOW TO SUCCESSFULLYOUTSOURCE YOUR MARKETING

Brand

Guideline development & updates

Brand guardian

Digital

Web/social media banners & assets

Website reporting & support

Email template coding

Email management

PowerPoints & presentations

Data management

Image sourcing & manipulation

WHAT DO YOU NEED YOUR OUTSOURCING PARTNER TO DELIVER?Here are some typical outsourced tasks:

The financial benefits of outsourcing are clear; no additional salaries, instant

access to a range of resources without additional overheads and reduced risk.

For you and your team, there’s high calibre skills on tap, a different perspective

from your internal team, a wider knowledge of your market and, if needed, an

outside influencer who can drive up your creative approach and standards.

It’s all about appointing the right agency for the right tasks at the

right price.

Whether your organisation is growing fast and simply needs more hands or you are holding fire on recruitment until there is greater economic certainty, outsourcing elements of your marketing offers the potential for faster project turnarounds, fresh ideas as well as higher creative standards.

Print

Brochure/leaflet design

Tender document design

Newsletter design

Print management

Content

Website content management

Blogging & white papers

E-newsletters and downloads

Video & animation

Infographics & data presentation

Campaign concepts

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OUTSOURCE YOUR MARKETING

How to find and appoint a good outsourcing partner

Finding a creative design and digital team that have the skills you need, high quality

standards and are people that you actually get on with can be quite a challenge.

Here’s our guide on how to find the right agency, how to get more from onboarding

and then how to ensure you get the results you need.

There are seven key areas for you to consider:

It may sound obvious, but the clearer you are on what you want from an outsourced

marketing agency, the easier it will be to find one. Assess your skills internally and

how you want to use them – then look at your workflow. This should give you a core

idea. Then consider how you’d like your team to develop – either use the agency as

a testbed for this or use them to support your team.

a) Project by project or retainer. Would you rather pay as you

go or take advantage of the lower rates that a retainer brings;

how much work each month will you be able to outsource? Or

would a combination of both work better?

b) Pricing. You pay for what you get. So make sure you have

a clear view of the hourly rates of your provider. If the numbers

look too good to be true that’s because they probably are.

Beware agencies pricing to win the business because you will

either get a service that matches the low cost or will suddenly find

lots of ‘extras’ sneaking into your bills.

c) Give examples of the type of work you would typically offer

and ask for indicative quotes. You’ll get an idea of what the bills

will look like. Then ask the agency to talk you through to make

sure that nothing is missing (e.g. cost of imagery).

Questions to ask would include:

SCOPING & SPECIFICATION1.

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Next comes the selection process. It’s all about the right fit. Does the agency ‘get’

your organisation and understand your market. A great starting point is are they

keen to work with you? Are they going the extra mile during the bidding process?

Provide a brief for a proposal document and think about their reply. Are they

talking about you and your issues or are you getting boilerplate content ‘about the

agency’. It may be worth commissioning an initial small job to see how you get on.

APPOINTING AN OUTSOURCING PARTNER2.

a) Can they deliver? If you know that you’re always on a tight deadline, say

so. Some agencies are geared up for repeated tight deadlines others are not.

Make it clear from the start and you’ll scare off those who are not.

b) Availability. If you’re an international business or have a long-hours culture,

you need an agency that can match your working hours. Will your Account

Manager be available when you need them?

c) Location – in a virtual world with tools such as Webex, screen & file

sharing and video calls, location has become less of an issue. However, you

should ensure there is the commitment to come (or indeed work) on-site when

needed.

d) And fundamentally do you get on with the team. Ask to meet

your key contacts or even better go and visit the agency on-site.

Some issues to consider

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It all sounds very formal but a clear contract and

Service Level Agreement (SLA) can really focus

the mind. Be realistic. Faster turnaround times and

delivery cost money and that means higher fees for

you. Work with your chosen partner to establish

realistic timelines, budgets and quality standards;

then get them in writing in the contract.

CONTRACTS & SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS (SLA)

3.

Here are the priorities

a) Get a clear contract. This is best for both you

and the agency. Be clear about expectations

from day one; think about areas such as response

times, quality standards and clarity on approvals.

b) Service Level Agreements. Typically, this is

appended to the contract and provides a way to

state your expectations. If you always want a reply

within 2 hours or 10 minutes this is where to say so.

It’s also the place to identify key brand guidelines

that need to be adhered to – from colours and

fonts to digital accessibility and paper quality.

c) Contractors and Freelancers – every agency

outsources work whether they admit to this or not;

it’s industry standard practice. Here’s what you

need to ask:

Do you have contracts in place with freelancers

that mirror your contract with my organisation

(e.g. issues around confidentiality and GDPR)?

Show me work that you have previously done

with any freelancers working on my business.

d) Build in a break clause – we typically suggest

three months. By then you’ll know if things are

working and so will the agency. If it’s not working,

it’s usually best to break early on.

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e) Make sure everyone is clear about file formats – this saves

hassles later (which usually come during an urgent project!).

f) Be open about any issues you face; the more a partner

understands about your situation (approval processes,

deadlines, internal tensions) the more they can help you

navigate through.

g) Talk about the difficult stuff, money and payment terms,

contracts and deadlines. Being clear from the start is vital.

Effective onboarding is critical to a good start to a working relationship. It is your

opportunity to get to know each other, to have an honest exchange about the nature of

both businesses and to bring everyone with you.

You should expect any agency to have an onboarding process as well as a standard

format for briefing. It is worth talking these through at initial appointment to ensure you

get the most out of both processes. It is likely that with small tweaks and modifications you

will be able to gain far more both from onboarding and from each individual brief.

a) It’s important to meet those actually doing the work –

this should provide an extra level of confidence.

b) Make sure you are walked through the processes –

this will help identify any areas that clash with the way

your organisation works.

c) Discuss existing work to ensure that everyone

understands your expectations.

d) Talk through your brand guidelines – often

hidden ‘conventions’ creep in that are not written

down anywhere.

ONBOARDING & BRIEFING

ONBOARDING

a) The perfect brief. First, let’s be honest that there is no

such thing as a perfect brief. There will always be too

much or too little information; too much direction or not

enough. It is the agency’s job to work with you to establish

best practice.

b) Have the basics in place. All of those things you always

say about your organisation – share them early so there is

no excuse for the agency not to know them.

BRIEFING

4.

c) Briefing forms. The agency should have a briefing document

of some sort. We recommend going through it with ideally a

live (or alternatively a demo) project at the onboarding phase.

This will help align it to ensure that everyone has the right

information.

d) To sign off or not to sign off. That is the question. Some

agencies like everyone to physically sign off the brief. At least

this gives certainty. The other view is that the brief will evolve

as the agency brings new thoughts and ideas. There is no

right answer.


BUILDING YOUR RELATIONSHIPSystems and processes will help ensure that everything runs smoothly

– everything from shared project plans to common formats for design

files. But in the end this is all about people.

c) Get access to the people doing the work.

This is so important. If you talk to the designer or

coder they can hear direct what you want. If the

Account Manager disagrees they will then need

to say so and explain why.

d) Make sure you have a senior contact. What

in the past was known as an Account Director –

someone senior and strategic who you can turn

to for advice or, if things aren’t as they should be,

for action.

a) Be honest and open with your Account

Manager. The agency should be transparent with

you to avoid any misunderstandings. But it works

both ways. If the project isn’t screamingly urgent

say so; this means when the uber urgent one

comes along you’ll get all hands to the pump.

b) Don’t be shy. If you don’t know something,

perhaps a technical term – please say so.

The agency is there to help and can help you

build your marketing knowledge. And expect

to be asked about your needs; you will clearly

know your organisation and your marketing

strategy better than the agency, particularly in

the early days.

5.

“The agency should be

transparent with you to avoid

any misunderstandings”

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a) Design or creativity - there is a difference.

Great designers are all about delivering pixel

perfect quality; following design rules – this

is a specific skill set that takes education and

experience. Great creatives are mavericks – they

will blind side you with different thinking. Be very

clear about what you are looking for.

b) New ideas. If you’re looking for creativity,

you should expect to be challenged. You won’t

like everything and that’s fine. If you’re happy

with everything from day one, you are probably

not being pushed enough.

c) Polished design. This is all about exceptional

quality and attention to detail. It will look

exceptional but don’t expect innovation – that’s

a different skill. a) Establish KPIs… for project deadlines and

contact times. But remember if you miss a

deadline expect your end deadline to move.

b) Look at the language. It may sound odd –

but look at those emails and phone conversations;

are you being valued; is your work perceived as

important?

c) Review the deliverables. Compare your new

brochure or email template with the previous

or comparable options – is there a marked

improvement or the consistency you want? If not

ask yourself why not.

MAINTAINING QUALITY

REVIEWING PERFORMANCE

If you have a strong brand and are happy with

what is being delivered by your internal team,

then the outsourcing agency’s job is to maintain

brand integrity. However, more often than not

an agency is brought in to drive up standards of

creativity and push new ideas.

You’ll know if it’s working pretty early on – hence

the break clause in the contract. You should

be getting on with the people and receiving

increasingly high quality work as your outsourcing

partner learns more about your brand and your

organisation.

Your agency is likely to request review points to

ensure that everything is on the right track – take

up the offer (or request one if the offer doesn’t

come) and once again be honest about what’s

good and what’s not.

6.

7.If this is a priority then consider:

Here are some tips on how to measure

performance.

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AND NOW THE FINAL QUESTION, WHO SHOULD YOU WORK WITH?Choosing the right partner and outsourcing can help you deliver smarter

more effective marketing. The key is being clear about what you want from

the agency and what you want to keep in-house. If you want to raise creative

standards – then make that a priority. If you’re more interested in sticking

strictly to brand guidelines then make sure the agency has all the detail – and

hold them to it. In the end, it’s all about building a great business relationship.

Choosing the right agency may be very straightforward; if you have good

relationship with an existing provider, talk to them about what you want to

achieve and draw up an appropriate agreement.

Alternatively, talk to a specialist in outsourcing like, without wishing to be

presumptuous, realityhouse.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUTSOURCED MARKETING, PLEASE CONTACT MIKE FIELDHOUSE OR ANTHONY MULLINDER 01225 580016 OR GET IN TOUCH VIA THE CONTACT US PAGE ON WWW.REALITYHOUSE.CO.UK

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HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY OUTSOURCE YOUR MARKETING · marketing agency, the easier it will be to find one. Assess your skills internally and how you want to use them – then look at your