A big part of any modern marketing role is making the right decision. One of the more consequential decisions marketers are faced with is whether it makes more sense to conduct a campaign in house, or to pass those responsibilities off to a marketing agency. Being aware of the shortcomings and advantages of each option could save you valuable time and money while achieving the results you need. A few important insights to keep in mind as you choose between working with a marketing agency or conducting an in-house campaign include:
DIY Campaigns Provide You With More Control
Maintaining full control of your campaign can reduce or eliminate a lot of the back and forth that would occur between your marketing team and a creative agency. Conducting your marketing campaigns with an agency means you may be restricted in areas that could hinder your goals. A few areas that you may be out of your control when partnering with a marketing agency include:
- Branding:
Let’s say you’ve taken the time to develop all of the marketing collateral necessary for standing out from the crowd. Even though your logos, colors and name have become increasingly recognizable, some marketing firms will still choose to swap out your branding for theirs. And they may implement “one-size fits all” marketing materials that completely strip away your brand’s individuality.
- Timing:
The timing of when your audiences receive your message is one of the most important aspects of your campaign. But when your timing doesn’t align with that of the marketing agency you’re partnering with, you could be forced to abide by their timeline. This could result in having to completely adjust promotions and deals you had planned. And that could throw a wrench in your marketing plans for the foreseeable future, even if you’re underwhelmed with the results the agency has delivered.
- Additional Assets:
Imagine collecting reviews, pictures and other types of unique, user generated content for years. Then you choose to partner with an agency on an upcoming campaign only to find out that they include their own library of stock media on your marketing collateral. Content that comes directly from your audience is essential to getting the responses you’re hoping for, but you may not be able to ensure that they’re included in your marketing collateral when outsourcing your campaigns.
If you’ve never partnered with an agency or marketing firm on a campaign, these are crucial topics to address before signing any paperwork finalizing anything. Making a commitment to spending a certain amount of money on your marketing efforts without making sure you have the control necessary to make your campaign a success is a huge mistake. That’s especially true when DIY campaigns conducted using programs like Direct Mail Manager provide you with all of the control you need.
Marketing Firms May Not Fully Understand Your Goals
The reality of dealing with creative agencies is that they may have a dozen clients, just like you. While this is excellent news for the agency you might be dealing with, the bad news is they may not be applying a unique approach to your business. And if that agency you’re considering partnering with can’t be bothered to understand what makes your business unique, how will they know how to apply your selling points into your marketing collateral? Odds are they probably won’t – they’ll likely apply the same techniques that have worked for clients similar to you and hope the results carry over.
Considering that every business faces its own specific challenges for winning over customers, this approach isn’t guaranteed to deliver success. Leaving your marketing strategy in the hands of an agency that isn’t capable of fully understanding what your mission is and how to resonate with your audience likely won’t provide you with the results you desire. If you can’t find an agency willing to go the extra mile to develop a thorough understanding of your audience and goals, taking the DIY approach may be a better option. In most cases it’s very often the more affordable choice, too.
Taking the DIY Approach Consumes Fewer Resources
Selecting a creative agency capable of helping you achieve the marketing results you’re hoping for is easier said than done. That’s because simply searching for an agency capable of servicing your industry could take days or even weeks by itself, considering how many there are to choose from. And when people are forced to vet creative agencies you’re considering relying on, that’s valuable time and energy that could be spent actually creating the campaign! That’s especially the case considering how many resources are available that make creating a campaign super simple.
For instance, using Direct Mail Manager enables you to design and send postcards within mere minutes. And using the integrations DMM users have access to, like Shopify and Zapier make the process of leveraging your customer data to create personalized marketing campaigns easier than you can imagine. Programs like Direct Mail manager that enable you to automatically send personalized postcards based on triggers you set up allow you to execute campaigns that are so sophisticated, your audience won’t be able to tell that you did all the heavy lifting yourself! And you can begin mailing today by signing up for a free or pro membership today.
Get Your Next Campaign Started Today With Direct Mail Manager!
There are more tools at your disposal that are capable of improving your marketing results than you might think. That’s why you don’t have to wait on a high-priced creative agency to begin implementing marketing campaigns that deliver results. You can kickstart a campaign that engages audiences today by signing up for Direct Mail Manager! Marketers across all industries are leveraging Direct Mail Manager to send postcards and letters that get responses. If you’ve got questions regarding getting started with Direct Mail Manager, sign up for a free demo today so one of our helpful, knowledgeable mailing experts can discuss them with you.
