Digital marketing is currently considered one of the most efficient communications channels. With a do-able budget, high reach and measurable KPIs, almost every company wants to build for itself an effective digital strategy. But the question is whether they should hire an agency to deploy their digital marketing campaign or build an in-house team for the job?

To make the decision, companies should consider various criteria. In this article, EloQ Communications will help you differentiate and select the most suitable option for your business!

1. Building an in-house: Cost-effective but requires internal resources

To optimize in-house digital marketing activities, the in-house team must have two qualities: (1) profound expertise and (2) strong teamwork.

First, expertise! By having an in-house team on the job, brands can benefit from the understanding of the companies’ products, services and brand personality. After all, you’re the expert on what you offer. This expertise helps the in-house team to craft the perfect plan and make a quick adjustment when necessary. However, this can be a double-edged sword. Running a campaign for a single brand in a long time can hinder the team’s creativity as they get caught up in routine activities and ideas. With appropriate compensation and a knowledgeable leader, building a good digital team is just a matter of time. The minimum headcount needed to implement in-house digital activities is three people for three scopes of work: content, design, and ads running. The lack of any of these mentioned factors can delay the digital marketing campaign.

The second is teamwork. In reality, not only the marketing department, but various departments are involved in the campaign. Leads coming from digital efforts will be in vain if they’re not addressed correctly. This is why the involvement of customer service and sales departments is the key to success. However, remember to set out clear KPIs and work guidelines for each department to avoid dissatisfaction among these departments, which damages teamwork.

2. Hiring an agency: High expertise and low risk

Expertise, market know-how, diversified services and low-risk are the reasons why many brands decided to outsource the digital marketing process to digital advertising agencies.

To build an experienced in-house team with proficiency in many fields out of their expertise will take a certain amount of time. Businesses, especially new businesses, usually choose to hire an agency to outsource social media management because they don’t have the time and financial resources to build and test out digital marketing models on their own. In addition, agencies are the expert in market know-how, customer insights, and even on the brand’s competitors. Therefore, they will be able to propose effective short-term marketing plans. Agencies usually offer diversified services, from social media management, graphics design, video production to digital ads, v.v. This will help companies optimize their budget and gain visible results in a short period. A clear timeline and process is another plus when working with an agency. Clients who choose to work with agency partners are completely capable of outlining their expected results and campaign timeline to manage their financial resources. As a result, risk will be kept to a minimum.

EloQ understands that finding the right agency to represent the brand is a difficult choice from our experience of executing digital campaigns for our clients. Take one of our clients, Vietnam Recycles, as an example. Since 2019, EloQ has acted as their partner to manage the organization’s Facebook fan page, generate content and graphic illustration to the brand. Visitors can easily recognize their brand identity and brand personality through their fan page. If Vietnam Recycles switches to another agency or reallocates the task to the in-house team, it might be difficult to maintain this cohesion. Therefore, to ensure consistency in the brand’s communication process, the company must pick out the agency based on current need, business goal, and feasible budget, brand-agency relationship.

Back to the question on whether a business should build their own in-house team or outsource to an agency, the first and most important thing they have to do to answer this question is to decide on the campaign objectives and budget:

– If the company wants to build an internal team that responds quickly to business changes and plans for long-term communications plans, then in-house operations will be suitable for this business.

– If the company want to conduct short-term campaigns, place emphasis on innovative ideas with visible outcomes within a short period, then outsourcing marketing activities would be the suitable solution.

Both methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. Remember to carefully consider your current needs and current situation to make the right decision for your business.

EloQ Communications proud to be the leading marketing agency in Vietnam. With years of experience and diversified offers in the Vietnam market, we have successfully plan and execute digital marketing campaigns for small and large brands, such as Vietnam Recycles, Duolingo, Vinpearl, etc. Reach out to EloQ to receive support from our market experts and actualize your business goals.

This article was written by Thanh Vu, a digital marketing executive, and Hannah Cao,  a creative strategic specialist, at EloQ Communications.