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Outsourcing Marketing
January 24, 2012
I asked top marketers to report how much they expected their companies to outsource marketing in the next 12 months. This percentage has grown over time as shown in Figure 1. In fact the last measurement, taken in August 2011, grew by over 100% over the prior year!
Figure 1: Percentage of Company Outsourcing of Marketing Expected in Next 12 Months
Why do companies outsource marketing?
- Companies don’t have the expertise to perform key marketing tasks.
- Companies don’t think the benefit of building knowledge and skills is better than the value they get from an expert partner performing that same task.
- Companies can’t produce the same function at the same low price as they can buy it in the open market because the provider has scale, scope, and experience (and perhaps cheap labor?)
- Companies prioritize other strategic areas more highly than doing marketing internally
- Companies want a new point of view. It is easy to stop learning when you are stuck listening to the same colleagues every day. An external partner can offer important insights.
- Companies don’t understand the value of marketing.
