When outsourcing makes sense and when it’s better to take matters into your own hands
Today, we explore a question that resonates with brand owners in many marketing departments: when should you outsource content creation, and when is it better to handle it in-house?
The answer to this question can significantly impact both your budget and your team’s job satisfaction.
Let’s dive deeper into how to make the right choices.
The pitfalls of outsourcing
Many companies opt to outsource the more creative, visually appealing work to agencies, while the less exciting, repetitive tasks – like updating price lists or compiling product catalogues – are done in-house. However, this often leads to frustrations within the team.
Why? Not only do large budgets often go to external agencies, but managing these projects can also consume significant internal time and resources. Drafting briefs, ensuring the correct files are used, and maintaining constant communication with agencies can become overwhelming.
Finding balance: when outsourcing makes sense
However, we’re not suggesting that outsourcing is the wrong choice. On the contrary, it can be highly advantageous for projects that require a high level of creativity or specialised knowledge (or materials) that may not be available in-house.
This may include:
- Producing a corporate film with specialised equipment or expertise.
- Developing complex advertising campaigns that fall outside your team’s standard skill set.
These projects benefit from the fresh perspectives and specialised skills that external creatives bring to the table. The variable cost structure of outsourcing means you pay for the complexity and quality of the requested content, making it a cost-effective solution for one-off projects or high-impact campaigns.
Efficiency in production
Automating marketing content allows you to produce a wide range of materials quickly and efficiently within the different departments. From packshots that present each product in perfect lighting to detailed product sheets that clearly communicate essential information, everything is laid out in a streamlined manner. By implementing automation, it is possible to compile entire catalogues in no time, ensuring consistency in style and format, regardless of the size of the product range or the frequency of updates. Did anything change in the offer or data? With just a click of a button (or even automatically), everything is updated seamlessly.
Consistency across all channels
One of the biggest challenges in marketing is maintaining brand consistency across various platforms and communication tools. Automation ensures that all formatted content-whether on social media or in a printed catalogue-follows the house style accurately. This consistency strengthens your brand identity and builds trust with your customers, which is essential for fostering long-term customer relationships.
Long-term thinking
Although the initial investment in an automation system may seems significant, the long-term savings are substantial. By automating routine tasks internally, companies reduce the reliance on external resources, which are often associated with high costs for each project or update. Moreover, automation reduces the likelihood of human errors which can be costly to fix and can delay the launch of marketing campaigns. By the way, did you know we always start with a content scan ? This is how we map out all your marketing content to create the most detailed ROI calculation possible.
Increased job satisfaction and creative freedom
Perhaps the most significant benefit of automation is its positive impact on team morale. By automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks, team members gain more time to focus on creative and strategic initiatives. This not only increases overall satisfaction and motivation within the team, but also results in more innovative and impactful marketing campaigns. Employees feel valued for their skills and contributions, rather than being bogged down by monotonous tasks.
Best of both worlds
At Catena Company, we strongly believe in the power of in-house content creation. We firmly believe that keeping as much marketing content in-house as possible allows you to maintain greater control over your brand and the quality of the content. This does not mean that outsourcing isn’t valuable – on the contrary, i’s about making conscious choices about what should be handled internally and what is better outsourced.
It’s about finding the right balance, where budgets are spent more efficiently, while simultaneously building a stronger, more consistent brand.
Curious to find out how this works in practice?
Schedule a no-obligation consultation with Geerte and discover how automation can transform your content creation.
Let’s talk!
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