Internal vs. External

Over the last few years I have had conversations with businesses talking about the advantages to outsourcing their marketing efforts. However, things have changed enough over the last year or so to the point where I’m not convinced that’s entirely the case anymore.

In certain scenarios, and for certain purposes, I think it is useful to outsource pieces of marketing. There are so many things that need to happen within an effective marketing campaign that it can be difficult, and at times unnecessary, to have an entire marketing team on staff with all of the skills that your business will need. But when it comes to the day to day marketing of your business, I find myself advocating for your business or organization to equip an underutilized member of your team or bring someone in that could be effective in that position.
To have someone internal to market your brand.

Why?

Currently, a useful marketing tool is social media… whether your agree or disagree with the platforms, they’re still highly useful for informing people about your brand, product(s), service(s) and values. And to run social media, it is going to be much more useful to have someone internally to capture fun and authentic moments that happen throughout the day-to-day operations of your business.

And as time has gone on, I have found that my favorite thing to do isn’t to run the entire scope of marketing for businesses, but to consult with and coach the internal teams that are already woven into the cultural fabric that currently exists. Because as I’ve learned from countless conversations with marketing teams and business owners, OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVE IS CRUCIAL. And at time we can just become so inwardly focused and get so caught up in the daily operations that we forget about the questions that really need to be answered* for our customers.

So INTERNAL vs. EXTERNAL? The answer is generally company specific, but overall it’s going to be more effective to have at least 1 person ON LOCATION and INSIDE THE BRAND to help with or oversee your marketing efforts.
*If you’re looking for more insight into questions that really need to be answered, our podcast has an episode called, “ANSWER QUESTIONS THEY’RE NOT ASKING” which will address what, why and how these things need to be talked about.