In-house marketing refers to companies managing their own marketing operations by themselves. This means they produce and execute the marketing content, and deal with the collection and delivery of the marketing assets relevant to the organization's goals.
Traditionally, marketing was not done by the company itself but contracted out to an agency. With the emergence of easy-to-use web marketing tools in recent years, however, many companies have shifted to creating robust internal systems, avoiding the hassle of dealing with an external agency.
Though in-house marketing is mostly known with start-ups, it is gradually growing popular with established companies as well.
It has become very challenging for companies to retain control of their marketing processes, especially as new technology emerges, and agile organizations demand more from their marketing processes. Getty Images, a British-American visual media company, is one such company. The company grew its first-time subscriber base on iStock by 35% after moving its marketing in-house, following a shift to focus on sales. Getty Images saw their media expenses shrunk by… a lot — and experts say it’ll only get better for the company.
Pros of In-House Marketing
If Getty Images' story piqued your interest, then you'll be pleased to learn that taking your marketing operation in-house has several other advantages.
Reduced Marketing Costs
Many companies are operating on a lean budget and spend an exorbitant amount on marketing. Operating with an in-house team can aid you in greatly cutting down the costs. Payments that were normally spent on hiring agencies can now be invested in other areas of your marketing efforts, leading to even better operations as you figure out what works best for your brand.
Improved Efficiency
Internal marketing activities are hardly slowed down by long meetings about performance metrics and mending misunderstood directives, as it often happens with external agencies. Communication is real-time, mistakes are swiftly amended, and executions are seamless.
On-the-go Learning
Marketing is one of the fields you just can’t learn by solely reading blog posts. Unless you experiment, there are aspects of it you’ll forever remain in the dark about. Internal marketing operations make it possible for your team to learn ways to better integrate the company’s philosophy into the product. Even if you end up outsourcing independent talents for things you can’t do internally, expectations will be clearer, and it'll be easier to differentiate quality work from what isn’t.
Cons of In-House Marketing
Even though building an in-house team may seem appealing, if you consider some of its aspects, it is not always a good idea.
Increased HR Costs
HR specialists will tell you that if you’re trying to cut costs, although marketing is more expensive when contracted, hiring and training marketing personnel isn’t so straightforward either. To achieve tangible marketing results, you need experienced personnel, and assembling a team of them can be costly over time.
Long-Term Operation System
An efficient internal marketing system doesn't end with having a team. There are always moving, complex pieces — people leaving, new talents coming in, emergencies arising, the list goes on. Entrusting your operations to a single person can be risky, and setting up protocols that’ll eventually match your company’s nature is time-consuming. If you aren’t careful, the whole operation might take a downslide.
What’s Next?
One thing you cannot bargain with when you shift to an in-house marketing operation is implementing ad fraud countermeasures. Ad fraud refers to any fraudulent activity on a company’s ad campaigns, manipulating the display and interaction of web ads, and generating false clicks for monetary gain.
Even with serious legislation aimed at fighting ad fraud in its infancy, many companies have been severely impacted, with damages reaching hundreds to millions of dollars. It is an issue many companies can no longer afford to ignore. At Spider AF, we help companies detect ad fraud before it attacks their ad campaigns. Explore our site to learn more about ad fraud and its countermeasures.
Conclusion
Many companies are in a constant quest to optimize their business operations. If your company is one of them, hiring in-house marketing staff might be a solution. With the right staff and system in place, it can be an effective way to bring your marketing goals to fruition.
See for yourself how much ad fraud is affecting your ad campaigns. Sign up to Spider AF’s 14-day free trial - no strings attached!
