No one cares about your business…until you market it so that they care.
Look, you’ve got a great product or service.
First, you need to reach the people who will want to buy from you.
Then, you have to give them what they need to take action and do business with you.
Every business needs marketing.
To “do marketing” well, you need talent that cares and shares your goals.
Whether we’re navigating skill gaps and budget constraints or scaling our marketing efforts effectively, let’s handle the challenges and find solutions to conquer this marketing thing.
The Marketing Dilemma: Where, why, and how to access marketing talent?
Marketing in business, in simple terms, is finding the people who want what you’re selling, providing them with the information and confidence that your solution is ideal, so that they’re motivated to take action and buy.
To do that in the context of information overload and a myriad of marketing channels is a massive challenge. You need access to people with talent. They need to be creative, technical, and analytical and have skill sets that range from video production and web design to email marketing and brand strategy.
They also need to share your vision and be motivated to help you meet your goals.
Starting From Scratch? When an in-house marketing team is just a dream.
For many, their sales manager has been “handling the marketing.” That means they are doing everything from building PowerPoint sales decks to designing tradeshow displays. Industrial companies are often still transitioning from old-school sales methods. They are recognizing that today’s marketplace requires more strategy and savvy than it used to.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone! Let’s walk through a few options! Whether to hire for an internal branding and marketing team, rely solely on an agency, or employ a combination of both.
Building an in-house marketing team is like managing a fine restaurant. You need people with a range of talent and passion to bring their best, and when it’s running smoothly, it’s a beautiful thing.
But there are always the challenges of employee turnover, hiring and training, building a customer-focused culture, the budget to attract chefs with expertise, and producing high-quality food with exceptional service for every customer.
If you have the budget, should you build an in-house marketing team? If so, what should it look like, and what are the potential pitfalls to avoid?
There’s no question that having an in-house dream team would be a blast if a company has the budget to build a dynamic internal marketing team with an experienced CMO who can bring out the team’s best work.
PRO: They’ll know your brand.
It’s likely an in-house team would have a deeper understanding of your company’s brand. To have this kind of depth would require training and educating every team member. With potential employee turnover, however, this can take a toll on a team.
Consistent standards in your brand’s design and messaging are critical. You’ll need a team that works well with your CBO (Chief Brand Officer)!
PRO: Communication would be quicker.
If your business runs at high speed, where you commonly need immediate turnaround for tasks, having an internal team could be the solution. The downside is that the team may not have the bandwidth to take on immediate tasks, and you’ll end up relying on backup contractors.
PRO: The Focus is on Your Goals.
A dedicated focus means that they’re only ever thinking about your company’s goals.
An in-house team would work solely on your brand, not juggle multiple clients. While a solid brand and marketing agency partner will be able to put your company’s brand hat on, having a dedicated team doesn’t have to switch gears.
Still, in-house team members who lack passion for the company and see their work as “just a job” will lack the enthusiasm that drives creativity to help the company achieve its goals, and you could find that you’re fighting creative burnout.
Building an internal marketing dream team is no small task, and keeping it fired up and energized about your company’s marketing and sales goals requires talented leadership and deep marketing budget pockets.
CON: Expect and plan for higher costs.
It goes without saying that quality leadership and creative talent require competitive salaries, benefits, training, and software, and these costs add up fast. Scaling the team as the company grows will also require human resource time to find, hire, and train new talent.
CON: Realistically, you’ll have a team with limited skill sets.
Even if you have a large budget, finding experts in all marketing areas is like searching for a unicorn. All businesses that want to be found by prospects need to be in more than one place, and you’re going to need to have access to a variety of talent.
Unless your company can hire and keep a bench of experts, from brand strategy and customer journeys to video marketing and digital advertising, you can plan on needing to call on external creatives.
We work with an international brand with it’s marketing team located in Michigan. Even with their larger-than-life marketing budget, they still need to call in specialists.
If your company took the plunge and decided to hire full and part-time employees to manage your branding and marketing efforts, you may be facing some or all of these challenges:
When you need fresh ideas, expert strategy, and execution at lightning speed, hiring a marketing agency is like bringing in a top-tier pit crew during a high-stakes race. They’ve got the tools, the experience, and the laser focus to get you across the finish line.
The Pros
The Cons
For companies looking to build an in-house marketing team, the sweet spot may be a hybrid approach—keeping the everyday marketing work in-house while bringing in an agency for high-impact projects, strategy, and scalability. DataBox conducted a survey of companies hiring agencies, why they brought on an agency, their average spend, and the results you can expect.
1. More Brainpower, Better Ideas
Familiarity can be a double-edged sword. The same eyes on the same challenge day after day can cause your brand to get stuck in a creative rut. Working with an agency is like bringing in a fresh set of eyes trained to spot opportunities and solve challenges in innovative ways. An agency doesn’t need to fully replace your team; rather it can amplify their strengths.
What to do: Schedule regular brainstorming sessions with your agency to keep ideas flowing, coordinate delegation, manage project process, and measure and review results.
Today’s marketing landscape is complex. It’s like trying to assemble a high-performance engine from scratch. You need the right parts (branding, design, web, content, lead gen) and the expertise to put it all together. Hiring full-time for all these skills? You don’t need to reverse engineer a Ferrari to drive one. Your agency is the Ferrari, in the garage, ready to take for a cruise in style.
What to do: Identify your team’s weak spots and bring in an agency that can be flexible to fill the gaps and meet your budget.
Marketing needs fluctuate. One quarter, you’re focused on a rebranding launch; the next, it’s launching a new product. An agency allows you to scale up or down, like shifting gears on a sports car, without the massive hiring and training investment.
What to do: Build a relationship with an agency partner that can be there for you during peak times to keep projects on track so you can scale your marketing when you need it.
When different people manage different channels, brand consistency becomes a nightmare. It’s like trying to play an orchestra where everyone’s following a different sheet of music. An agency ensures your voice, visuals, and messaging stay unified.
What to do: Build a Brand Blueprint with your agency to keep everything aligned.
Getting too close to your marketing can lead to tunnel vision. An agency provides that 30,000-foot view, helping you refine your strategy, target the right audience, execute tactics, and boost ROI.
What to do: Hold quarterly check-ins with your agency to measure and adjust strategy.
We work with industrial and professional services companies that have been getting by with little to no marketing and have recognized that they’re falling behind.
An agency with compassion can also help take a company from zero marketing and gradually grow it to accomplish more in less time.
If you are privileged to have in-house talent, a great agency doesn’t compete with your team—it supercharges it.
At Identity Creative, we partner with industrial and B2B sales teams to level up their marketing with exceptional dedication to each brand. We can act as your brand’s R&D lab, sparking fresh ideas and executing them with excellence. If you’re ready to build a stronger brand, we’re here to help. Let’s talk.