7 Things to Do If You Outsource Ad Production

Last week, I wrote about how you can discover whether your company is a candidate for outsourcing advertising production.  Now, let’s look into what you should do if you have decided to outsource, to help make sure that your outsourcing initiative is successful. I have put together a handy checklist for you.

When reviewing outsourcing vendors, ask about:

1. What is the implementation process, and how long is each step going to take? If a step seems to have more time allocated than necessary, ask why. The answers might tell you quite a bit about how your vendor works. In general, ask as many questions about the process as you can—you need to ensure that your vendor has thought it through, has planned for eventualities that might arise, and has enough experience that this will be a smooth transition for you.
   
2. What training are they going to provide? Your team needs to know how to use the vendor’s systems (if you are going to be using them), and how your processes map to theirs. They need to tell you how you can get work done quickly and effectively. For example, when we work with newspapers or other advertising production clients, we usually have a team working in their offices to ensure the transition is smooth. We get the clients and our Affinity Express teams working together seamlessly, as one team.
3. What is the support plan? Especially at the beginning of an outsourcing engagement, clients need a lot of support. Our teams usually have daily calls with the client team, and are available by phone and on Skype to answer any client questions that arise. Frequent and instant communication overcomes the challenges of being in different offices (and in our case, different countries), and makes it easier for everyone to work together.