Should You Outsource Advertising and Marketing Production?

The big question is:  how do you know if outsourcing advertising and marketing production on a large scale will work for your company?

The answer is to look at the nature, contribution and capability for advertising and marketing production within your organization.

1. Is production of marketing and advertising designs a non-core competency function for your company?
2. Is design production a problem, distraction or irritant to the organization?
3. Can design services be turned into a revenue-generating function (i.e., a service provided to your customers for a profit)?
4. Has a competitor or group of competitors chosen to outsource this function?
5. Does your organization lack important capabilities for the current marketing and advertising environment for print or online?
6. Are design production services viewed by your organization as cost centers?
7. Are there current cost-saving initiatives in the organization?
8. Are IT teams stretched thin and budgets for software and equipment capital limited to support marketing and advertising?
9. Are there peaks and valleys in demand for design production?
10. Is speed to market of critical concern to your company?
11. Do current turn times meet the needs of internal and external customers?
12. Are performance measures, operational benchmarks, processes, costs and expectations clearly defined in the advertising and marketing area?
13. Do existing teams incorporate best practices?
14. Is it difficult to find the personnel and skills needed?
15. Is turnover among these employees high?

If you answered “yes” more than five times, chances are good that it would be worthwhile for your company to conduct a more detailed evaluation with outside vendors.

You have nothing to lose by getting some outside advice.  Plus, you might even find some easy improvements that can be made by your team immediately or get free advice from providers that can have a positive effect in the short-term. (And here are some more benefits that you stand to gain.)