7 Advantages of Onshore-Offshore Outsourcing Your Media and Marketing Operations

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The Next Big Thing

By William A. Lederer, Chairman and CEO, iSOCRATES

 

Onshore-Offshore Outsourcing is the next big thing for your media and marketing functions.

Over the past few years, many businesses have tried to move their media and marketing operations in-house, but that trend is now reversing itself and for good reason.

Often, in times of recession or economic downturn, media and marketing staffing and operations budgets take the first hit. Firms reason that they can increase efficiencies, transparency, and control while reducing costs by performing many functions themselves.

But, once these businesses attempt to create their own in-house agencies, they often find that either that their teams are overwhelmed, or that it is difficult to recruit the specialists necessary to navigate today’s complex and highly technical marketing environment. As a result, many smart businesses turn to outsourcing.

 

Outsourcing Overview

The vast majority of businesses outsource something, whether it’s their IT, software development, payroll, accounting or call center operations. And now, more and more companies are looking to outsource their digital marketing and advertising technologies (MADTech). The benefits to outsourcing are many. Most companies that outsource say they do so to reduce or control costs.

Investing time and money in recruiting, hiring, training, technology and facilities can take up the lion’s share of your marketing budget even before you’ve done any marketing. Employee benefits like retirement, health insurance, vacation pay, etc. become immovable expenses.

Outsourcing these functions offshore – where employees get paid a fraction of the salaries of their counterparts in the U.S. and other developed countries will almost certainly save you money.

Besides the cost benefits, outsourcing can help your business increase efficiencies and focus on their core competencies, innovation and creativity. Outsourcing can also provide your company with technical and executional expertise you might not otherwise be able to find or afford.

There are, of course, challenges to working with an overseas vendor. They can be less accessible than an on-shore agency. Different time zones can make scheduling calls a challenge. Plus there can be communication issues if English is not your overseas staff’s first language.

These issues can be easily mitigated if you set up an onshore-offshore arrangement where a US-based firm manages your overseas operations for you. (Coincidentally, that’s what iSOCRATES does.) That way, you work with your onshore agency, and they handle everything with your offshore team.

 

The Benefits to Onshore-Offshore Outsourcing

1. Greater Focus

The work you send offshore, managed by an onshore firm, will enable you and your team to focus on what matters most: the mission-critical work you do best. You can offload important work that you may not specialize in, such as MADTech media and marketing, IT functions, or even entire business processes such as accounting or HR. Imagine how much more you will accomplish by narrowing your attention to the key growth drivers of your business.

2. Pre-Built Playbooks and Expert Teams

Working with an onshore firm who has proven outsourcing plans and heavily documented processes will smooth and accelerate your transitions. The right onshore vendor has already vetted and assembled onshore and offshore experts that are available 24/7/365 to meet your specific needs. Additionally, the team you choose should offer a variety of skillsets and levels of expertise to handle both routine work, as well as more specialized high-level projects. Flexibility is the key.

3. Make the Most of Your Vendor’s Technologies

While your organization may own some of their own technologies or license them from 3rd-parties, it may make sense to also utilize your vendor’s technologies. Businesses can make use of their outsourcer’s applications and platforms (such as Salesforce, Google, AppNexus, Adobe, etc.) or utilize purpose-built applications that can be customized to fit clients’ needs. In this “Managed Services” model, the outsourcer owns and manages the technology, so you don’t have to invest in expensive licenses or train employees to use different new software.

4. Better Communication and Oversight

The onshore-offshore model offers improved organizational communications and process/project oversight. Your onshore team, made up of professionals with deep, relevant experience, can act a close extension of your organization and its methods. A good team will work with you to understand your needs, interests, priorities and the cultural nuances of your markets.

5. Manage Time More Effectively

An onshore-offshore arrangement ensures that work is getting done around the clock, every day of the week, allowing you to get twice the work done in the same amount of time. This can result in faster, more detailed reporting and analysis, faster optimization, and faster error identification and correction.

6. Save Money from Day One

As soon as you initiate your onshore-offshore arrangement, you should start saving money. Labor costs in an onshore-offshore delivery model are a fraction of what they are in North America-only delivery systems. Many of iSOCRATES’ clients report all-in savings of 50% or more.

7. Increase Revenue

Outsourcing enables your organization to make more money by increasing revenue and profit through better business practices, like improved execution, performance optimization, applied business and market intelligence, and better yield management.

 

Tried offshoring before?

If you’ve tried outsourcing before but haven’t gotten the results you wanted, we should talk about the difference onshore-offshore outsourcing can make. Onshore-offshore outsourcing can be a game-changer for your organization. Take advantage of our decades of relevant experience and let it work for you. Contact us today for a better tomorrow.