Many firms debate the merits of hiring a marketing professional versus outsourcing marketing support to a marketing consultancy. So, I thought it might be helpful to outline the benefits and challenges of that decision. Here then, is a list of the considerations firms may want to evaluate in their analysis.
Benefits of Outsourcing (Marketing Consultant
or Consultancy)
·
Reduced Employee
Overhead- External resources can save firms as much as 40% in employee
overhead costs including benefits, training and miscellaneous employee
expenses.
·
Lower
Startup Costs- External resources allow firms to avoid the costly
investment of starting up a new functional area in the firm (office space,
supplies, subscriptions, special software, etc.).
·
Specialized
Skills- Consultants tend to have more specialized skills and experience in
the most critical areas of legal marketing operations.
·
Objective
Perspective- Consultants bring a fresh perspective uninhibited by internal
processes or politics.
·
Best
Practices- Consultants bring best practices derived from broad exposure to
a variety of law firms and marketing challenges.
·
Robust
Network- consultants have more robust network of connections. As problem
solvers, they must maintain a deep network of resources that they can bring to
any challenge.
·
Industry
Experience- Deep experience in legal marketing and business development can
save the firm in avoiding costly mistakes and trial and error experimentation.
·
Smarter
Startup- External resources allow firms to evaluate their needs with little
investment in the process leading to better long term decisions and more
targeted recruiting of the talent needs.
·
Flexibility-
Consultants are there when you need them and not there when you don’t need
them. This helps firms avoid paying for non-productive time.
·
Inflexibility-
In house resources which turn out to be a bad fit can take months to rectify
and can leave lasting impressions on the Partnership, both internally and
externally.
·
Training-
In-house resources sometimes lack the experience in the industry and working
within a partnership requiring training and support resources which are frequently not available in house.
Challenges of Outsourcing
·
Sense of
Control- Using external resources may feel like there is less control over
the resource and process. This is rarely the case as good consulting
organizations typically commit to a defined process and specific deliverables.
· Under Utilization-
For busy attorneys, resources which are out of sight, tend to be out of mind. It
is a very challenge which needs to be constantly addressed inside the firm is
an outside resource is used.
·
Appearance
of Higher Costs- Added employee and resource costs are difficult to review.
New positions are mixed in with existing positions and the additional resources
are not reported separately. The consultant’s invoice, however, can be reviewed
in total every month. Comparison of the two resources requires expert knowledge
and the adoption of certain assumptions. In fact, costs are typically much
lower through improved efficiency and effectiveness.
·
Not
Resident- Not having someone in the office can be a real challenge for
some. For others, it’s a blessing.
·
Cultural
Awareness- In-house positions tend to learn the culture of the firm more
intimately. They see the behaviors and activities on a daily basis which define
a firm’s culture in ‘real terms’.