# Reasons To Outsource Digital Marketing Services | Capterra > Thinking about outsourcing your digital marketing? With our guide, learn how outsourcing digital marketing benefits your business and reasons to make the switch. Source: https://www.capterra.com/resources/outsource-digital-marketing-services --- Small Business Digital MarketingMarketing # 5 Reasons To Outsource Digital Marketing Services By Mabh Savage Mabh Savage Mabh is a writer specializing in human resources, digital transformation, and small-to-midsize business management and marketing. She's worked with companies... [See bio & all articles](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/mabh-savage-guest-contributor/) Published June 1, 2023 10 min read ## Wondering whether you should outsource your digital marketing or use your in-house services? Marketing is becoming an increasingly complex set of processes that require businesses to hone in on granular data while simultaneously maintaining creativity and brand consistency. Growth-focused small-business leaders know they need to leverage marketing techniques to stand out in crowded markets as well as weigh the risks and benefits of launching digital marketing campaigns using their own in-house personnel or investing in outsourced marketing services.  CMOs are under increasing pressure to seek opportunities for growth, which is why many turn to digital marketing agencies better suited to accelerating business goals. Searches for these types of agencies have risen by around 50% in the last 12 months, signifying a greater need for expertise and experience in the constantly shifting landscape of digital marketing.[\[1\]](#sources) This guide is for small to midsize businesses seeking to understand why they might need to outsource some projects to a digital marketing agency and what to consider when preparing themselves to do so. ## What does it mean to outsource digital marketing services? Outsourcing any business process means hiring an external company or individual to take over that facet of running your company. There are many different ways to outsource your digital marketing, and companies tend to utilize the following: - **Individual freelance marketers** are likely to specialize or offer a more focused approach to specific aspects of marketing than a full-service agency. Businesses may hire a freelance marketing specialist to create advertising campaigns, manage social media interaction, or devise effective email marketing campaigns. One common type of freelance marketer is a fractional chief marketing officer (CMO), an outsourced executive team member that businesses onboard on a temporary basis to oversee a company’s wider marketing strategy. - **Digital marketing agencies** are organizations that encompass a range of digital marketing functions within a single business, allowing companies to benefit from their breadth of skills and knowledge. - **Full-service marketing agencies** offer every type of marketing, often including both physical and digital marketing services. - **Social media marketing agencies** focus solely on gaining traction on social media platforms. While 15% of businesses state they've worked with larger full-service digital marketing agencies, far more work is given to smaller or specialist agencies.[\[1\]](#sources) Focusing more keenly on the aspects of digital marketing with which your organization requires support can bring the most financial benefits. ## Insourcing vs. outsourcing digital marketing services Insourcing means relying on your in-house teams to create, run, and maintain digital marketing campaigns. This includes gathering data on the success of each campaign and utilizing [business intelligence tools](https://www.capterra.com/business-intelligence-software/) to assess that data and use it to improve future campaigns. It also means leveraging emerging technologies or updating your tech stack to keep up with other companies within your industry. Outsourcing hands off these tasks to an external agency, freeing up your in-house teams to focus on the day-to-day running of the business. There’s also the possibility of a hybrid approach—for example, your onsite marketers might focus on content marketing, using their industry expertise to create vital resources for partners and customers. While your in-house marketing team concentrates its efforts here, you might outsource your advertising or social media management to an agency with high levels of experience in this area. Insourcing allows businesses to maintain complete creative control. Outsourcing may reduce that level of control, but provides expertise and industry-relevant knowledge that companies simply may not have access to in-house. ## Reasons to outsource digital marketing Let’s talk about some of the reasons why outsourcing would work best at certain times for your company. ###    Work with experts in the industry One of the main reasons to outsource digital marketing is to gain the advantage of the expertise that your business may not have in-house. Digital marketing agencies work with numerous companies on many different types of marketing campaigns and can share their strategic expertise with you. As well as a deep understanding of modern digital marketing techniques, marketing agencies know the best times to launch campaigns, how to assess current trends and take advantage of them, and how to gain insights on your company’s current traction in the market using methods such as social listening. Digital marketing requires an omnichannel approach. This means that an effective marketing strategy should utilize multiple platforms including social media, blogs, SEO-optimized web copy, advertising, dealing with affiliates, and much more. As you extend the channels your organization is present on, marketing efforts become increasingly challenging for small, in-house teams to handle. When you outsource digital marketing, you hire a team of marketers and marketing strategists that can take on as much work as required to keep you active across all relevant channels. Beyond the advantages of a larger team, marketing agencies often also have expertise in particular platforms or strategies that can accelerate your marketing efforts. For example, a Facebook expert may oversee your paid advertising efforts on this platform, handling comments and other forms of engagement or making recommendations for future campaigns. Video marketers know how to reach more viewers across platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, and will offer advice around trending topics, in-video branding techniques, and report back on which videos received maximum engagement. ###    Access to better tools and resources Digital marketing agencies are ideally placed to provide businesses with their insight and skills in the latest technological advances in marketing, such as AI-powered analytics, chatbots, and content generation aids. Marketing agencies have a tech stack packed with tools that they constantly update to stay in line with current trends and client needs.  Hiring an agency means you gain access to these tools, which will update at no additional cost to you as a business. Agencies also have a wealth of resources gathered from working with other clients, which you can make use of. These include documented market insights, deep understanding of differing audience segments, and existing partnerships they can leverage to get your brand more recognition in the marketplace. ###    Save money and reduce risk Marketing is an investment businesses make on the presumption of profit, but there is always an element of risk. If the campaign is poorly timed or doesn’t resonate with the target audience, it could flop and end up costing more than it brings in. When you outsource digital marketing, you reduce that risk considerably by ensuring your marketing campaigns are overseen by experts in that particular segment of digital marketing. Outsourcing digital marketing also saves your business time and effort. Experts in digital marketing tasks and strategies can often get the work done more efficiently, getting products and services in front of potential buyers faster and increasing sales opportunities. ###    Receive objective and actionable feedback Marketing agencies aren’t hindered by existing office relationships or hierarchies. If you request that an agency provides feedback on a particular campaign, that feedback will be clear, objective, and include actionable points to improve the next campaign. When you outsource digital marketing, you gain an outside perspective which is impossible to achieve by solely utilizing internal marketing employees. Combining that unique viewpoint with expertise in marketing strategy will lead to boosted return on investment (ROI) for most businesses. ###    Accomplish more within your business When you choose to outsource your digital marketing needs, you remove the time and effort needed for those tasks from other members of your in-house team. You regain those team members for more business-critical tasks, allowing you to focus on the day-to-day running of your business, including dealing with existing clients, building partner relationships, or research and development. In this way, the choice to outsource digital marketing can improve ROI in more ways than simply boosting sales. ## What kind of business should consider outsourcing digital marketing? Businesses within all industries can benefit from the expertise provided by experienced digital marketing agencies. When it comes to deciding between insourcing versus outsourcing, the primary consideration should be whether a company has the resources in-house to maintain consistent, impactful marketing efforts. For smaller businesses that may only have a single marketing expert, digital marketing could quickly escalate into a range of tasks taking up too much time for one person to handle. Businesses that have had difficulty maintaining an online presence should definitely consider outsourcing digital marketing. Consistency within online platforms is essential for holding the engagement of both casual readers and potential leads. Creating engaging and relevant content week after week can become arduous for less experienced in-house marketers, while digital agencies will understand exactly how to achieve this. Forty-five percent of organizations state that their in-house teams can’t provide the same level of service that a digital marketing agency can.[\[1\]](#sources) Choosing to outsource digital marketing or adopt a hybrid approach is the natural choice for businesses that want to make real gains in their online arenas. ## Prepare your business for working with an outsourced digital marketing agency How does your business get ready to outsource digital marketing? If you’ve previously done all your marketing in-house, you might be looking to scale your efforts up and reach a wider audience. Take a look at the following tips to prepare your business for working with an outsourced digital marketing agency:     Work with your business’s existing marketers, your branding teams, or your executive team to document exactly what you want to gain from working with a digital marketing agency. Include every detail, so that there’s nothing missed when you start the process of sourcing an agency that can cover your requirements. Ensure you consider your short- and long-term business goals when listing your needs.     Research which agencies work within your industry and also provide the services you require. For example, if you’re a SaaS business in need of a full marketing team, you’ll want to source full-service marketing agencies with experience in the software market.     Once you’ve narrowed down the list of potential digital marketing agencies to a select few, list questions to ask them about their services. As well as price, you need to know what other companies they’ve worked with in your industry, what testimonials and successes they have, how they measure success, and how the agency handles reporting. You may also want to ask what happens if goals are not met—while no business likes to plan for failure, it’s good to know what contingencies an agency has in place in case a marketing campaign is not as successful as planned. ## Further resources on outsourcing digital marketing effectively Marketing budgets climbed to 9.5% of a business’s revenue in 2022, highlighting a shift toward an increased focus on an impactful online presence. Outsourcing is also on the rise: 27% of companies now employ a hybrid marketing structure, whereby companies utilize a combination of internal and external marketing experts. Retaining some in-house expertise enables improved operational control while outsourcing the bulk of the digital marketing tasks to experienced agencies provides much-needed agility to growing businesses.[\[2\]](#sources) Discover more about hiring a digital marketing agencies, and gain more insight into the many services of outsourced marketing partners [here](https://www.capterra.com/resources/what-does-a-digital-marketing-agency-do/). If you’re a business that is ready to choose a marketing agency, you can find advice and support [here](https://www.capterra.com/resources/how-to-choose-a-digital-marketing-agency/). ## Capterra's 2026 Software Buying Trends Report ### Download our 2026 Software Buying Trends Report to see how successful software adopters avoid disappointment and how your business can, too. * * * Sources 1. [Market Guide for Global Digital Marketing Agencies](https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4015273), Gartner 2. [CMOs Should Determine the Best Marketing Service Provider Mix for Their Organizations](https://www.gartner.com/en/marketing/topics/marketing-org-structure-and-effectiveness), Gartner * * * ### Was this article helpful? * * * ## About the Author [### Mabh Savage](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/mabh-savage-guest-contributor/) Mabh is a writer specializing in human resources, digital transformation, and small-to-midsize business management and marketing. 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