Outstaff VS. In-House Marketing Team: Pros and Cons

According to Digis, the project-based hiring model is growing in popularity among Fortune 500 companies. Outstaffing, as one of the ways to implement this model into the workflow, is becoming more and more in demand. However, besides its popularity, outstaffing is not a universal solution for all businesses. Thus, in this article, we’ll provide you with the differences between outstaff and in-house teams and what industries each working model is better suited for.

What is Outstaffing and How it Differs from Working with In-house Teams

While considering an application of different models to your workflow, it is vital to understand the peculiarities of each one. Let’s find out what outstaffing and in-house terms of cooperation are and when should businesses implement them. 

Outstaffing is a type of remote employment when specialists are officially hired by an external company that provides them to your business for a definite time fixed in the contract. During this period, outstaffers carry out all job duties that your in-house employees may otherwise have. While an outstaffing agency is responsible for insurance, taxes, bonuses, equipment, etc., you manage workflow and provide tasks to cover all specialists’ time.

In-house employment is a working model when you hire people to become a part of your own team. Their contracts are not limited in time, and they are officially registered in your company. In this case, you are responsible for everything connected with workers’ employment — from taxes and wages to software, hardware, tools and necessary education.

There are a few differences between the outstaffing model and the in-house that you need to keep in mind. Let’s highlight the main ones.

• Outstaff employees are officially registered in external agencies, while in-house ones are a part of your department.
• Implementing an outstaff model means that you can sign up either for a short-term or long-term contract. At the same time, working with in-house experts means that you hire them for a longer term (one year or more).  
• An outstaffing model assumes that the external agency covers all the expenses when you pay fixed sums monthly. An in-house model means that you cover all spending.
• You don’t need to hire outstaff workers, as well as waste time on recruiting. You just get in touch with an agency, and they provide you with the CVs of specialists according to all the requirements. At the same time, you are totally responsible for hiring in-house workers. 

As you see, these two marketing team structures are quite different. Let’s find out the key reasons why they are in demand.

3 Key Issues that Outstaffing Helps to Solve

Although establishing an in-house marketing department is a more traditional way to handle all the tasks, an outstaff team can help you deal with many processes. Continue reading to discover how working with a digital marketing team can simplify your work routine.

1. Not to care about cost management 

The first and the most pleasant is that outstaffing makes your life much easier. When hiring a marketing team or a single worker, you don’t need to care about their salaries, taxes, wages, equipment, bonuses, etc. You pay only a flat fee, while the agency cares about all other management tasks. Moreover, you always know what sums you spend on the worker and don’t need to deal with hidden costs.

2. To avoid strict employment laws

As well as not caring about cost management, you don’t need to deal with legal issues. Hiring and firing are the responsibilities of an outstaffing company. Thus, you can refuse workers or ask to replace them with other people without legal problems. What’s more, this allows you to collaborate with specialists from all over the globe without having a tough employment process and the necessity to follow the laws of both countries where employees and employers live.

3. To reduce efforts for team management

Usually, outstaffing digital marketing agencies offer specialists that have the experience of working together, so they are much easier to manage. Note that to increase the team’s productivity, it is critical to provide outstaff employees with all the necessary information to fully immerse them in the project. Moreover, while comparing outsourcing vs outstaffing, in-house project managers can better coordinate the work of a remote team and control it at all levels.

What Companies Would Best Benefit From Outstaffing?

It is essential to note that this model of cooperation does not suit all industries, and sometimes creating an in-house team will provide you with better results. In this section, we’ll highlight the main situations when companies can benefit from outstaffing and tasks to delegate to a digital marketing team.

Firstly, outstaffing is a remote type of work, so people can manage their duties all over the globe. Thus, this approach is beneficial mostly for digital companies in niches like IT, SaaS, financial services, etc. Anyway, if employees don’t need to be present at work offline, you can outstaff them in any company.  

Secondly, outstaff team members can be an important part of your marketing department. They are able to deal with strategic tasks, as most of them have extensive experience of working in different niches and, because of this, have strong marketing expertise. Moreover, outstaff teams usually can organize smooth cooperation with each specialist, as they’ve already worked together on many projects.

Thirdly, it is possible to apply IT outstaffing only if you have a clear-cut company structure and hierarchy. If you want to hire one employee, a digital marketing team structure is also required, while if you want to outstaff the whole department, you need to organize the workflow and get a project manager. This specialist will be responsible for providing remote employees with tasks and controlling their delivery.

What Businesses Require In-House Marketing Team Structure

According to Sortlist, less than 50% of companies in all countries have their marketing projects come from in-house employees. Let’s find out why this is so and when it’s better to create an in-house marketing team.

Building an in-house department is more effective for companies that need their employees to be present at work offline. For instance, you need to keep track of all processes because it’s more convenient for you to organize collaboration inside one office. 

There are also situations when it’s better to combine outstaffing with an in-house model. If you’re working in a very specific industry, there’s an option to hire an in-house marketing director who will be responsible for building a development roadmap and will manage all outstaff workers. In other cases, you can empower existing employees and provide your team with the expertise they need by outstaffing some specialists. 

It is also a good idea to outstaff workers during product launches and scaling. In this case, you need an in-house marketing team to develop a strategy and remote employees who will help them implement it into reality. What’s more, you can collaborate with outstaff marketers who will write you a comprehensive strategy because, as usual, these people have more experience of working with various promotional approaches.

6 Key Factors that Your Company Will Benefit from Outstaffing

Now you understand the difference between various models of cooperation with digital marketing teams. Continue reading to discover the top 6 factors that your business will benefit from outstaffing and how to strengthen your marketing efforts using this working model.

1. You want to quickly enhance the in-house team’s skills

If you want to expand your market share, test new approaches and scale, there may not be enough experts inside your in-house marketing team. In this case, outstaffing will be the best solution. This working model helps you enlarge your current department quickly and without unnecessary effort in the recruiting process. Outstaffing lets you quickly empower in-house employees with a person who has particular skills, which allows other workers to focus on more comprehensive tasks from your marketing strategy.

2. You need to launch the product ASAP

Some companies, especially startups, have strict deadlines and need to launch their developments as soon as possible. Thus, if you see that there aren’t enough employees to finish by the target date, it is reasonable to hire an outstaff worker. This way, you will empower your in-house development team quickly. Moreover, you won’t need to spend time dealing with all legislative issues, so there’s a much higher possibility that you won’t lose money because of missed deadlines.

3. You don’t have a well-organized recruitment process

Having an HR is reasonable if your company is big and has a stable necessity for new workers. However, even in this case, recruitment may be a long and complex process during which your business loses money and still lacks a necessary expert. What’s more, if your workflow isn’t organized well, it may take months to find a specialist. In this case, it is better to hire an outstaff marketing team, which consists of professionals who already know how to deliver target results. It won’t take so long to set effective terms of cooperation. 

4. You need to have a flexible number of workers

Sometimes companies require specialists to cover their marketing needs at specific stages of project creation. For example, there isn’t a necessity to have full-stack developers in a small e-commerce business. However, if the brand only builds its website, collaborating with companies that provide their workers on outstaff will be quite reasonable. 

This allows you to add employees to the project and remove them easily when the contract duration finishes. You don’t need to deal with employment laws, as these specialists are officially hired by a third-party company. What’s more, you can scale your team quickly, if it’s necessary, as the only thing you need to do is to notify the agency that you need a few more outstaff workers.

5. You want to reduce the cost of ownership

As WebFX states, agency marketing is usually much cheaper than in-house one. The reason is simple: to create strong in-house marketing teams, companies need to spend costs on software and hardware, recruiting, office rent, paying taxes, etc. On the other hand, collaborating with outstaff agencies allows you to pay a flat fee every month and forget about all other expenses. At the same time, outstaff specialists, especially internal marketing teams, can provide you with better results as they have more experience working with different niches.

6. You don’t know the scope of the work

If you only start in digital marketing or want to entirely change the direction of your development, it’s reasonable to collaborate with a professional agency that provides its in-house employees on outstaff. An experienced marketer will write a comprehensive strategy and highlight all the important points: from what channels you need to use to how your digital marketing team should look like. This approach is even more beneficial because you can hire other outstaff specialists right from the same agency, as they already have experience working together. 

Wrapping up

Congratulations, now you understand the difference between collaborating with outstaffing and in-house marketing teams. You know when it’s better to implement these approaches to empower your digital marketing department. So, apply these tips to choose the best solution for your company, increase your team’s performance and raise profits.