So you run a marketing department. You’re all busy. And you’re all going to be an awful lot busier in the coming months too. Which means you’re going to see about getting in a temp or two to ease the load. Perhaps even find someone with a specialism to get a campaign off the ground.
We’ll stop you there. You don’t have to bring in temps to cope with the extra work. Not when you have a marketing agency on hand instead. Let’s walk through the reasons why using a marketing agency will benefit you more than using temporary staff.
Expertise
The first and most important issue is around staff expertise. Doubtless there are excellent temporary staff out there who deliver real quality work. The problem is finding them. It’s not just about one niche ability either as you will ideally need people with a matrix of skills. And that can be very tricky to find the ideal candidate.
By contrast, your marketing agency will already have not just the primary expertise in-house but complimentary resources which can make a huge difference when delivering your plans. Additionally, those same skills will usually be more current and to a higher standard too.
Familiarity
It’s frankly almost unheard of for temporary staff to walk through the door and make an immediate impact on your workload. They need to be given some time to familiarise themselves with what they are to do and understand your processes. On the other hand, your marketing agency already knows your business. They don’t need time to soak up your culture or figure out where the coffee machine is. But what they do need, and already know, is you. What you need, how you work, and how they must respond. And that familiarity is crucial in making sure your plans are delivered.
Flexibility
Hand-in-hand with expertise is flexibility. As your marketing agency has the resources available to accommodate your needs, so they can switch their resources to undertake tasks as you need. Finding temporary staff who have a wide range of marketing skills is hard enough; finding staff who can work to the same speed and flexibility as your agency is needle in haystacks time.
Speed
Finding temporary staff for your marketing department has three issues. First, you have to find them. Even in the so-called gig economy that’s not easy. Really good staff are most likely already employed elsewhere. Or they won’t be available when you need them. In some cases they prefer to be freelance, in effect standalone agencies in their own right.
Second, you have the need to onboard temporary staff. That period of bedding-in means you have an inevitably low level of productivity. So your plans are delayed while you help your temporary staff get themselves in tune with your work and your workplace.
And third, there is always the risk of temporary staff being very temporary. They could simply leave to work elsewhere. They may not be capable of undertaking the work you need. Or they could turn out to be a bad fit for your department. Which means you have to start all over again and find a replacement.
Now compare these issues with using a marketing agency. First, you already know them, so the whole interview, negotiation, start date and onboard process is removed. The speed of deployment is therefore far higher; basically you are able to cope with the increased workload much faster. The risk of losing or replacing temporary staff similarly disappears.
Simplicity
A bonus to using your marketing agency rather than employ temporary staff is the simplicity of the situation. When you employ temporary staff you have a significant amount of time taken up with ‘people’ tasks. You’re managing them, sorting out holiday rotas, dealing with personal issues or handling conflicts. By comparison, using an agency is far more efficient. You can focus almost purely on your objectives, and be concerned only with what the agency is delivering.
