What Agencies Can Learn From In-house Marketing Teams

With a slick marketing strategy, knowledge of social media, a graphic design team and a fancy logo to boot - modern market agencies in Manchester and the rest of the UK have everything in place to succeed.

However, in today's article, we're going to be looking at why that viewpoint may not be entirely accurate. We'll be examining five different learnings that we took from our own in-house marketing team.

Lesson 1 - Don’t neglect your own brand

Too often, agencies are so focused on providing an effective marketing strategy for their clients that they forget about their own brand and marketing operations. Your own in-house marketing teams that work on creating valuable content for your clients are also untapped sources when it comes to your own efforts. Their expertise sites with high-level advertising campaigns which help boost your clients brand, so naturally they have the skill set to improve your own. Agencies, owners and managing directors should bear this in mind and look to regularly focus on your own activities. This could involve:

• Dedicate time and resources with yourself and your marketing teams to assess your brand positioning at regular intervals each year.
• Invest in your visual identity and seek skilled graphic designers who can create a cohesive and visually appealing brand. Consistency in design across all marketing collateral reinforces brand recognition and trust.
• Be in the know about your marketing team’s strategy, milestones and objectives for the year. Whether that's content-led, focused on organic or paid, you should have some idea of where the focuses lie and be realistic about what it takes to get there.

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Lesson 2 - Actively seek collaboration

Through no fault of their own, agencies find themselves working in silos. The pressure to create quality work, the need to achieve certain business goals and the broader desire to attract talented people to a marketing agency can mean collaboration and team culture is put to one side. Agencies should learn from in-house marketing teams who have none of these pressures, and try to create a culture of creativity and collaboration. Yes, key performance indicators may not be met for a month or two and tough decisions may have to be made about some clients but to make meaningful progress as an agency, one that can showcase high levels of collaboration and an amazing culture, there has to be time put aside to ensure participation across the entire digital marketing agency.

Lesson 3 - Get experimenting

In-house marketing departments have more room to express themselves and experiment because they aren't bound by the need to deliver for another business. Again, this is a lesson that marketing agencies can and should learn from. Modern marketing is holistic and encompasses a range of techniques and platforms. It's no longer enough to have an X, Meta, LinkedIn or Instagram account. Agencies should be more comfortable experimenting with platforms, channels and looking for new technology that solves a problem for you. Again, if you’re experiencing cash flow problems, this can be difficult to preach. But we actively build into our budget experiments and trying something new whether that be across creative, channels or partners. You won’t learn anything by standing still and doing what you’ve always done.

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Lesson 4 - Make time for learning

Whilst it’s impractical to think that agencies can have an in-depth understanding of each client industry, assigning time for learning and professional development is crucial to learn from internal marketing teams. Internal marketing teams often dedicate time to researching industry news and learning from experts. LinkedIn is a great place for this, so many people now share insights into what they have done to make a success and how you can implement this too. Our marketing team regularly spends time looking online for new improvements that we can make to our campaigns and get some of our best ideas from looking outside our own data. Often if you have a problem and you’re not sure how to address it, chances are someone else has and has shared some insight.

Lesson 5 - Develop a long-term mindset 

Internal marketing teams often look to long-term goals for their team and overall brand, whereas marketing agencies might find themselves looking at short-term goals quarter to quarter. Whilst short-term goals are very important to consider, it's essential to not lose sight of your long-term strategy and what kind of agency you are looking to build. Whether that’s expansion, entering new industry segments, or looking to acquire larger clients, it’s worth being able to take a step back and see what actions you are taking and whether that is getting you closer to that long-term play. And furthermore, you must understand that building your agency’s brand is a long-term play and needs to be given the breathing room and consideration from leaders for it to get there. We often overestimate what we can achieve in a year but tend to underestimate what we can get done in 10.

The final lesson to transform your Agency

We're all for experimenting, collaborating and pushing the boundaries of modern marketing here at Design Cloud. We hope these tips help your marketing agency develop its brand among other things like collaboration and experimentation. If you ever need high-quality graphic design content from a group of experts at a price you can afford then get in touch with us here at Design Cloud. Our outsourced service can deliver unlimited graphic designs and marketing materials that promote your marketing agency for one simple monthly fee.

Whether you're a marketing agency or part of an in-house marketing team why not get in touch with us here at Design Cloud? We can fulfil all your graphic design needs in a way that is quick, efficient and far more cost-effective than hiring a full-time graphic design team