One unexpectedly positive result of the pandemic is that agencies (and most businesses for that matter) have been forced into the next stage of their evolution – Digitalization.
As agencies scrambled to adapt to the sudden onslaught of COVID-19, two realizations immediately became apparent:
The digital marketing arena has changed dramatically; and…
Digital marketing agencies need to adapt to the change – fast.
The former is best exemplified by the way multi-billion dollar marketing efforts shifted in the wake of the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics and various other international events. The repercussions of which caused the latter – the reevaluation of traditional versus digital marketing in terms of cost-to-reach ratio.
Quite surprisingly, the key to making this disruption work in favor of digital agencies is freelancing and remote work.
The Future of Work Has Changed Digital Marketing
With most people mandated to stay indoors due to the pandemic, there was a sudden leveling of the playing field for digital marketing professionals.
Everyone was suddenly working from home.
And while multi-million dollar agencies carried on with their zoom meetings in order to keep their portfolio clients happy, small-scale agencies began to step up.
Mom-and-pop stores, street corner groceries, local restaurants, and a host of small businesses and medium-scale businesses suddenly saw the urgent need to digitalize. They needed websites. They needed social media presence and social media marketing. They needed online ordering systems. They needed local advertising.
And guess who they turned to.
They hired the small digital marketing outfit that operated out of the local Starbucks and had team members located in the Philippines, India, and Eastern Europe.
And it didn’t end there.
With high-speed internet being available practically in every corner of the globe, fully offshore digital marketing companies started getting their piece of the digitization pie.
And why not?
A local retail store can have an entire website, online shopping cart, customer service complete with phone, email, and chat support, and social media marketing handled by an offshore agency operating out of the Philippines, Singapore, or Malaysia for a fraction of the cost.
The floodgates were thrown open and the face of digital marketing has changed forever.
Adaptability: The Key Survival
Consider these numbers: in the last 3 years, small and medium-sized businesses in the US have begun to outsource their digital marketing operations to offshore agencies at an increasing rate of 18% annually. In the same period, the number of high-ticket brands outsourcing part of their marketing to offshore agencies is going up at a much slower rate of 7%.
However, with marketing campaigns being launched by agencies located in Southeast Asia, India, and even Eastern Europe gaining a lot of traction and a lot of attention – at times even going head to head with campaigns being launched by elite New York and Los Angeles agencies- and the fact that these agencies practically charge peanuts to launch these campaigns, you can expect this number to go up in no time.
It is predicted that in the next 5 years, between 25% to 30% of all US business owners, regardless of size, will be outsourcing all or part of their marketing to offshore agencies. And it will only increase moving forward.
So here’s the big picture: Digital marketing has gone global, which means that what happens on one side of the world is readily available on the other side. The campaigns being launched by what used to be the industry untouchables can be viewed, reviewed, and dissected by no-name agencies from countries you don’t even know exist.
And guess what, they’ve discovered they can do it, too. Sometimes they can even do it better and for less. Small businesses have started to migrate over to these offshore agencies and so do a lot of medium-scale businesses. It’s only a matter of time before the big brands start joining the exodus.
Not a pretty picture, huh?
So is this the end for the downtown New York agency or the Hollywood Boulevard marketing outfit?
Not at all.
After all, American business owners historically have always dominated the global stage because we thrive in innovation, adaptability, quality execution, and cutting-edge technology.
However, to survive in this new normal, digital marketing agencies need to adapt. And by adaptation, this means globally expanding your creative teams.
The “Augmented” Digital Agency Creative Team
In order to drive this point home, let’s first look at what comprises the modern digital agency’s creative team.
This may vary depending on the size of an organization, the concentration and focus of services, or the business of the client. However, if we’re going to put together a versatile creative team, it will most probably include the following:
A Project Manager or Account Manager, who’s in charge of liaising with the client to find out what they need and what they want. This person will also be responsible for explaining what the team is capable of, what is possible, and what works. This is important so that the proper expectations are set.
Next is a Strategist. Once the client and the project manager agree as to what needs to be accomplished, the strategist steps in to conceptualize how the overall goal can be achieved. The strategy may be as straightforward as launching a series of ads to boost the client’s presence. Or it may entail several phases that can include a survey or a poll, development of advertising and other assets based on the survey or poll results, media launch, engagement, sustainability action plans, and others.
The above-mentioned positions comprise the top-level management of a creative team. The brunt of the work, however, is done by the fulfillment team which includes the Copywriter and/or Creative Writer. In some teams, these positions may be held by two people. However, if your team only has room for one, I’d choose a copywriter who can also write articles well. It’s because not all creative writers can sell. But good copywriters can usually write creatively. After all, selling through the written word entails a certain kind of mastery and creativity.
Next is the Graphic Designer. Depending on the marketing strategy, a creative team may need more than one graphic designer. Preferably one who specializes in static images, another who specializes in motion graphics, another who does infographics, and more.
The fulfillment team may also need Web Developers or more specialized Full-Stack Developers. These individuals are in charge of putting up a website or a funnel together and making sure the same works as intended and provide a positive experience for all visitors.
An SEO Specialist and a PPC Specialist are also very important members of full-service creative teams, along with a Social Media Manager. These people make sure all campaigns result in increased traffic and conversions. All good marketing strategies include capable SEO and PPC specialists as well as a reliable social media manager who can deploy effective social media marketing campaigns.
Lastly, a versatile creative team may also include an expert Email Marketing Specialist. This is someone who can set up email automation, create templates using email design inspiration, plan drip sequences, and be able to manage the client’s email lists in as much as segmenting, targeting, and retargeting is concerned.
The idea is to augment your existing team with a globally-distributed team. This means you can take advantage of the lower costs of hiring offshore talent but you retain internal quality by managing them with your core team.
To illustrate:
If an in-house creative department of a white-label digital marketing agency generates a gross income of $100,000 a month and you spend $70,000 of that in overhead expenses and salaries, you’re only making a net income of $30,000.
But if you outsource that department and scale it up so you can generate an income of $1,000,000 and spend 25% ($250,000) in overhead and salary expenses, your overhead and payroll costs may have increased by more than 350% but your profits have grown from $30,000 to $750,000 – that’s a growth of 2,500%!
In this sense, you should be looking at outsourcing as a method of expansion and deeper specialization of your outfit.
Another way would be keeping your in-house team to take care of high-value clients while using your expanded creative teams to handle your small and medium-sized clients.
Still, another way to do this will be to use your in-house team for more specialized, client-facing tasks, such as client acquisition, project management, or account management while outsourcing your actual “fulfillment team” that includes the writer, the designer, the developer, the social media marketing specialists, and the rest.
Offshoring is Here to Stay
Whether we like it or not, offshore talents and overseas freelancers in the digital marketing space are here to stay. It is not surprising that a number of high-ticket agencies already employ entire teams of overseas freelancers in their workforces – they’re just not keen on advertising it.
Like many economic disruptions in the past few decades, the key to surviving and thriving is to take the disruption and make it work for your organization. Don’t fight it. Work with it.
And in the world of digital marketing, that means augmenting your existing teams with offshore talents and taking advantage of a globally-distributed pool of creative professionals.
That’s how your digital agency can flourish in the face of the new normal and the future of work.
By Phillip Lew
Founder and CEO
