For many good reasons, partnering with an outside agency makes all the sense in the world. The most obvious being your team is at or over capacity with current work and a project has come up with a deadline that you know you won’t be able to meet. Or, in trying to meet the deadline, you will be delivering less than your best effort. Another reason might be that you have a project that requires special knowledge or expertise that you don’t have within your in-house group.
When partnering, there are challenges you are inevitably going to face both internally and externally.
Internal Challenges
The first, and most obvious challenge, is budgetary. It costs money to partner with an outside agency, possibly a lot of money depending on whom you are talking to. Your management will likely want to know why they should pony up the additional funds. You want to think carefully how you answer that question, so you don’t cast aspersions on your own department. Of course, expectations will likely be higher for work from an outside agency. It needs to be good, and delivered in a way that is better than what your team would have been able to deliver, to justify the spending. And to justify your judgment.
Secondly, I’ve seen morale take a hit, because no matter how you couch the need to go outside, some of your staff will think it’s a vote of no-confidence, especially if it’s a large-budget project. The feeling that the internal team is suddenly the second string is a real likelihood. This sentiment only grows when managers are suddenly unavailable because of time spent with the outside agency. It is important to ensure that your internal team understands the need for the agency, and feels that their time, effort, and input are still valued.
External Challenges
Control, or lack thereof, is the first challenge when dealing with an agency. These aren’t your people and you aren’t going to be able to manage day-to-day activity. One thing I insist on knowing before I sign anyone up is knowing who the team is that will be working on my project. Agencies are famous for having the big shots and/or hotshots in the initial meeting, and then assigning the project, depending on its size and creative potential, to more junior people.
Further, these are people who likely work on many other brands and will be only somewhat familiar with what your brand personality and mandatories are. That makes a good brief with appropriate support materials especially critical. Having concrete budgetary restrictions and a rock-solid deliverables timeline are immensely important items within a brief. But, be smart about what and how much you share. No one likes a “data dump.” From experience, I can tell you volumes of background materials are seldom read thoroughly, so be judicious and only share what you need to.
In summary, you need to manage the internal situation just as carefully as you manage your outside agency. It certainly can be a win-win, but it’s not an automatic by any stretch.

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You lead or work as a member of an in-house creative team. Business is good. You definitely see the need for help in the near future. So, what do you do next?
Actually, you have many options. But they’re not all equal. For example, you could hire an advertising or marketing agency. But that may be prohibitively expensive, you may not be ready for the long-term “relationship” an agency usually desires, and start up times are usually slow.

Or you could go the route of a temp agency, which is also expensive because of the “middleman” factor. And there’s no guarantee you’ll get the quality creative talent you need.
Staff up? That makes sense if you expect business to continue to stay strong and you can find good people. You might even get lucky and find a superstar without high salary demands. But the interview process is a long and uncertain road, and hiring people means paying them benefits and making sure they’re a cultural fit within your organization.

The good news is, you still have two other viable options: Crowdsourcing.  And hiring a trusted freelancer. Full disclosure: this author participates in both options.
Crowdsourcing is cool because it exposes your projects to a cornucopia of brilliant, but strategically different minds. You might be very surprised at what ideas turn up, often better and more imaginative than you expected.

Something else you’ll appreciate is that crowdsourcing companies are used to creating minor miracles with set budgets. If you like options, need a fast turn, and have limited resources, it can be a really good way to go.

Or, another strategy for your in-house team is to develop a relationship with a trusted freelancer (or two). Yes, there are a lot of freelancers out there, and you may have to kiss a few frogs along the way, but start the process now. Then, when you find one you trust, that person who “gets” your culture, brings unexpected solutions, and delivers on time, hang on for dear life!
Once a relationship has been established and a freelancer enjoys working for you, it will be hard for them to say “no” to you—even if they’re really, really busy. They may even begin to think proactively for you—often at no additional charge! And if your need for talent suddenly slows, the freelancer won’t be offended. Their business world ebbs and flows just like yours.

The same goes for the crowdsourcing option. You’re probably unfamiliar with that option, so look for a way to do a pilot test to sample the approach and outcome on a low-risk challenge. Then you can decide whether you want to dive into those waters on a bigger project.

So, how’s business? If the future looks bright, now is the time to start reaching out—to both crowdsourcing companies and soon-to-be-trusted freelancers.

The post You Need Some Help. Where Are Your Options? appeared first on UpSource.