In-house gets it done cheaper, faster

These days, just about everyone working in the PR, marketing or creative services field is looking for information to help show the value of their work — especially when talk turns to outsourcing and budget reductions. If you happen to be part of an in-house PR, marketing or creative services team, then you might want to make note of this little nugget I picked up from an American Marketing Association webinar from a few years ago:

In-house PR, marketing and creative services staff are more efficient than outside agencies, according to information presented during this webinar by Aquent.

As the chart below illustrates, in-house services can get the work done at 40 percent of the cost of a typical agency, and in one-third the time. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Click image for full size
Click image for full size

Of course, this is only one data point, from one source. But it’s a third party resource that may come in handy when talk turns to outsourcing work as a cost-cutting measure.

I’m not writing this to slam consultants. Consultants provide valuable services to our colleges and universities. But these days, we need to consider the value and expertise our in-house people bring to our marketing operations.

Top edu marketing challenges: survey says…

[E]ven in hard economic times, the challenges for marketing communications people on campuses of all kinds are not that different than they are in flush times.

That’s the conclusion Michael Stoner draws from his recent survey of higher ed marketers. Michael worked with Slover Linett Strategies on the survey (which I posted about back in December). On Tuesday, Michael posted a summary of the survey results and a link to the full report (PDF).

So, in these tough economic times, what are the biggest challenges? Tell ’em, Richard!

The survey says:

  1. Branding and messaging
  2. Rethinking and expanding communication outreach approaches and formats
  3. Incoporating new media and/or technology strategies.

“What’s different now, of course,” Michael adds, “is that tactics and solutions are very much dependent on the economy (this was the fourth challenge marketers identified).”

More detail in the full report.