With a staggering 61% of brands collaborating with ten or more influencers, it's clear that influencer marketing is a powerful tool.
However, to manage influencers effectively, it's important to either have an in-house team or hire an outsourcing agency.
Many brands get stuck here as they cannot decide which option is best for their business needs.
This decision involves weighing several factors, including budget constraints, desired level of control, expertise, and the ability to scale operations flexibly.
Thus, to help you reach the final decision, we’ll cover:
- Benefits of each approach
- Major differences between in-house influencer vs outsourced influencer marketing
- Factors to consider for making the right choice
P.S: Want to avoid the hassle of managing influencers in-house? Outsourcing it is what you need. At inBeat Agency, we handle everything from influencer selection to campaign execution which allows you to focus on your core business. With our tailored, data-driven strategies, we ensure your brand gains the visibility and engagement it deserves, without the stress of managing it all yourself.
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TL;DR:
- Influencer marketing: 61% of brands collaborate with ten or more influencers, making it a crucial strategy.
- In-House Influencer Marketing: Managed internally by the company's team, offering full control, cost efficiency, and stronger influencer relationships, but it's resource-intensive and challenging to scale.
- Outsourced Influencer Marketing: Handled by external agencies, providing expertise, extensive networks, and scalability, though it comes with higher costs and less control.
- Key Considerations: Costs, communication, talent, resource management, creativity, scalability, and risk management are critical factors in deciding between in-house and outsourcing.
- Recommendation: Outsourcing is generally more beneficial, offering cost-effectiveness, specialized skills, and ease of scaling, allowing businesses to focus on core operations while achieving superior marketing results.
What Is In-House Influencer Marketing
In-house influencer marketing is a strategic approach in which a company manages its influencer campaigns internally without outsourcing to external agencies.
This method involves the company's own marketing team directly engaging with social media influencers to create and promote content that aligns with its marketing goals.
The process includes:
- Identifying potential influencers
- Reaching out to them
- Negotiating collaborations
- Managing the campaigns through their lifecycle.
Managing influencer marketing in-house offers benefits like full control, cost efficiency, brand alignment, and stronger influencer relationships.
However, it poses challenges such as being resource-intensive, lacking specialized expertise, difficulty in scaling, and slower adaptation to trends, which can hinder the effectiveness and growth of campaigns.
What Is Outsourced Influencer Marketing
Outsourced influencer marketing refers to the practice where a company hires an external agency to manage its influencer campaigns.
They possess specific expertise in influencer marketing and usually maintain a wide network of influencers across various niches and platforms.
Through this approach, companies can benefit from the deep industry knowledge and resources that agencies bring to the table.
Precisely, these agencies are great at:
- Crafting tailored influencer strategies that align with the brand’s goals
- Handling the logistics of campaign management
- Ensuring compliance with advertising standards and regulations
Outsourcing influencer marketing to an agency offers benefits like expertise, extensive networks, time efficiency, scalability, and compliance.
However, drawbacks include higher costs, reduced control over creative processes, and potential misalignment with brand goals, which could impact the campaign's authenticity and effectiveness.
In-House vs Outsourcing Influencer Marketing - A Brief Comparison
7 Factors of Differentiation Between In-House and Outsourcing Influencer Marketing
Let's explore the seven key factors that differentiate in-house from outsourced influencer marketing.
Each factor plays a significant role in shaping the effectiveness and efficiency of your influencer campaigns.
1. Cost
The cost of both types of marketing varies:
In-House
Managing influencer marketing in-house generally requires a lower direct cost compared to outsourcing.
This approach eliminates agency fees and enables more funds to be allocated directly to the campaigns or to engage more influencers within the same budget.
However, it requires investment in internal resources, such as staff training and tools for campaign management.
If your company already has a marketing team with bandwidth and a bit of influencer marketing expertise, going in-house can be more cost-effective.
The cost breakdown of in-house influencer marketing is given as follows:
Outsourcing
Outsourcing influencer marketing typically involves higher initial costs due to agency fees that range between $1,000 to $18,000 depending on various factors, including:
- Scope of the campaign
- Influencer caliber
- Campaign duration
- Exclusive services
- ROI expectations
This fee covers various services, from influencer discovery and vetting to full campaign management and analytics.
If your brand is looking to launch large-scale campaigns without the existing internal infrastructure, outsourcing can provide access to top-tier expertise and technology.
2. Communication
Each approach offers distinctive communication styles that can cater to different needs:
In-House
In-house influencer marketing allows for direct communication between your internal team and influencers.
This approach provides a high degree of control over messaging and ensures that brand values and goals are consistently communicated.
Because the communication is managed internally, your team can quickly respond to changes, provide real-time feedback, and make adjustments to campaigns as needed.
Here’s the problem: Managing communications in-house requires a significant investment of time and resources. It can also be challenging for smaller teams to handle the complexities of multiple influencer relationships simultaneously, which may slow down the process if not managed effectively.
Outsourcing
Outsourcing to specialized agencies brings in a level of expertise and professional experience in managing communications with influencers.
Agencies usually have established relationships with a wide network of influencers, which can facilitate smoother and potentially more persuasive interactions.
And here’s another advantage.
They can handle multiple campaigns and influencer communications simultaneously.
That’s why outsourcing is a beneficial route for brands looking to expand quickly into new markets or demographics and prefer expert handling of diverse communication styles without the need to hire any internal staff.
3. Talent and Expertise
In selecting your influencer marketing strategy, make sure to look for the following talent-related considerations in both types:
In-House
Managing influencer marketing in-house requires you to invest significantly in training your employees.
Your team must possess a deep understanding of both your brand and the intricacies of influencer marketing.
This includes:
- Identifying the right influencers
- Negotiating contracts
- Managing ongoing relationships.
Problem #1: The availability of specialized skills may be limited, which could hinder the effectiveness of your campaigns if your team lacks experience in this niche area.
Problem #2: in-house teams often face the challenge of keeping up with the latest trends and tools in influencer marketing.
Without continuous training and development, their strategies may become outdated, limiting creativity and innovation.
Solution: Ensure that your team has access to ongoing education and resources to stay competitive in this rapidly evolving field.
Outsourcing
When you outsource influencer marketing, you tap into a reservoir of seasoned professionals as agencies come equipped with teams that have honed their skills across diverse industries.
This rich background allows them to deploy cutting-edge tactics swiftly, which increases the chances of success for your campaigns without trial and error. Moreover, the diversity of expertise within these agencies is a game-changer for your influencer marketing strategies.
Their teams often include experts in:
- SEO
- Content creation
- Data analytics
Here’s what our agency’s Slack channel looks like:
And that’s just part of it.
We have many more expert teams ready to assist you.
If you're seeking a broad array of specialized skills that can be immediately applied to innovative campaigns without a lengthy build time, opting for an agency like inBeat is your best bet.
4. Resource Allocation and Management
It’s important to understand the resource allocation factors of both influencer marketing approaches to make an informed decision:
In-House
Managing influencer marketing in-house requires a substantial commitment of internal resources, in terms of financial investment along with staff, technology, and time to manage campaigns.
This comprehensive approach involves allocating budgets for training and software tools, and potentially increasing headcount to handle the workload.
Moreover, the team handles all aspects of campaigns, from planning and execution to monitoring and analysis, which allows for quick adjustments without external dependencies.
But here’s the problem:
All this can strain resources and lead to employee burnout as they balance these tasks with their regular duties.
Outsourcing
When a company outsources its influencer marketing efforts, it transfers the responsibility of resource management to the agency.
This includes everything from selecting the right influencers to negotiating contracts, coordinating content creation, and tracking campaign performance.
Remember: Agencies have the expertise to allocate resources efficiently.
This includes aligning the right talent for creative tasks and strategically distributing the marketing budget to maximize campaign outreach and effectiveness.
And this expert management extends to logistical aspects as well.
5. Creativity and Innovation
The levels of creativity and innovation offered by in-house teams and agencies vary:
In-House
An in-house team better understands your brand’s history, values, and target audience.
This knowledge can spur creative campaigns that resonate strongly with your company’s existing customer base and reinforce brand identity.
However, the creativity and innovation in your internal team can be constrained by:
- Familiarity bias: Teams deeply embedded within the brand might lean towards safer, tried-and-tested approaches that align with past successes. This means you can miss out on bold, innovative opportunities.
- Resource limitations: Smaller teams or those with limited resources might not have the capacity to explore and implement high-tech or cutting-edge creative influencer marketing solutions that require specialized skills or advanced technology.
Outsourcing
Outsourcing to a specialized agency can inject fresh, creative ideas into your campaigns, as it brings diverse perspectives from working across different sectors and brands.
Moreover, when provided with adequate details and a clear understanding of your company's brand values, agencies can often align their creative strategies effectively to reflect them.
Consequently, you can benefit from:
- Diverse creative pool: Agencies often employ individuals from various creative backgrounds which enables a melting pot of ideas that can challenge the conventional approaches and introduce new trends to your campaigns.
- Advanced tools and techniques: With broader industry exposure, agencies may have access to advanced marketing tools and data analytics platforms. This facilitates more innovative and precisely targeted campaigns without extra costs.
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6. Scalability and Flexibility
Let's have a look at the differences in scalability and flexibility between both to better understand which might suit your business needs:
In-House
Scaling in-house influencer marketing can be challenging.
Problem #1: You’ll need significant investment in various aspects to handle increased volumes or to expand into new markets. These include:
- Additional staff
- Latest technology
- Training of employees
The process can be slow and resource-intensive, too, as building the necessary capabilities internally takes time.
Problem #2: The flexibility of internal teams is limited by available resources and processes.
Changes in strategy or unexpected market opportunities can be difficult to capitalize on quickly if they require new skills or huge shifts in resource allocation.
Outsourcing
Contrarily, outsourcing is inherently scalable.
Agencies are equipped to manage fluctuations in campaign volume and complexity without needing you to directly expand your internal resources.
They can adjust the scope of work according to your brand’s marketing needs, which makes it easier to scale up for large campaigns or scale down when necessary.
And that’s not all.
The flexibility agencies offer is also remarkable.
They can quickly adapt strategies based on emerging trends or changes in the market.
Plus, the best agencies, like inBeat, have diverse teams and resources that are ready to deploy.
This agility makes it simpler to test new markets or adjust campaign elements on the fly without the constraints of fixed internal resources.
7. Risk Management
It’s equally important to assess how each option manages risk related to influencer marketing campaigns:
In-House
When managing influencer marketing internally, the company is solely responsible for all associated risks.
In-house teams may occasionally lack specific legal expertise or market-wide insights, which can lead to errors in judgment or oversight in this area.
Some common risks include:
- Campaign failures
- Non-compliance with legal and regulatory requirements
- Disputes with influencers (over contract terms or dissatisfaction)
Warning: Your company must handle all legal and financial consequences internally when mistakes occur.
This can involve costly legal disputes or fines for non-compliance that affect financial standing and the brand's reputation.
Moreover, resolving issues takes significant time and resources and may divert attention from other strategic activities.
Outsourcing
Outsourcing influencer marketing to specialized agencies can remove various risks associated with in-house management. Agencies typically have legal teams or retain legal counsel who are well-versed in the specifics of:
- Influencer contracts
- Copyright laws
- Compliance with regulatory bodies
Insider tip: At inBeat, we have established protocols to swiftly address potential issues, from influencer behavior that could damage the brand to non-compliance with campaign guidelines.
Moreover, agencies typically include indemnity clauses that protect clients from certain types of legal exposure and associated risks.
Ready to Amplify your Brand's Reach by Outsourcing Influencer Marketing to inBeat Agency
After carefully considering all aspects, it becomes clear that opting for an agency for influencer marketing is the most beneficial approach. From being cost-effective and scalable to offering a pool of influencers and tackling all the influencer marketing-related tasks, outsourcing allows you to leverage a suite of services that streamline the entire process.
Key Takeaways:
- In-house influencer marketing refers to a company managing its influencer marketing campaigns internally.
- Outsourced agencies handle all aspects of campaign management from start to finish.
- Outsourcing can be more cost-effective in the long term despite higher initial costs due to agency fees.
- Outsourcing influencer marketing offers specialized expertise and a broader skill set than in-home teams.
- While in-house teams offer better control and integration with ongoing marketing activities, this comes with the need for significant resource investment.
If you want to focus on your core business while driving exceptional marketing results, outsourcing is the smart choice.
inBeat Agency, trusted by 250+ brands, handles everything from start to finish, ensuring your influencer campaigns are expertly managed.
We leverage data-driven strategies, cutting-edge tools, and the latest trends to craft campaigns that resonate and deliver measurable success.
With our team of experts, you gain access to unparalleled industry insights, a vast network of influencers, and the ability to scale your efforts effortlessly.
Book a FREE Strategy Call Now and let inBeat take care of every detail so you can watch your brand grow with confidence!
