Thinking of recruiting an in-house B2B creative team? Think again!

Over the past few years, B2B content marketing has continued its rapid growth in popularity. Whether it’s infographics, ebooks, tip sheets, or case studies, businesses all over the globe are investing in this marketing strategy. Now though, as it becomes apparent that content marketing isn’t just a passing fad, more and more organisations are considering building their own team of B2B creatives in-house to help write and build the ever-increasing amount of content. But is this the best solution? Is an in-house team of writers and designers really a good idea? Well, it would seem not.

Quick calculations

Let’s assume that in order to meet your current B2B content marketing requirements you’ll need a senior designer/studio manager, a graphic designer, a senior copywriter and a copywriter. Now, in addition to the salaries for each of these employees, you’ll also have to consider the company’s national insurance and pension contributions for each staff member. And, as if it wasn’t already getting expensive, you also have to cover the costs of recruitment agencies and the purchasing of specialist equipment for designers. To put that into perspective, here’s a quick calculation based on average amounts.

The productivity curve

One key factor that can’t be clarified in a monetary sense, but still has a huge impact on your business, is the productivity of the new team. According to an HR Times blog[i], the average time it takes for a new employee to reach full productivity is 20 weeks. This means that even having spent the amount shown in the table above, you’ll still have to wait about half a year before your new team of B2B creatives reaches full productivity – within which time you’re failing to see ROI on your investment in new staff.

Cut time and costs

To avoid the lapse in productivity, consider outsourcing the creative aspects of your marketing to an expert agency. Not only will they have all the specialist staff and equipment ready to go, but more importantly, they’ll be able to generate ROI on your investment almost immediately.

Also, if you are in a position to spend upwards on £120,000 on an in-house creative team, consider that for a similar amount, a B2B marketing agency could provide you with full-service, multi-channel activity schedule which covers all aspects of marketing and lead generation. This is not only a better way to spend your hard-earned marketing budget, but will also free-up your in-house marketing staff to focus on more core responsibilities.

 

To find out more about creating engaging content and the steps needed to stand out from the crowd…