Recently, one partner from the USA asked us: ‘Should marketing agency outsource web development?’

We promised to give an answer in our blog after thorough researching the US market. Now that day has come - we are going to share our findings with you!

  1. What challenges do the US marketing agencies face when handling customers?
  2. How better to cope with these problems? To solve problems through outsourcing or to hire an additional staff for the company?
  3. How to choose the right web agency? What challenges do the US marketing agencies face when choosing a web agency?
  4. How can a web agency help a marketing agency to impress customers? Why cooperation with a web agency is the ideal business model for a marketing agency?
  5. Conclusion.

What challenges do the US marketing agencies face when handling the customers?

Advertising agencies are very demanded in the US. Every day, thousands of people are looking for professionals who can help a business to achieve its goals. Some people want to make their product popular and recognizable in the US or around the world, others seek to increase their sales.

According to our research, one of five customers applies to advertising agencies hoping not just to get ‘cool marketing’ - they want to order additional services, just because it is convenient or profitable for them.

Here are the most popular services requested by the customers of the US marketing agencies:
  • Developing and building a new website, taking into account all marketing features;
  • Redesign of an existing web resource or usability redevelopment – to improve website abilities to generate sales leads.

Such things can bring difficulties to the advertising agency. After a short survey, we found out how top managers react in similar situations.

1. To explain the customer that you are not dealing with this. This is probably the most prudent step because the agency can affect its credibility in the ‘buyer’s’ eyes. With the 60% probability, he will waive your marketing services.

2. Advise the customer a good developer, maybe a partner;

Advertising agencies and web agencies often work ‘back to back’. They can share customers and charge a small commission from that order, which is beneficial for both parties.

3. Accept the request and promise the customer to build a website, redesign or improve usability;

Such behavior may seem ‘absurd’, because not every newcomer marketing agency has staff web-designers. However, it is the best option – you will not lose the customer, but make a good profit. Moreover, if you fulfill the objective perfectly, you will move to the next level!

Advertising agencies that choose the third option: ‘Accept the request and promise the customer to build a website, redesign or improve usability’, often face many challenges. They have to complete the project, but lack the resources for this.

What do they do next? How to cope with the task quickly and meet the deadline?

How better to cope with these problems? To solve the problems through outsourcing or hire an additional staff for the company?

Marketing agencies have two ways out:
1. To have staff web developers and designers;
2. To seek help from a third-party web agency.

Which way to choose? Let us consider a matter in all its bearings and find out advantages and disadvantages.

Hiring staff web developers and designers

If you decide to add a separate staff in your agency, you will definitely encounter many difficulties related to the financial issues, adjusting business processes with the new team. In addition, you will have to deal with the departing employees who are not able to work for a long time in one company.

Thus, the advantages of this choice are:

  • If you do your work properly, you will be recognized not as an ordinary advertising agency, but as a competent web agency;
  • The whole process of website development will be under complete control, so you will rarely fail to meet the deadlines.

Now the disadvantages:

  • Hiring highly qualified employees is the task not to be solved in a week or two. Sometimes the search for experienced professionals may take longer than a month;
  • Financial expenses will be enormous: office rental and maintenance, salary for new employees, equipment purchases, increasing taxes and ‘scurrying about’ with papers;
  • Adjustment of all business processes may take an extra month – unfortunately, not always so much time is available;
  • It is not necessarily the case that the web developers and designers are loaded with a lot of work – and this is again, money left on the table; As you can see, there are many considerable disadvantages. Therefore, if you are not ready to face them, you should better give up this idea.
    Our study showed that in 2015 more than 43,000 US advertising agencies decided to have staff web developers. For 73% of them it ended sadly: they either returned to the previous level or completely ‘burnt out’.

Think it over whether to risk or not?

Outsourcing of the web development processes

Outsourcing of web development processes is very popular with the US advertising agencies. According to our data, 43.8% of the marketing agencies entrust outsourcing processes on the development and redesigning of websites on the third party web agencies. According to the top managers, it does not prevent from, but on the contrary, contributes to the business development.

Let us look at the advantages of outsourcing of the web development processes:

  • Financial expenses of the company are minimal: there is no need to pay for office maintenance and other things;
  • Entrusting web agencies to build a website, you can get additional 50%+ profit from the project;
  • Web development is imposed on qualified and experienced professionals who value the company's reputation;
  • The manager is always available: you can find out how the work on the project progresses at any time;

Let us review the risks of outsourcing of web development processes:

  • There is a risk to deal with an inexperienced and unreliable contractor who can fail to meet the deadline;

As we can see, outsourcing of the web development process is the ideal solution for the US marketing agencies. The most important thing is to choose a permanent, qualified and responsible contractor. We will talk later on how to do this.

How to choose the right web agency? What challenges the US marketing agencies face when choosing a web agency?

When an urgent need for web developers occurs, the marketing agencies face challenges in choosing a contractor.

‘When you deal with the outsourcing for the first time, you do not know how to act in certain situations, what criteria should be considered when choosing the contractor and what is worth attention’

But how to find a competent web design agency and professional developers?

Not so hard.

Check them for:

  • Competence
  • Work experience
  • Recommendations
  • Service tariffs
  • Quality of customer service
  • Willingness to make modifications/amendments

If you have found several worthy contractors who meet all the criteria above, then try to find out: ‘Is it a good or ideal agency?’

How to distinguish a good web agency from a great one?

Each US marketing agency seeks to work with the great contractors who perfectly understand the task, solve it at the highest quality and strictly in time. How then to find such web developers?

Listen to what they say, what they pay attention to. Do they discuss the website details or seek to know the customer’s business goals?

A good web agency would always ask: ‘What kind of website do you need?’, and they will do exactly what the customer requested. There are many such agencies on the market. Yes, they work efficiently; they can create beautiful and bright websites. But these web-resources are not efficient for the customer's business, and thus, money is left on the table!

And what about the great web agency? Top managers of such companies will ask you about the goals of your business. They would like to find out what you expect to generate from your website, and will start working for the benefit of achieving the set business goals. In addition, the specialists of the great web agency may not totally agree with you on some issues. They want to protect their customers from typical and costly mistakes!

You can obtain more detailed information about the differences between the good and great web-agencies in our article of ‘8 Differences between a Good and a Great Web Agency’.

You have probably understood that it is better to cooperate with a great web agency, and then the customer will be satisfied with the project performed!

How can web agencies help a marketing agency to impress the customer? Why cooperation with a web agency is the ideal business model for a marketing agency?

Do you want to impress the customer who order to build a website? A competent contractor can help you perfectly. How then?

They will create a modern and bright web-resource that enables to easily achieve all marketing goals expected by the customer. Besides, the website design will be attractive and unusual, and most important understandable for users on the intuitive level.

‘Intuitive design is how we give the user new superpowers.’

Jared Spool, Web Site Usability

Competent outsourcing of web development processes is the perfect business model for an advertising agency

It is very difficult to find a competent and experienced contractor who can develop a website causing the ‘WOOW effect’ with the customer. However, if you have followed our recommendations and managed to establish cooperation with the great web agency, our congratulations. You have managed to start building a high-quality business model, which will be able to satisfy all parties.

Why can this business model be called perfect? There are quite a few reasons, but the most important is that you are working with experts in their field, who are quite good at design and web programming. They grasp everything in a single flash, ask only important and clear questions, and know exactly what the customer needs. In addition, these contractors do not fail to meet the deadlines, because they value their own reputation.

The ‘Vintage’ Web Agency perfectly knows all aspects of creating cool design, developing efficient websites and improving usability. You can ask us for help or advice at any time.

Therefore, here is your business model:

The customer has ordered you to develop a website -> all data are transferred to the contractor -> he asks qualifying questions and accepts the order -> he performs the project in time -> he makes necessary modifications.

You must admit that such model perfectly fits for each of three parties. The customer is happy; you get the expected profit and customer loyalty, and the contractor – a precious job and desired income.

What do well-known experts think of cooperation between the marketing agency and web agencies?

David Rodnitzky, CEO of 3Q Digital:

He believes that outsourcing is the future that you can already use today. Read a few words from his interview given to The Forbes:

‘There are several potential benefits. First, an agency may have deep expertise, especially in something as specialized as digital, that a firm can’t cheaply replicate internally. Second, agencies have more redundancy, so if someone quits at an agency, there are other experts who can quickly take over the work. This is often not the case if you have an in-house team. Third, agencies see hundreds of accounts every day, which means that they are less myopic and learn faster than in-house teams, helping develop deeper and current expertise in a specific area.’

Conclusions obtained from the study

We have studied the American market in order to understand, ‘Is it worth for a marketing agency to outsource web development services to web agencies?’

We have found out that more than 43% of the US marketing agencies are involved in outsourcing of web development processes. Moreover, the leading marketing experts believe that this is an ideal solution for small and medium-sized businesses.

It is your choice, of course. But we recommend not to waste your money for staff web developers; but to outsource this job to the reliable contractor. This is the best solution for your business, both in terms of finances and development.

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