The Case for Hiring a Canadian Marketing Agency

Do you know who is really performing the marketing tasks you’ve assigned to your chosen third-party marketing agency? An individual across the world could be doing your marketing. Does that surprise you?

According to a recent study about the outsourcing of search engine optimization (SEO), 60 percent more marketing agencies are outsourcing certain marketing tasks that are assigned to them year-over-year. This article will look at why those organizations – especially those located in the United States – are taking these actions and what that outsourcing means for your organization.

Why Do Marketing Companies Outsource to Foreign Marketing Agencies?

There are many benefits to outsourcing, and not just in the marketing industry. Here are some reasons marketing agencies may outsource the tasks assigned to them by their clients.

• Maximization of the agency’s profit margins. It is sometimes more cost-effective to hire less expensive individuals to perform certain tasks than pay a salaried individual to perform them. For example, having a professional marketing manager perform the daily tasks of every facet of an internet marketing plan would add up, and, potentially require the expense of multiple employees, narrowing the company’s profit margin (or increasing the sticker price) of a given marketing service.
• Reduction of the sheer number of tasks required. Outsourcing menial activities like data entry and report generation for regular monitoring activities allows the professional marketer to focus on the more technical tasks required to review and analyze data. For example, SEO requires extensive tracking and monitoring, often times in a spreadsheet format. Does a marketing professional really need to be paid to perform data entry?
• Capitalization on experts. Because internet marketing is so widespread, the number of specialized experts who can perform various marketing tasks is also increasingly widespread. Now, tasks like content creation can be more efficiently completed by professionals who write content all day, every day, and social media experts can more intuitively select, schedule and cross-promote content across multiple platforms.
• Freeing up of in-house marketing professionals for success. Strategy analyses, plan refinement and client liasoning cannot, or at least rarely can, be outsourced. Outsourcing should only be utilized in an effort to allow marketing professionals within a marketing agency to better perform their jobs – make sure your company’s marketing goals are being met. And that is something you want from a client’s perspective.

Despite the common practice of outsourcing marketing tasks to foreign marketing agencies, even for good reason, the real question remains. What does outsourcing mean for your organization?

Common Objections and Responses to Outsourcing Marketing Tasks

Speaking from our experience as a Canadian marketing agency, Above the Fold Media often hears and addresses the following concerns when working with an American business – in our case, usually either the owner or marketing department.

• Canadians don’t understand the nuances of their American-rooted business.
• Distance is a problem, as it prevents us from not being able to meet in person.
• There are no Americans working at the agency, they presume.
• An American marketing agency would provide a better value for their services.

To address the last point first, as we feel it is the most important to us as well as to our own clients, value is the priority. In these times, nearly any task at nearly any organization in nearly any industry can be outsourced. Marketing is no exception. The catch is to have confidence in the quality of the work being provided to your organization. Since many American marketing agencies also outsource tasks – perhaps even overseas – the physical location of a marketing agency does not determine the return on investment, the value of services, a client can and should expect.

Beyond the quality of work, Canada is a hop and skip away from the United States. Being a North American neighbor means trends are very similar between the two countries. And the countries aren’t merely geographically linked, Canada is the United State’s second largest trade partner.

Additionally, technology allows virtual, face-to-face meetings, and in the case of a Canadian marketing agency like Above the Fold Media, can often in a client’s own time zone. Finally, our marketing agency, in particular also employs and outsources certain marketing tasks to several American citizens.

The Real Struggle

Finding a marketing agency with which your organization can develop a good, long-lasting, working relationship with is often a bigger challenge than any outsourcing concerns we address. It is important to find an origination that will allow you to participate in the marketing process at all levels to ensure the quality and value of the services meet your marketing needs and provide quality project management and reporting to keep you informed while allowing you access to experts in niche areas.

If you are looking for a marketing agency to support your marketing efforts – in America or elsewhere – we hope this article has addressed your concerns and you will not be dissuaded by hiring an agency that can best meet your organization’s marketing needs. To learn more about how Above the Fold Media can serve you – wherever you are – visit us here.