Outsourced Digital Delivery

Breathe’s Innovative Solution for Marketing Services Businesses.

Marketing services businesses, now more than ever, must maximise potential client spend and keep as much of that revenue as possible in their P&L. In parallel, to stay competitive, they must offer more services and de-risk any investment in people to ensure protection from the wider economic backdrop.

Is this a conundrum that cannot be solved, an insurmountable Catch 22, or is there a way to offer more at healthy margins with reduced financial exposure?

Breathe have found a way to square the circle for marketing services businesses who have a need to offer more digital delivery but have decided not to hire a full digital delivery team.

Breathe’s nearshore/farshore solution is a tried and tested model that is working now more than ever due to the challenging economic and hiring environment.

Why Outsource Digital Delivery?

Why must all marketing services businesses have the capacity to offer a wider and deeper range of digital solutions?

5 REASONS 

• Having the right digital team able to scale and flex when needed makes more sense than funding underutilised resources sitting waiting to be deployed
• Digital covers a vast number of separate strands, digital media, social media, websites, mobile, SEO, the list goes on and on. Not even the biggest full-service digital agencies can do everything, and it doesn’t make sense to try; the investment in niche specialists can destabilise any P&L.
• It’s not a good look to try a be a marketing jack of all trades, it makes more sense to bring in specialists to address any digital services that sit outside core capabilities.
• Digital is the central plank of any omnichannel marketing strategy; it doesn’t cut it to say we don’t do digital
• Digital is ever-changing and it’s almost impossible to stay one step ahead, sometimes you just have to bring in the experts, even if that’s only to learn how to do it. The chances are you will probably still decide collaboration makes more sense than reinvention.

When is the right time to consider digital outsourcing?

Balancing capacity, capability and cost of delivery is the key challenge for any marketing services business. Here are some common occurrences that trigger the decision to outsource.

5 SCENARIOS 

• Your business has a digital team but there are times when they just can’t cope with the number of digital projects on their slate – outsourcing can smooth out the peaks and troughs.
•  Your business has a range of core skills, technical digital skill is a peripheral offering but one that is often needed – white-labelling with a digital partner can give you confidence that digital business is taken care of and also ringfence the client spend.
• Your business has a well-resourced and skilled digital team, however, some projects require multiple low level/back office tasks which are a necessity. These requirements are low margin and demotivate the inhouse specialists – collaboration is the solution to getting these jobs done.
• Your business has been trying to hire digital specialists for a lengthy period of time, however, you are finding there are skill shortages and salaries are higher than you budgeted – partnering with an outsourcing business can be a cost effective and rapid solution
• Your business had a well-resourced digital team but due to business challenges over the last few years the team has contracted, you have committed to regrowing that team, but you need to balance client needs with investment in people – a white label partner can smooth the regrowth.

Does it make financial sense to bring a third-party partner into the equation?

Classic business thinking says it makes little sense to bring another entity to the table, increasing costs and diluting both relationships and margin. Contemporary thinking says sometimes collaboration is a win win.

5 WINS

• In simple terms, if you agree third party digital rates that allow you to make an acceptable margin then it’s a no brainer to consider outsourcing.
• Having digital resources on tap when you need them and dormant when you don’t, makes more sense than a constantly running meter.
• Marketing businesses typically want to focus on higher revenue digital tasks, the distraction of lower-level requirements just takes their eye off the prize of higher margins. Outsourcing allows your focus to stay where it should be.
• When developing a well-structured marketing services business, it’s important to offer digital expertise, however, this is expensive. A white-label partner can bolster your team allowing you to win and retain high quality projects.
• Hiring digital expertise is time consuming and costly, outsourcing can be a rapid and cost-effective solution. This buys the time needed to make the right recruitment decisions and reduce the risks around increased overheads.

Why don’t i just build my own cost-effective team of digital contractors and freelancers?

Many of those responsible for resourcing believe that freelancers and contractors are the best solution, this is flawed thinking for several reasons.

5 FLAWS

• Freelancers are, by definition, free and sometimes they will not be available because they have taken full-time another project, gone away or taken a full time job – this leads to a circular resourcing loop.
•  An ever-revolving door of digital freelancers and contractors disrupts consistent delivery, knowledge sharing and can lead to the need for repetitive induction and familiarisation.
• In relation to digital tasks, you need expertise and project understanding to decide what skillset is needed for competent delivery, this adds complexity when resourcing.
• Digital projects require high levels of security (around GDPR, data, etc.), robust backups and a focus on future-proofing. Freelancers and contractors are by their nature focused on short term delivery and can leave trail of issues behind. What happens when the digital solution falls over a month after project delivery and the resources have moved on?
• Freelancers/contractors are not a simple solution from a HR perspective, often they come with complexities around legislation such as IR35, etc.. Additionally, recruitment firms will add a layer of cost to any day rates.

How does Breathe’s nearshore/farshore outsourcing model work?

For over ten years now Breathe has been collaborating with marketing services businesses to enhance their digital capability. Our approach is well developed with a focus on technical excellence, service and cost efficiency.

5 COMPELLING REASONS TO TALK TO BREATHE ABOUT OUTSOURCED DIGITAL SOLUTIONS

• Breathe can seamlessly slot into your business as an outsourced digital department or help by augmenting your existing digital capability
• Breathe offers more than typically offshore resources in Eastern Europe, South or Southeast Asia and South America. A key part of our approach is based around our onshore client service and technical team
• Breathe offers offshore resources through our global team which works 24/7, this blended approach brings a high level of skill, minimal cultural challenge and ensures we seamlessly knit into your business.
• Breathe’s senior team is highly experienced and client-facing, offering the choice of not only outsourcing but also, white labelling by collaborating and working closely with your client delivery teams.
• Saving the best until last, it goes without saying that Breathe is cost effective and we’d love to share our rates to prove it – that’s the bottom line!