In-housing could be the answer for CMOs working with reduced budgets

"Over the last year plus, marketing budgets have dropped and left CMOs scrambling to make the numbers work. Several factors caused the reduction: the pandemic, supply chain issues, inflation and the great resignation, to name a few. So, as CMOs navigate the new post-pandemic world of stretched marketing budgets, how will in-housing fare? Will we see shuttered in-house agencies or will in-housing benefit from the belt-tightening and deliver solutions that can't be found externally?"

"Overall data points to in-housing continuing to increase and for good reason. In 2021, a Gartner survey found that 29% of external agency work shifted to internal marketing teams. Some might see this as purely a cost-saving strategy, but the in-house agency, when staffed and managed appropriately, has a deeper knowledge of the brand and has the potential to deliver better results. After all, the in-house agency is part of the brand and by default the brand custodian."

"However, to ensure longevity every in-house needs to continually evolve. Spending more time on higher-value content and automating the development of lower value content will future-proof the in-house. There are several ways to optimize content development and creating self-service options for lower-value content is one example that solves the problem without draining in-house resources. The goal is to get the lower-value content automated and templatized so that the in-house delivers value by spending time on the higher-value work."

Marketing budgets have fallen due to the pandemic, supply chain issues, inflation and the great resignation, leaving CMOs to stretch resources. In-housing has increased, with 29% of external agency work shifting to internal teams in 2021. Properly staffed and managed in-house agencies possess deeper brand knowledge and can deliver stronger results as brand custodians. Longevity requires evolving the in-house model by focusing on higher-value content and automating lower-value work. Self-service and templated solutions can prevent resource drain. In complex categories, in-house teams can reach effectiveness faster than external agencies through alignment with senior leadership and business understanding.

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