KEY TAKE AWAY
These 10 best practices are utilized by every org that has successfully achieved in-housing a team. Knowing where to focus, planning for change, understanding your needs and knowing when and where to utilize your bandwidth is key.
For more than 15 years, Theorem has supported in-house teams at leading organizations, agencies and technology companies, with expertise and scale. Over that time, we have observed some top notch in-house agencies and design teams.
Working along side so many amazing teams has made clear what works when it comes to building your in-house agencies and what does not.
Here are 10 of the Best Practices of theTop In-House Agencies & Brand Teams:
1
Focus, Focus, Focus
Did I mention Focus? Every team in your organization needs to know what their key focus area(s) are in order to operate properly. This is especially true of your brand and in-house agency teams. The best in-house teams we have seen have their goals and core focus/focuses laid out before they are even assembled.
If you are in the process of building your own in-house teams, there are few important questions you need to answer in regards to focus.
- What areas of marketing, data and institutional knowledge are the key focus for this core internal team(s)?
- How will this team(s) contribute to support the overarching company goals?
- Which elements and goals that are critical to the success of your business should this team be focusing on?
2
Expertise is Key
- When conducting this audit, ask yourself the following:
- What technology, data, industry skills and attributes are needed within this core team?
- Which skill sets do I already have at my disposal?
- What subject matter experts do I need to bring on in order to make this a well rounded team?
- How can I efficiently bring these SMEs onto the team?
- Do I have the budget to hire all of the SMEs required to complete the team or do I need to find a partner who can fulfill these needs for me?
3
Identify Your Tech Ecosystem
4
Plan for Evolution
Tech platforms and required skills sets are constantly evolving. For this reason, you must have an evolution plan in place for your in-house teams. In other words, it is important to create a standard system of training and education to keep your in-house team members ahead of the game when it comes to technology and the expertise needed to operate it.
Some things to keep in mind when creating this evolution plan:
- Does your organization have and education budget?
- What resources do we have/need to gain access to a variety of different skill sets?
- How can you utilize this evolution plan to create a career path for the best and hardest-to-retain talent?
5
The Ins & Outs of Campaigns - Big & Small
What does this mean for you?
6
Review Your Resources. Know Your Bandwidth.
What does this mean for you?
- Will your in-house teams be responsible for the support of a single brand or multiple brands, business units and teams?
- Do you have a global footprint or is it fairly localized?
- Are your campaigns multi-lingual across time zones?
- Have you established internal best practices to manage across various privacy regulations?
7
Data is the Golden Solution
Every single AdTech and MarTech platform can collect and output copious amounts of data.
This is no easy feat
It requires a combination of data analysis and data storytelling skills that can be difficult to find. It is important that you have an in-house team dedicated to data solutions/business intelligence.
This team will be tasked with managing, organizing, reporting on and sharing your data findings in a time sensitive way in order to make impacts on your company goals.
8
Game Plan for Change of Seasons
For this reason, you need to have a game plan in place for you in-house and external resources during season changes.
9
Media Management is Essential
When creating a media mangement strategy, is it important to ask the following questons:
- Do you procure media via private marketplaces, open exchanges or partner trading desks?
- Who manages these relationships?
- Does your organization have the skills and bandwidth to manage media while deploying campaigns to attract new eyeballs?
- Who is managing existing customers and who is managing new leads?
- Do you have your own trading seat?
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Good Partners are Priceless
The Bottom Line
With a number of organizations looking to in-house some of their teams, it is important to know where to focus to achieve success.