Peer responses

Please read the articles down below and make your won respond for each article.

Number the articles

For example: article 1:  I agree with you……

No resources needed

100 words needed for each article

Article 1:

Discuss why a company would prefer to do all of its advertising and other promotional activities using in-house agencies/departments rather than working with external ad agencies and those who provide specialized marketing communication services. What are the pros and cons of such practice?

A company may prefer to do all of its advertising and other promotional activities using in-house agencies/departments rather than working with external ad agencies because it allows the company to have a centralized system within their company. Allowing the various departments to divide the activities and work alongside the advertising department, sales, and product development. Each department can then take on the functional activities where the advertising or marketing manager controls the entire promotion, which includes the budgeting, research, coordinating creation and production of ads, planning for the media schedules, and monitoring and administrating the sales promotion programs. Doing so can also help to reduce costs when it comes to advertising and promotion, and allows them to maintain greater control over the agencies activities.

A downside to utilizing an in-house agency or department would be that when it comes to the external agencies, they have highly skilled individuals on staff who are specialists in their chosen field. They also have staff which may include artists, writers, media analysts, researchers, along with others who have specialized skills, knowledge and skills. An outside agency can also provide an outside viewpoint of the market and its business that is not subject to internal company policies, biases, or other limitations. The outside agency can provide a large range of experience it has gained in similar industries while working on a diverse set of marketing problems for various clients.

Article 2:

Discuss why a company would prefer to do all of its advertising and other promotional activities using in-house agencies/departments rather than working with external ad agencies and those who provide specialized marketing communication services.

The question of internalization or outsourcing of communication is not a matter of course for a majority of companies. Depending on the size of the company, it is a reasonable question to ask. The internalization of its communication brings some non-negligible advantages. First of all, the person in charge of internal marketing and communication will be more available because he or she will be working full-time for a single “customer”. The proximity with the management team and all the partners of the firm, the mastery of the often highly technical expertise and the culture of the firm, as well as a great knowledge of the needs and specificities of the market and of the firm’s clients, make an in-house position a real asset in the service of the general strategy. The employee will be able to act as a multi-skilled project manager, capable of defining and implementing various complementary actions among the communication levers (publishing, events, advertising, trade shows, emailings, public relations, media relations, web and social networks…) to achieve the objectives that will be set for him/her. Within the firm’s premises, the speed of execution and validation will only be reinforced. It will also be easier for the structure to control the actions and results obtained, as well as the activity of the employee who will have to justify his time spent on a daily basis.

On the other hand, an in-house employee may not be able to manage all the actions depending on the volume of work and the objectives to be achieved, due to a lack of time and resources, but also due to a lack of complementary skills. Indeed, an in-house employee can be multi-skilled, but multi-specialist profiles are rare. This raises cost issues. If an employee represents a gross annual salary that is sometimes substantial, depending on his experience and past training, it is also necessary to take into account the training time in the company (products/services, new skills…), or even new recruitments to create a team of several people if necessary. Finally, as marketing and communication is a so-called “support” function for the commercial activity directly linked to the business, this activity can be seen as a cost center, reducing the internal employee to a simple executor, useful to obtain a return on investment, leaving aside any added value intervention (market knowledge, monitoring, analysis, advice and recommendations, experience sharing, address book…).

In short, with internal communication, project management is made easier. Only you know your company’s activity at your fingertips. You have total control over your communication. You say what you want to say. The internalization of communication is, a priori, cheaper even if it remains to be qualified. Communication today requires a large number of skills with very marked specialties. The internalization of communication is perfect in a solid company that does not wish to devote too much budget to this aspect.