Your marketing campaigns are the crux of how well your business does. However, when you rely on external, outsourced suppliers, you’re risking your business’s success. If a task needs doing properly, it’s often better to just do it yourself – and while you think some of it might be out of reach, it probably isn’t with the right investigations. You can bring your entire marketing strategy in-house: from the initial planning to the finished product. You don’t need to spend millions in the process either. In fact, you could actually end up making money from doing this. Plus, you’ll have the option to outsource your own skills once it’s all set up!

Perfect the end product

If you’re constantly being let down by poor quality printers, long turnaround times, and no quality control or proofing option, all of your hard work is for nothing. Printing is such a vital aspect of the marketing campaign process, so it needs to be done perfectly and carefully. However, if you’re on a tight budget, you won’t always be able to achieve this. That’s why it’s often worth setting up your own printing company as an offshoot of your business. Then you can take control back, and ensure high-quality products. If you don’t want to start a business, you could look at taking on a franchise. Regardless of whether you’d need a screen printing franchise, or one specialising in t-shirts, you’ll be able to fill a gap wherever it comes up.

Bring the skills in-house

It’s easy to rely on an advertising or marketing agency, and you get lots of great advice. However, their intentions aren’t always aligned with your own. Many agencies are motivated by awards and winning competitions, and while this is good for you and will make you be more creative, it might mean that your customers’ needs are relegated. So, try to stretch your hiring budget to bring these skills in-house. You don’t need loads of people to start with: you can find talented experts who can handle everything from planning and strategy to project management. Then you need the creatives. While you might want to rely on freelancers for a while, start to consider bringing all-rounder creatives on board: those who can design well, as well as write well.

Understand what’s going on

If you do have to carry on using an agency, take a bit more control. Currently, you might be relying on their advice and suggestions, and not really understand what it is or why they’re doing something. This means that they can take over your campaign, and leave you on the sidelines. So, start getting to grips with the basics of marketing. Learn what all the different services are, and make sure you’re getting what you want. Ask to have more involvement in the process, and ensure that when you give briefs, you're clear about what you want exactly. Most agencies will prefer this firm, direct partnership: campaigns always go wrong when no one knows what the expected outcome is.