Who knows your company better than you? Conversely, who care more about your company and its ultimate success than you do? Even if you were able to find an outsource company that shared your vision and were able to lock into an iron clad agreement that would guarantee you an unprecedented level of care with respect to your company’s handling, would you still be able to have your online marketing done in such a manner that is would surpass your in-house capabilities? In all honesty, the answer is probably still no.

Yet can the downside of outsourcing online marketing be offset by higher revenues? This is a question only you and your senior level management team are able to ponder successfully. In addition to the foregoing, you might be able to find out simply by an increase in call volume and productivity figures, yet these may also be due to the fact that mistakes are being made and customers need to be placated with the help of employees working overtime to fill orders so as to maintain the current customer relationships your company enjoys.

Perhaps the greatest danger that will occur during your outsourcing of online marketing efforts is the possibility of a sudden spike in staff retention problem in other departments. Fearing for their job security and perhaps also unwilling to adjust to a sudden loss of a key department in the corporate office, some senior management, and eventually also regular employees, may decide to seek their fortunes elsewhere. While you may be able to head off some of this migration by clearly defining the scope of any outsourcing you are planning to do at this point in time, you may not be able to stem the tide completely. This may affect your other departments to such an extent that the hoped for increase in revenues may actually become a bit more of a liability than an asset, at least in the short run.

Furthermore, the fact that an outsourcer will not possess the knowledge of what makes your company run will be translated into a somewhat skewed picture that is promoted to the consumer. For example, if you pride yourself on the fact that your call volume is low, the outsourcer most likely will not take that into account when crafting an ad campaign. This may or may not present a problem. First and foremost, if this is only an asset to your mind but does not affect overall customer behavior, you will lose nothing. If it is a pet project of several of the management staff and a great source of pride to your staff, than a failure to acknowledge this milestone will result in employee dissatisfaction and perhaps turnover; finally, if this is something that customers care about in your particular industry but the ad campaign does not focus enough on this point, you will be missing out on new business.

The downside of outsourcing online marketing offset by higher revenues is a reality that will only come to pass if certain components are properly aligned. Serious discussions and planning sessions involving your senior management staff first and all other employees subsequently will help to mitigate the worst aspects of the downside in the long run.