Marketing departments are opening their eyes to what their IT departments pay for IT development. As marketing departments start to take apart their agency contract they are starting to question bill rates on HTML website design, Flash websites, testing services and other e-commerce solutions. The standard bill rate on marketing term sheets reflect a fee across the board for the whole campaign. These rates charged by agencies are typically $140-150 an hour. This rate is 3-5 times higher than the fees charged by IT companies for similar services like those above. So, why the difference?
Historically, IT departments have had to work on limited budgets, cost savings strategies and efficient staffing. As a cost center, downward pressure to reduce expense through efficiency is considered SOP. Marketing departments have historically been charged to increase sales, increase brand recognition and grow customer base. The two areas are charged with different goals. IT also has an in depth knowledge of IT services and the skills necessary to complete or produce IT services. Marketing departments do not necessarily have that same knowledge.
Marketing departments are moving toward decoupling the services offered by full service agencies’ and acting as their own general contractors on campaigns. By acting as the general contractor brands are now splitting the services between creative and IT. This creates savings of 30-50% off traditional methods. This does not come without complexities in its execution. Acting as the general contractor means coordinating with multiple companies so that the finished product is on time without sacrificing execution excellence. Corbus can help your company with this knowledge transfer and has the expertise to act as your general contractor to make the execution painless.
Is your company prepared to act as their own general contractor or do you need help in evaluating your advertising spend? Contact us today.
-Don Crawford, Vice President Customer Relations
