Hot topics, groundbreaking insights and riveting discussions – Illuminate 2024: The Intersection of Marketing and Technology was extraordinary! Day 2 was one of my personal highlights because I was able to present some exciting new ideas and solutions for the future of talent strategy with top industry digital, marketing and creative leaders during my session “Talent Strategies for a Global Workforce.” 

Together, we explored how global workforce solutions are informing and reshaping how we approach creative and marketing functions today. Here are the key highlights from the session. 

A Shift Toward Offshoring

First, a refresher: At Illuminate 2023, we introduced the Talent Solutions Decision matrix, which we use to help our clients find their optimal resourcing mix based on key considerations like their budgets, number of projects, etc. At Illuminate 2024, we expanded on this by focusing on The Offshore Studio, a key category of that matrix. 

According to Cella’s 2024 Intelligence Report, 22% of marketing and creative operations leaders said they use offshoring for their creative projects. Along with that, we’re also seeing an upward trend in the number of companies either interested in offshoring or required by leadership to augment their workforce with offshore talent. What does this mean for the future of the in-house model? 

The future of the in-house Creative and marketing team is having  a foundation of in-house expertise and agility coupled with the cost-efficiency and scalability of working with an offshore partner for Tier 3 creative and marketing work. In fact, 49% consider this in-house agency and offshore partner model the most effective combined production model. 

So, what does offshoring have to offer? And is it the right fit for your talent mix?

Going Global

Let’s first talk about what you stand to gain from offshoring creative and marketing tasks. Outsourcing and offshoring creative and marketing functions have quickly become strategic avenues to achieve cost efficiency. Now, it’s possible to lower production costs while maintaining high-quality output. Let’s take a closer look.

Cost Efficiency

  • Labor cost savings: Offshoring, on average, offers a 60% labor rate reduction, with savings sometimes as high as 80%.
  • Overhead  cost savings: On average, overhead costs such as office space and administrative costs are lowered by 30-40%.
  • Efficiency and scalability: Your team can focus on strategy while allowing you to scale quickly without committing to full-time employees.
  • Long-term savings: Companies that offshored 50% of their lower level  creative work reported an annual cost savings of 20-30%. 

Meeting the Ever Increasing Need for Content

More is more when it comes to content. Especially with the proliferation of digital channels, video and personalization, companies have to generate a growing variety of fresh and engaging content – social media posts, blog articles, video content, infographics, the list goes on – almost constantly. 

But keeping up with this demand often means teams are stretched to their limits and can’t consistently deliver high-quality content while also working on strategic projects. They eventually burn out, and their creative output suffers. 

Offshoring is certainly not a silver bullet, but it can greatly ease this pressure and provide margin for your team. By outsourcing routine, repetitive content creation tasks, in-house teams can focus on higher-level strategic work, like brand strategy, creative direction and high-impact campaigns.

Access to Talent: Follow the Sun

With offshoring, you can gain access to the world’s most specialized digital, marketing and creative talent pool.

  • Follow the sun: Having a global talent pool provides work availability, adding speed and agility for today’s global always-on marketing efforts. The work can “follow the sun,” i.e., as one team ends its workday, another begins, allowing a continuous workflow.
  • Global coverage: You can be responsive to global markets, quickly addressing client needs and market opportunities in real time. 
  • Speed to market: Increased turnaround time, faster iteration, well-established feedback loops and accelerated content production increase speed to market.
  • Strategic advantages: You can offer timely and efficient customer support and have a robust crisis management system.

Transcreation for Different Cultures

If you’re a global organization, you need to tailor your content and offerings to culturally and emotionally resonate with your local audiences in each geography. Doing this enhances how your customers perceive and engage with your brand, leading to higher conversion rates and stronger customer relationships. 

Equally important, transcreation also prevents cultural missteps and potential PR issues by ensuring your content is appropriate and respectful to each audience.

Choosing an Offshore Partner

If you’ve concluded offshoring is the right fit for your talent strategy, here are some key considerations for choosing an offshore partner: 

  • Partner’s capabilities: What are your partner’s capabilities and strengths? Find out whether they have experience in the relevant digital, marketing and creative work and the required technological infrastructure. Second, what is their resource availability, and can they scale quickly? Consider their pricing model and flexibility.
  • Cultural and communication fit: Assess whether the partner’s working style aligns with yours. Could language barriers pose a problem? Identify your points of contact and communication structure, whether it’s via an onshore project manager or directly with the offshore team. 
  • Time zone differences: Time zone differences can offer 24/7 work cycles but may also limit real-time collaboration. So, consider the overlap you’ll need to overcome this and the turnaround you expect on each project. Have a clear communication protocol and asynchronous communication tools in place. 
  • Quality control: You need to ensure consistency across creative outputs, so review how they manage quality control and ensure deliverables meet your standards. 

Preparing To Offshore Work

Once you’ve chosen your offshore partner, the next step is ensuring your internal processes are ready. Here’s how to do that:

Streamline Internal Processes

  • Decouple chosen production tasks from strategic creative work. Identify routine, repetitive tasks that you can offshore.
  • Create standardized briefs for production work. Also, use this opportunity to analyze your entire process and workflows to optimize or even re-envision them to align more closely with your business goals.
  • Optimize your project management processes and develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for routine tasks.

Align Workflows and Tools

  • Implement a unified project management system that both teams can access. Regardless of time zone, everyone should be on the same page.
  • Synchronized workflows, with clear handoffs and deadlines, will ensure seamless collaboration.
  • Provide detailed documentation and train the offshore team on your processes.

Detailed Briefs and Feedback Process

  • Create detailed briefs containing your creative requirements and deadlines and use visual aids to avoid misinterpretation.
  • Establish a clear feedback process detailing when and how you’ll provide feedback and track revisions. Ensure you adhere to the feedback timelines. 

Implement Regular Quality Checks

  • Ensure quality and document all revisions and feedback. Instead of thinking of feedback in terms of right vs wrong, use a “retain and apply” approach to foster continuous improvement. 
  • Monitor whether or not your global goals are being met. Are you successfully offshoring the type of projects you had originally agreed to offshore, and if not, why?  

Getting Started With Offshoring

Now that all the pieces are in place, how do you kick-start your offshoring efforts and ensure smooth collaboration?

  • Define objectives and scope: What specific tasks will you send to your offshore partner? What’s the expected work volume? What outcomes do you want to see? 
  • Share documentation: Hand over brand guidelines, templates and processes and ensure the offshore team has access to all necessary tools. Align on schedules based on project scope and volume.
  • Set communication protocols: Establish feedback processes and a meeting frequency. Do you want weekly check-ins? What’s the day-to-day feedback process?

Conclusion

Keeping up with the changes in the creative and marketing landscapes requires a talent mix that can expand and contract with demand without compromising on excellence. With Cella’s Talent Solutions Decision matrix, you’re a step away from finding that optimal resource mix.

Moreover, such insights and tools are essential for staying ahead. Recognizing challenges is just the start. You need to know how others in your industry are responding, collaborate on solutions with them and stay part of the conversation. That’s where Illuminate by Cella (and other events) comes in. As your go-to source for industry trends, insights and practical guidance, this event connects you with the leading voices in the digital, marketing and creative industry.

Attending Illuminate by Cella keeps your finger on the pulse, and partnering with Cella by Randstad Digital puts your hands on the wheel. Do you need another reason to mark your calendar for Illuminate 2025?