Note From Tongal: “How to Convince Your Boss to Use Crowdsourcing” is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and then Pitch us a topic you'd like to write about for the Tongal Blog!
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Marketing is an expense. Any CFO will tell you that. Most budgets for Marketing departments are categorized in the “expense” category. That’s why Marketing Directors are tasked with providing a return on investment for all marketing efforts.
So when Marketing Directors want to outsource anything to an agency, they’re often met with “can’t you just do that?” The thing is, not all in-house marketing departments are full service. And even the full service ones can’t do everything effectively. Does your marketing team manage a blog? Yes. Do you post on it as frequently as you should with SEO-optimized content? Probably not.
That’s why when companies have giant initiatives that require a lot of brainstorming and creativity, marketing departments stop all day-to-day activity to focus on the new initiative at hand. It’s not the most productive way of working. And it’s usually not going to result in the amazing final product the big bosses are looking for.
In fact, most of the time, the result is a repurposed version of something that has already been done and most likely not unique or disruptive. Unfortunately, this story can end badly for the marketing department when ROI doesn’t meet expectations.
That’s why outsourcing to an agency can be very appealing to a marketing director trying to “do all the things.” However, outsourcing can be very expensive and you typically only get one result, take it or leave it.
In the past several years, crowdsourcing has really grown in popularity. Regardless of the competitive learning environment of crowdsourcing, some purist designers, art directors, and even marketing directors still scoff at the idea of a competitive platform for art. To them, art is personal. It has meaning, is not a commodity, and it can only truly be effective if created by an artist employee who knows the business at its core.
THAT’S. NOT. TRUE.
To a CFO, money is money. “If you can show me this is effective, I approve.” It’s the Marketing Director and the Art Director we need to convince.
Tell your boss about these 5 compelling reasons to start using crowdsourcing.
1. It’s scalable
Outsourcing for design, copywriting and campaigns could cost thousands of dollars. But what if you don’t like what they create? Then you’re having to basically guide them to what you actually want. And particularly for the perfectionists, you end up doing the work yourself. Crowdsourcing can offer many, many designs/pieces to choose from. So, at the very least, you’re starting where you really want to start.
2. Daily work won’t suffer
The in-house department won’t have to stop everything to focus on this one thing. Focus is good. But, when employees have to drop other important things, you could be dealing with many unhappy, stretched-too-thin workers. With crowdsourcing, you can simply turn it over to a passionate community of creators and invite diverse points of view, while still meeting all those other hot deadlines.
3. Variety
Using sites like Tongal or 99designs, you can get tons of options. Filtering allows you to get through the clutter and really hone in on what you’re looking for. If you outsource to an agency, you will usually only get one option. If you’re lucky, 2-3 options will be presented.
4. More creative results
In-house marketing departments are sometimes stuck in the “this is the way we’ve always done it” frame of mind. Leadership teams have 20-30 years experience and use their gut to make decisions on creative. Unleashing the public can result in a wide variety of outside-the-box options.
5. Involve the community
Everyone, from Customer Service to I.T. to Accounting, wants to be in Marketing. It’s fun! And, everyone with a brain has an opinion and they love when you ask for it. Capitalize on that. Empower your sales teams and fans in the creative selection process. Post the options from your crowdsourced initiative in an internal company forum or on social media and let them vote. Plus, involving the community in the selection gives perspective on what the market will respond to. In other words, it’s a greater chance to show an impressive ROI.
