Companies try to handle their marketing communications needs in-house for many reasons. Sometimes, budget is the primary driver, but more often, there’s a belief that nobody in the outside world could ever understand the company as well as its employees.
Actually, that’s exactly why an outsider offers you a significant advantage.
You see, your marketplace doesn’t look at you through your eyes. Customers and prospects don’t see your company, your products, or your people from your viewpoint. They don’t envision the intention behind what you’re doing or recognize the superiority of your current efforts over previous ones. Fact is, they’re pretty ignorant when it comes to what they know about you.
That creates a real danger. By assuming that their customers and prospects think the same way they do, companies miss what those stakeholders are really thinking and what they need. They don’t realize that the dilemma that your staff grappled over for weeks isn’t important to those stakeholders. Actually, it means nothing to them. You’re so proud that everyone internally reached a consensus on that key issue, but it matters not a bit to the people who may buy what you sell. Your view of everything is shaped by internal attitudes and concerns.
Outsiders lack that baggage. They bring more objectivity to the process. For example, an outsider will be better able to point out how your audience might not come away with the same impression of what you plan to say. An outsider will have the ability to ask tough questions that internal folks may be uncomfortable voicing. Outsiders have the freedom to skewer sacred cows. At the very least, outsiders will bring a different perspective to the table that just might keep you from inadvertently embarrassing yourself in the marketplace.
In other words, sometimes ignorance really is a healthy thing.