Communication can have a significant impact on an organization’s success. Communications teams — often small but mighty — work interdepartmentally to ensure employees, patients, referral partners, investors and other stakeholders get the information they need, when they need it.
But communications methods and the skills needed to develop and implement successful campaigns are broad and ever-changing. If you look at job descriptions for corporate communicators, you’ll often see skills that span strategy, content development, social media, email and HTML development, video, graphic design and more. Even the most seasoned and capable corporate team can benefit from outsourcing functions of its communications department to help manage workload and ensure goals are met.
Finding the right partner
Bringing in an external communications partner can help boost the power of an internal department and add strategic expertise that can be hard to find in one job candidate. The right partner serves as an extension of your team by enhancing their capabilities, complementing their skills and adding value that can be verified through regular checkpoints and measurement tracking. Choosing the right communications partner can bolster the reputation of an already effective team by expanding their reach and results.
Benefits of outsourcing communications
- Efficiency – Communication departments can add irreplaceable value by providing a cohesive look at how the company is presenting itself to its various audiences at any given time. When things are moving quickly – during a time of organizational change, for example – a trusted partner can help both lighten the load and offer communications guidance to ensure projects are completed efficiently and effectively.
- Expertise – Communications agencies employ people with many different skillsets and backgrounds. When you partner with an agency you have the benefit of gaining access to a deep bench of experts that would be hard to replicate in a single internal hire. Additionally, communications agencies are used to working with similar organizations facing comparable challenges, so they can often lean on past experiences to advise on the best path forward.
- Connection – Leaning on a reputable communications partner can open the doors to beneficial personal and professional development opportunities, both for the organization’s leadership and for the company overall. Communications agencies often hold active memberships with professional and trade groups in their field and have strong existing partnerships with other leaders and their organizations. Agency partners can make introductions and recommend their clients for opportunities that elevate visibility and influence.
- Time and cost savings – Hiring a communication partner is an investment that can save organizations hundreds of thousands of dollars in overhead and staffing costs. Bringing in a partner grants you access to decades of experience, a bench of senior strategists and the flexibility to achieve results without straining precious internal resources.
Deciding to invest in a communications partner can be difficult but identifying an agency that specializes in your industry can save you from the uncertainty of finding an internal candidate to satisfy all of the organization’s needs.
If you need help growing or implementing your communications strategy, contact Lovell Communications at info@lovell.com to learn more about how we’ve helped health care companies build and grow their business with strategic communication and marketing creativity.
