Marketing-as-a-Service (or “MaaS”) is a fairly new concept in the world of marketing.
In an ever changing world of marketing, MaaS has become an increasingly popular option for companies wanting to drive revenue growth, while keeping their cost-base low and flexible.
In a looming recession, MaaS will be an increasingly popular option for companies who don’t want to hold off on their growth, but still want to mitigate risks and lower the level of uncertainty.
In this article we’ll describe the purpose of MaaS and how you know if it’s right for your company. We’ll also answer some common questions on the topic.
The breadth of competencies needed
Digital marketing is complex. Most marketing teams must master skills such as strategy, branding, campaign management, paid advertising, SEO, conversion optimization, digital analytics, and much much more. For most companies, it’s basically impossible to master all these skills inhouse. Here MaaS might complement or replace your inhouse capabilities.
Constant changes in tech and competencies
Not only does digital marketing require a wide set of skills, it also requires constant development and learning. The paid social tactics of today might not be relevant next week. New technologies and platforms emerge. This also puts requirements on marketing departments to constantly develop their skills. By purchasing some of these skills or capabilities from a vendor, you get access to the most updated tech and skill sets.
Scaling on demand – up and down
Recruitment takes time. Depending on the seniority, a new recruitment will take anywhere from 3 to 9 months before the person actually starts. In a high-growth environment, especially in uncertain times, it is virtually impossible to predict the demand and supply the right resources at the right time. Here, having a MaaS vendor will enable you to scale more quickly. Let them worry about the headaches of predicting demand and resources.
On the other hand, what happens when you need to cut costs and make quick changes to your budget? It’s often easier to add/subtract services from an agreement, rather than having to fire people in your team.
MaaS enables perfect cost-control
One of the best traits of a functioning MaaS agreement is perfect cost-control. With the right stringent agreement, you will always be certain of the cost of your marketing efforts. With the right data points and close follow-up of all efforts, you can also calculate a steady ROI.
Use MaaS to build your department and do skill-transfer
We’ve seen many clients who use MaaS as a way of building their own marketing departmentents from ground up in a cost efficient manner. If you use MaaS together with your inhouse team, there will also be very healthy skill-transfer. MaaS vendors are experts in their field and also great at process building.
But isn’t marketing the core of what we do?
Marketing is at the core of any successful company. But honestly, how differentiated is your marketing strategy? How differentiated does it have to be for you to succeed?
Many of the activities in a marketing department are fairly routine and can be well-scoped. If you source those activities from a vendor instead, you can put your time where it matters most: On the truly differentiating aspects of marketing.
Can you outsource your entire marketing department?
Yes, it’s actually possible. However, in most cases, there is a healthy mix between inhouse and outsourced resources. It’s important for you to sit down and decide which capabilities you want to have inhouse and which can be sourced from a MaaS vendor. Let your vendor do a quick survey and help you put the puzzle together.
Does MaaS include a CMO?
It can! CMO is a critical leadership role in most organisations. Sometimes, that role will benefit from being supplied by a vendor instead. This is especially true if the company is quite small or if a new leader is need on an interim basis.
Who is MaaS for?
We’ve seen MaaS work well for companies of all sizes. For smaller companies and startups, it’s common to let a MaaS vendor run all their marketing initially. This enables the company to find their PMF and also understand which marketing resources they actually need.
It’s also common for large companies to purchase one or more capabilities as MaaS. This enables the company to get access to specialised competencies and/or cover temporary peaks in their demand.
What differentiates Recuro?
We supply MaaS to many happy customers in the Nordic region. We differentiate by focusing only on subscription-based companies, in particular Media, SaaS & B2B Services and Circular/Sharing economy companies.
Recuro has an inhouse team of specialists and an extended network of partners when needed. We can provide a full-service marketing department – from strategy and management, to creative and digital specialist services.
At Recuro, we have very clear processes and a personalised approach to you as a customer. We’re also flexible when it comes to our reimbursement models – from fixed monthly fees to sweat-equity deals.
Contact us and describe your needs and we’ll come back with an offer in 24 hours!
