Early in my career, I worked as a marketing communications writer for a health and life sciences company. Whenever a big project came along, my boss would hire an agency. It frustrated me because I always felt like I was being robbed of an opportunity to challenge myself and do fun and exciting work.
The irony is not lost on me that my role is now reversed. I own an internal communication agency, and my team is usually hired to step in and help with projects, campaigns, and special initiatives.
The good thing is that I’ve learned the incredible value of bringing in external help over the years of working with agencies. This is because I experienced firsthand how an agency could elevate my work, help me improve, and bring incredible value. Because internal communications agencies are relatively new on the scene and many organizations don’t have much experience hiring one, we thought we’d share six great reasons to hire an internal communications agency. In the process, we bust some myths and provide some useful points if you ever need to build a business case for bringing us on board!
1. We give you flex
Many organizations solve their resource challenges by hiring another full-time employee. While this is a great idea when there is a steady flow of work, we all know that internal communications work is never stable and predictable.
An internal communications agency gives you the flexibility to scale up quickly, tackling new initiatives and managing multiple competing priorities quickly and easily. We provide access to people with specialized knowledge and skills that might not be available internally. Our talented team of strategists, designers, writers, and project managers will help you scale up to tackle new projects.
The ability to bring in an integrated team or a few key resources for a project can be more cost-effective while saving you the time-consuming process of hiring additional temporary resources. This can maximize your internal communications budget and reduce overhead costs.
We all know that time is money. By offloading time-consuming tasks to experts who can handle them efficiently, you can focus on strategic priorities and core business activities, increasing your flexibility to adapt to new challenges and opportunities. We often step in to help with new projects and initiatives. A good example of this is when organizations purchase a new internal communications platform. We look after the strategy, governance, build, content creation, planning, and launch campaign. This allows internal communications teams to continue with the day-to-day activities necessary to keep employees informed, involved, and inspired.
2. We bring new ideas
With a diverse collection of talents, experience, and skills, our agency team can bring fresh ideas to internal communication challenges. One of the reasons my boss at the health and life sciences company insisted on hiring an agency for bigger projects was because he believed that bringing in an agency made us better. He called it ‘cross-pollination,’ by this, he meant that the agency brought new ideas based on work they did for other clients, and we could benefit from them (and we did!).
Fast forward 25 years later, and I am leading my own agency and consider Vision2Voice an idea factory and the source of extra brain power for your team. Take a recent project we worked on where our goal was to encourage employees to clean out their offices before moving to a new location. We didn’t want to sound like parents telling their teenagers to clean up their rooms, so we created a campaign called “Getting our move on.” The message was full of energy, action, and excitement. Best of all, it achieved results … without being bossy.
3. We offer a fresh perspective
An outside agency also brings a fresh perspective to existing challenges with years of combined experience, global insights, and best practices across multiple industries. With an unbiased and objective view, we are not influenced by internal politics or preconceived notions. Our external exposure allows us to draw parallels and transfer our knowledge of what has worked with other businesses and what hasn’t worked to your team.
We can question existing practices and challenge the status quo because we are not bound by your organization’s established assumptions and beliefs. Our audits are the perfect opportunity to introduce breakthrough strategies and new approaches to internal communications challenges while providing data and insights that act as a catalyst for change. In one of our audits, the team knew that employees were overwhelmed by email and struggled to manage information stored in their inboxes. What they didn’t realize was that people loved the content they received. They just needed a different channel — an intranet — to keep important information and news in one place.
4. We are a trusted sounding board and advisor
Most internal communications professionals have great insight, knowledge, and instincts. Often all you need is to consult with someone who has been there before to make sure you have all your bases covered and you’ve thought of everything. It makes the difference between walking into the CEO’s office worried that you are missing something or being able to enter their office with full confidence your strategy is flawless.
We worked with a senior internal communications professional that I consider brilliant a few months ago. She was working on a high-profile, high-stakes change initiative that was complex and critical for the organization’s future success. Her senior leadership team, including the CEO, was looking to her for an innovative strategy that would accelerate change. Our team supported the strategy development process and helped with a session with the senior leadership team. Her feedback: “It could not have gone better.” While we provided guidance and additional perspective, the most value we offered was in giving her the assurance and certainty that her thinking and approach were exceptional.
5. We keep you in the know
Agency teams must understand industry trends and the latest research and stay on their game. It’s essential to delivering results for clients. At Vision2Voice, we are passionate about our craft and are active members of the internal communications community – learning, sharing, and growing together.
Our job is to continually learn and bring our clients next-level thinking. Not only that, but we take great pride in supporting the professional development of every client because I believe in the power of learning and living generously. While we love producing thought leadership content and resources and building workshops and training for clients, it’s not uncommon for us to refer clients to other fabulous resources, including those created by other agencies and consultancies (Rachel Miller’s All Things IC and Brilliant Ink are two of our favourites).
An agency can and should equip you and your team with the tools and knowledge to succeed either with us at your side or when we are long gone. One of our clients recently organized a change management workshop to involve leaders in understanding some of the challenges their teams might experience as they navigated a certain change. I was astonished at the quality and thought put into the workshop, and then she attributed her knowledge of change management principles to her work with Vision2Voice!
Dare to be vulnerable
“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.”
~ Brené Brown
Despite this great list of reasons to invest in an agency, we understand that you still might have some doubts. Trust us. We’ve heard them all!
- How long will it take to understand our organization and what we need?
- What will it be like to work with a team I don’t know?
- How much of a hassle will it be to manage the agency?
- Is there room in the budget to bring in external help?
- I don’t want my boss to think I can’t do it.
We also recognize that hiring an agency is an act of vulnerability and courage – the courage to open yourself up to new ideas, perspectives, and ways of knowing and doing. Because we understand these concerns, we’ve spent time creating a great client experience. Building a strong and positive relationship with our clients is essential, and we take pride in fostering a fun, enjoyable, supportive, and collaborative relationship. This enhances productivity and nurtures innovative ideas. This is why we ensure that we deliver great results and make the process fun and energizing!
You don’t need to go it alone
There is always a temptation to try and do it all on your own. This blog helps you think differently about hiring an agency and shows you how working with an agency partner can help you gain valuable insights, fresh perspectives, and new knowledge. Want to learn more about how hiring an agency is a smart investment in your team and yourself? Book a discovery call today!
