A lot of talk has surfaced in the last few months over the topic of In-sourcing vs. Outsourcing. I guess this could be an expected outcome of Apol buying Aptimus. Clearly there are advantages of both, here are some of them:
Outsourcing:
- Leveraging a firm who is experienced, and leveraging their power with the vendors for pricing & placement.
- Leveraging the firms experience and knowledge of the broader vendor universe with regards to conversion rates, volume, sourcing & price.
- Leveraging the firms knowledgebase of conversion rates from other schools with similar vendors to determine how competitive you are with your leads. Leveraging multiple schools analytics vs. your own.
- Limit internal headcount based on outsourced components.
- Better chance of identifying lead fraud.
- Utilizing the firm as a means of stability, reduces risk due to internal turnover issues.
In-sourcing:
- Capitalizing on owning the market intelligence of sourcing, conversions & pricing
- No paying a mark-up on lead spend/agency fees
- Stronger direct relationships with lead sources
- Complete control of marketing…good & bad
- Owning of own marketing analytics
There are more for both, and if you have some feel free to share and we will add them. I think it also comes down to size of school/system as well as growth objectives. Often smaller schools tend to be to small to outsource while many of the largest reach a point where it becomes too costly. The good news is that technology has been advancing and there are more options today than in years past.
An example of a professional firm that provides these types of services:
visit www.edufficient.com