Why Marketers are Moving from DIY to DIFM

Not too long ago, from home improvement and craft projects to income tax preparation and even cough syrup, the do-it-yourself movement was seemingly everywhere. Over time, however, the enthusiasm for DIY began to fade. As people embarked on more DIY projects, they learned that these endeavors took a considerable amount of time and often led to headaches and frustration. DIY began to give way to DIFM – do it for me. For marketers, this trend is true professionally as much as it is personally.

Often known as managed execution services, this new wave of DIFM services differs from the more traditional agency/company relationship. When marketing teams outsource to an agency, they typically do so with strategies or tactics that are technology-agnostic, or they look to agencies for branding or creative work. By contrast, managed execution services are offered by marketing technology providers. This means that you are getting marketing automation services from your marketing automation technology provider – an expert in the technology being utilized.

Here are four reasons why marketing teams are moving from DIY to DIFM and how they benefit from it:

1. Increasing execution capacity. With so many new tactics, technologies and channels available today, marketers are feeling crunched for time like never before. Often, they are also hindered from experimenting with new ideas and actions because day-to-day marketing activities always require their attention. With features that allow for automating campaigns, implementing a marketing automation platform helps with time-related challenges to a certain extent. With managed execution services, marketing teams can execute on their marketing automation strategy more efficiently and effectively than ever before.

2. Freeing up resources for more strategic efforts. Learning and utilizing all the technologies in a typical MarTech stack can be a time-consuming effort – one that can leave little time for more critical marketing endeavors. Most importantly, an organization’s marketing strategy can suffer from a lack of attention and innovation when marketing teams are bogged down by the day-to-day execution of campaigns. In addition, while marketers find themselves wearing the technologist hat now more than ever, it isn’t a role they always enjoy. For many marketers, the creative side of their jobs and the pursuit of the next big idea is far more appealing than learning a new technology.

3. Supplementing existing skillsets with additional expertise. DIFM augments your existing marketing team, it doesn’t replace it. By contracting with your marketing automation provider for managed execution services, you can supplement the skillsets you already have on staff with outside expertise. This is particularly helpful when it comes to the more technical facets of utilizing marketing automation systems and integrated technologies like Microsoft Dynamics 365. For example, your team can focus on crafting the perfect messaging and design for an email campaign while your managed execution services provider focuses on building the email template, sending the message and ensuring deliverability.

4. Utilizing marketing automation tools to their fullest capabilities. In some organizations, email marketing is where the marketing team’s usage of a marketing automation solution begins and ends. Whether due to a lack of time or necessary skillsets, a number of marketing departments never fully implement or utilize even half of the functionality found in their marketing automation solution. In addition, marketing automation vendors should frequently update their offerings with new features to keep pace with changing consumer behaviors and demands. The challenge then becomes that marketers must constantly keep pace with marketing automation changes. It isn’t simply a matter of learning the software once; marketers must continually learn new features and skillsets. DIFM services can help ensure that marketing teams keep pace to realize the greatest ROI on their technology investments.

Happy Marketing!