Outsourcing can be the answer...

Redeploying the in-house team to other duties, and outsourcing instead, may be the strategy you need to follow.

Consider the following benefits of outsourcing to a specialist publisher:

Shorten production cycles - react positively to market changes
A specialist publisher handles design, editorial and print all day, every day; they are tooled up for the job. Not only that, but they should already have all the (expensive) resources necessary to do a good job quickly: photo libraries, page layout software, repro tools, experienced staff, image manipulation software, management resources, backup systems etc. This also means that you will be able to react much more quickly to market changes; a short production timescale means you can appear fresher, more dynamic and more relevant to your readers.

Use your staff more productively
The benefits of publishing good quality materials for your staff and customers are worth a lot to your organisation; but the regular grind of producing magazines, e-newsletters, flyers or website content every month is not something your staff will necessarily enjoy. And let's face it, if they aren't trained journalists and designers, your target readers won't much enjoy what they produce either. On the other hand, a professional design and editorial team can give you consistent results - month in, month out. Put your staff to better use - like coming up with the creative ideas for direct marketing, ad campaigns, customer service initiatives, market analysis, customer communications, PR - all the things they would rather be doing. And then let the publisher take those ideas and turn them into reality.

It's often cheaper to outsource
Yes, it really can be, and for all these reasons:

• You don't have to pay the staff overheads, or fork out for National Insurance, holidays, sick pay, maternity leave etc
• You don't have to find something for the designer and editor to do in between jobs
• You don't have to make pension contributions
• You don't have to buy specialist software - let alone maintain lots of shiny Macs
• You don't have to buy image libraries
• You can pay by results and not by the hour, as most publishers will quote on a per-project basis.

Better efficiency
Because a publisher has multiple clients utilising the same services, there are considerable economies of scale - which ought to be passed on to you.

Cohesive design
Your publisher will have all the experience necessary to ensure that all your publishing output, both digital and print, correctly and harmoniously reflects your brand identity.

Stable budget control
Your publisher should give you a fixed figure for the project. They should also give you an idea of any other charges which you might incur ahead of time - so you can make sure you avoid them...

Up-to-date design and techniques
By outsourcing to a specialist publisher you also gain access to their expertise, knowledge, training, equipment and design skills - all of which are kept honed by constantly working on a variety of projects for lots of different clients. The result is your publishing looks up-to-date, fresh and interesting.

Flexibility and responsiveness
Any publisher you outsource to is used to dealing with a multitude of different projects and will therefore have effective methods for coping with the last-minute changes which arise in any publication. If they have been in business for any length of time they will also be responsive - anyone who isn't doesn't survive long...

Experience and capability
An outsourced publisher may have many strings to their bow; design, editorial, web design and development, reader data management, advertising sales, consultancy, advertisement design, print and distribution, project management, imagination, creativity, business sense - but above all, an idea for what will work and what won't. They should be able to give you new ideas that make your life easier.

Objective perspective
A team of publishers makes a splendid sounding-board. They've been around. They know what's been tried, what works well, and what doesn't. Unlike you, they don't have their heads buried in the detail of your customer proposition - and the distance often lends new perspectives and fresh insights, which in the end means you get happier customers.