Objective

Practice strategic outsourcing by creating a comprehensive resourcing plan that optimally uses both internal team and external partners for a campaign.

Scenario

Your company is executing a big quarterly growth campaign (for example, a new product feature launch or a seasonal promotion push).

The campaign involves multiple components:

• Content creation (blogs, whitepapers, case studies)
• Design (graphics, landing pages, videos)
• Advertising (Google, LinkedIn, Facebook ads)
• Webinars/Events
• Email marketing campaigns
• Social media promotion
• Sales enablement materials

Instructions

1. List Campaign Workstreams

Break down your campaign into major workstreams or tasks.

For each workstream, be specific about deliverables:

Example:

• Content: 3 blog posts, 1 whitepaper, 2 customer case studies
• Design: Landing page redesign, 10 social graphics, 1 explainer video (90 sec)
• Paid Advertising: Google Ads campaign, LinkedIn Sponsored Content
• Webinars: 2 webinars with registration pages and follow-up sequences
• Email Marketing: 5-email drip campaign for leads
• Social Media: 20 organic posts across LinkedIn/Twitter
• Sales Enablement: Battle card, product one-pager, demo script

2. Assess Internal Capacity

For each workstream, evaluate your team:

Questions to ask:

• Do we have someone with the right expertise?
• Do they have bandwidth to take this on?
• What is their current workload?
• Would this be a stretch for them or core competency?

Mark each workstream with a capacity status:

• ✅ Green: Team has expertise and bandwidth
• ⚠️ Yellow: Team has expertise but bandwidth is tight
• 🔴 Red: No expertise or team is maxed out

Example:

• Content (Blogs): ⚠️ Yellow – Marketing Manager can write 1 blog, but needs help with other 2
• Design (Graphics): ✅ Green – Designer has capacity
• Design (Video): 🔴 Red – No video production expertise in-house
• Webinars: ✅ Green – Growth Marketer runs webinars regularly
• Paid Ads: 🔴 Red – No PPC specialist on team

3. Determine Outsourcing Needs

Based on gaps or overload, decide which tasks should be outsourced.

Decision criteria:

• Strategic importance: Core competency = in-house; Support work = outsource OK
• Frequency: One-time need = outsource; Ongoing = hire or in-house
• Urgency: Needed in 2 weeks = outsource; Can wait 2 months = hire
• Expertise gap: Highly specialized = outsource; Learnable = train internally
• Cost: Sometimes outsourcing is more cost-effective than full-time hire

Make decisions:

• Content blogs: Outsource 2 of 3 (keep 1 in-house for brand voice control)
• Video: Outsource to video production agency
• Paid Ads: Outsource campaign setup and management to PPC agency
• Webinars: Keep in-house (existing expertise)
• Email: Keep in-house (Marketing Ops handles this)

4. Select Partners

For each outsourced task, specify the type of partner:

Partner types:

• Freelancer: Individual contractor (writer, designer, consultant)
• Agency: Full-service firm (creative agency, PPC agency, PR firm)
• Platform/Marketplace: Upwork, Fiverr, 99designs for quick one-offs

For each, note:

• Ideal profile or specific vendor if known
• Estimated cost
• Lead time needed to engage

Example:

Task	Partner Type	Vendor/Profile	Est. Cost	Lead Time
Blog writing (2 posts)	Freelancer	SaaS writer with tech background	$1,500	2 weeks
Explainer video	Agency	VideoCo Productions	$5,000	4 weeks
PPC management	Agency	GrowthAds (PPC specialists)	$3,000/mo + ad spend	2 weeks
Case study interviews	Freelancer	Customer marketing writer	$1,200	1 week

5. Outline Integration Plan

For each external resource, write 1-2 bullets on how you'll integrate them with your team.

Integration elements:

• Onboarding: What materials will you provide? (brand guide, product info, etc.)
• Communication: How will they connect with team? (Slack, email, weekly calls)
• Review process: Who approves their work? How many review rounds?
• Tools/Access: What systems do they need access to? (Google Drive, CMS, etc.)

Example:

• Freelance writer: Provide messaging brief and product demo. Weekly check-in call. Marketing Manager reviews drafts. Access to Google Drive folder.
• PPC agency: Kickoff meeting with growth team to share personas and goals. Bi-weekly performance review calls. Agency provides weekly dashboard link. Access to Google Ads account (agency as user).
• Video agency: Creative brief includes brand guidelines and script outline. One midpoint review of storyboard, one final review. Final files delivered via Dropbox.

6. Budget and Timeline Check

Sum up outsourcing costs and verify budget:

Budget calculation:

• Blogs: $1,500
• Video: $5,000
• PPC agency: $3,000/month (campaign runs 2 months = $6,000)
• Case studies: $1,200
• Total external spend: $13,700

Verify this fits your campaign budget. If over budget, identify what to cut or bring in-house.

Timeline:

Map out when each vendor needs to start to meet campaign launch date.

Example:

• Campaign launch: June 1
• Video agency: Needs 4-week lead time → Engage by May 1
• PPC agency: Needs 2-week setup → Engage by May 15
• Writers: 2-week turnaround → Engage by May 10

Ensure your plan is feasible.

7. Compile Resourcing Plan

Create a comprehensive Campaign Resourcing Plan table:

Workstream	In-House Owner	Outsource?	External Partner & Role	Integration Notes	Cost
Content (3 blogs)	Marketing Mgr	Partial (2/3)	Freelance SaaS writer	Provide briefs; weekly check-ins	$1,500
Design (Graphics)	Designer	No	N/A – internal	Prioritize in design queue	$0
Design (Video)	—	Yes	VideoCo agency	Creative brief; 2 review points	$5,000
Paid Advertising	—	Yes	GrowthAds PPC agency	Share personas; weekly reports	$6,000
Webinars	Growth Marketer	No	N/A – Ali runs webinars	Coordinate with Sales Engineer	$0
Email Drip	Marketing Ops	No	N/A – Sara builds in HubSpot	Internal execution	$0
Social Media	Content Lead	Maybe	Consider social VA if needed	Mike evaluates after month 1	TBD
Sales Enablement	Sales Ops	No	N/A – internal with Sales input	—	$0

Total outsourcing cost: $13,700 (includes $1,200 for case studies not shown above)

8. Review Risks & Mitigations

Identify 2-3 risks in your resourcing plan:

Example:

• Risk: Agency might not understand our technical product well
  • Mitigation: Provide live product demo and detailed FAQ document upfront
• Risk: Freelancer delivers subpar content
  • Mitigation: Review portfolio before hiring; include 1 revision round in contract; have backup writer on standby
• Risk: Video production delayed
  • Mitigation: Build 1-week buffer into timeline; have static graphics ready as fallback for launch if video isn't done

Deliverable

Create a Campaign Resourcing Plan document (2-3 pages) with:

1. Campaign overview and workstream breakdown
2. Internal capacity assessment
3. Outsourcing decisions with rationale
4. Partner selection with costs and timelines
5. Integration plan for each external partner
6. Total budget summary
7. Risk mitigation strategies

Outcome

You'll have a comprehensive, actionable resource plan that:

• Clearly shows division of labor between internal and external
• Provides vendor briefs ready to send
• Ensures budget and timeline feasibility
• Includes risk mitigation for common outsourcing pitfalls

This exercise trains you to think strategically about when and how to use external resources to complement your team's strengths and fill gaps, ultimately delivering better campaigns faster.