Single vs. Multi-Vendor Marketing Solutions: What You Should Know

To help you explore both single and multi-vendor marketing solutions, here’s how they stack up against each other across the following areas:

1. Operational efficiency
2. Cost & scalability
3. Technology integration & data sharing
4. Branding consistency
5. Vendor sustainability

1) Operational efficiency

Multiple Partners

When it comes to operational efficiency, one upside to this approach is that it can be less taxing on your business as you get started. Onboarding two or three marketing apps are arguably less time-intensive than onboarding a full suite of marketing tools.

All-In-One Partner

Alternatively, with an all-in-one marketing partner, you’re able to cut down on the time and complexity that comes with managing your marketing. Managing only one partner, one point of contact for your entire marketing program means more time in your day for running the business.

The Takeaway

The multi-vendor approach can provide your business with multiple specialized tools and partners, but it comes with the cost of being time-intensive and operationally inefficient. Every business owner I know who is serious about growing their business doesn’t ever have enough of two things: time and money. Choosing an all-in-one marketing partner who gives you the technology, expertise, and support you’re looking for without the time commitment (and related costs) is the way to go.

2) Cost & scalability

Multiple Partners

Some business owners feel a full-suite digital marketing partner will be too expensive for them, especially if they are just starting out and are concerned about how to fund their growth.

What many business owners don’t realize is that a slow buildup to a fully multichannel digital presence is more costly in the long run. Fewer marketing channels means a limited ability to attract more customers (therefore stunting revenue growth), but the financial and operational costs of maintaining a network of numerous disconnected marketing solutions can actually be surprisingly high.

All-In-One Partner

Alternatively, working with an all-in-one partner brings cost and scale efficiencies to your business.

There’s greater opportunity for shared costs between various lines of service, such as shared overhead costs, shared resources that can be applied across various departments (e.g., HR, accounting, IT support, etc.), more capital available for investment in technology, etc. This resource overlap is passed down to clients, resulting in greater cost savings and efficiency over the long run.

You also avoid the hidden cost of time wasted and missed opportunity by trying to manage multiple platforms, tools, and partners.

The Takeaway

With an all-in-one solution, you have one call, one platform, and one dashboard to see the entire picture of your marketing investment. It saves you massive amounts of time, and it also drives a higher cumulative effect for better results.

3) Technology integration & data sharing

Multiple Partners

A benefit of working with numerous marketing partners and tools is that you can hand-select the different partners and technologies you want to work with, mixing and matching solutions however you see fit for your business. A drawback is the challenges you’ll inevitably face to integrate those solutions.

Even with application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow you to sync up systems, they do not always work as well as intended. The more systems you add, the more challenging it becomes to create fluid integration, accurate and consistent reporting, and a clear understanding of how your marketing investments are paying off.

All-In-One Partner

A good all-in-one marketing partner will offer a suite of marketing technologies, services, and solutions that are native to a single system. That means that they are all built on the same platform, share data across the tools and technologies, and all talk to each other.

With this setup, not only is your data more accurate and easily accessible, but it can also be analyzed together, making it faster and easier to really understand how your marketing is working for you.

The Takeaway

Going with multiple partners gives you more control in choosing the specific tech solutions you want at a more granular level, but doing so, you are inevitably creating data islands.

4) Brand consistency

Multiple Partners

Sure, it’s possible to maintain strong, consistent branding when you take a multi-vendor approach, but it requires you to over-communicate with your multiple vendors to ensure they are in complete alignment with your branding, messaging, and marketing campaigns.

All-In-One Partner

With an all-in-one marketing solution, you’re able to shift the execution, and more importantly, the policing of your branding to a single provider. With one partner to manage, there’s less chance for brand inconsistencies and greater opportunities for brand alignment across all your campaigns, website, and social channels.

The Takeaway

Consistent branding is possible with either a multi-vendor or all-in-one vendor approach, but using an all-in-one partner means that you’re not forced to manage multiple, independent providers. This naturally leads to more consistency while requiring less work for you and your business.

5) Vendor sustainability

• Are they a proven and recognized leader within their field of marketing?
• Are they well-established in their market with a long history and track record of achieving positive results for other businesses like yours?
• Do they have the financial resources and talent to continually innovate their digital marketing technology and services?

Multiple Partners

There are plenty of well-established single-line service providers, such as SEO agencies and website platforms, that have been in business for long periods of time with proven track records. However, in recent years, there has been a slew of VC-backed marketing tech companies who have only one product and are eagerly seeking enough market adoption so that they can prove their financial model is viable. These are the businesses to be wary of when choosing them for your marketing solution, as their sustainability may not stick around for the long term.

All-In-One Partner

Many all-in-one service providers are typically larger companies with a proven and viable business model. They have more financial resources to invest in personnel and technology. They can also weather economic cycles and storms, as we have recently seen in 2020. All this means is that your marketing partner is on solid financial footing and a proven business model, so they can worry about your marketing and not about how they’re going to stay in business.

The Takeaway

Whether you decide to go with numerous marketing partners or an all-in-one solution, it’s essential that you do your research to ensure the resource you choose has the necessary expertise, financial stability, and quality of service to meet your business’ needs for the long term.

Our recommendation for the most effective digital marketing

You will need to evaluate which type of marketing solution makes the most sense for your business; however, our recommendation is to work with an all-in-one partner...one team of experienced marketing experts who know your industry, understand how to make your brand stand out, and have the tools and technology to drive a positive ROI with your marketing investments.