The huge cost advantage that India offers over the US and other Western economies for comparable world-class services should in itself make outsourcing a winning proposition
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It is no secret that India is the top outsourcing destination in the world. In a US survey, 82% of US based companies voted for India as their most preferred choice for software outsourcing. It has also become the preferred destination for IT outsourcing with approximately 65% of all outsourced IT jobs, according to Booth & Partners.
This same model of outsourcing can be gainfully used by companies to source digital marketing services from leading edge professionals based in India. The huge cost advantage that India offers over the US and other Western economies for comparable world-class services should in itself make outsourcing a winning proposition at a time when efficiency more than any other factor stands between the life and death of most businesses. But that’s just the start: According to WebFX in the US the monthly cost of search engine optimization (SEO) can be as much as $20,000 while pay-per-click advertising (PPC) accounted for 5-20% of monthly corporate ad spends and email marketing cost $0.1 – $0.5/email. Social media marketing set companies in the US back by $10,000 a month on an average. The average digital marketing budget for small and medium business ranged from USD 30,000 USD to 1,45,000.
Such figures are quite simply unheard of in India where even companies that spend big on marketing routinely get digital marketing services from the best in the business at a small fraction of those rates. Even advanced SEO services in the country would seldom cost more than USD 1400 per month and companies would almost never have to fork out more than USD 3000 per month to make social media work wonders for them. Even large cap companies in India would rarely if ever think of setting aside USD 30,000 per month for digital marketing. The dramatically cheaper service costs here are largely owing to the much lower salary levels of digital marketing professionals in India as compared to their comparable peers in the US or Europe. On an average, the salaries of professionals in those nations are four to six times higher.
So, it should make great sense for companies in the western world to outsource digital marketing strategies to companies in India. But how do these companies capitalise on the massive cost advantage that India offers? Clearly, since a sound understanding of the cultural, demographic and other region-specific nuances of a market are crucial for the success of any marketing plan, these companies should aim to continue building the strategies themselves and rake in the profits from outsourcing their execution to professionals in India.
But why India?
Availability of Finest Talent
India has the world’s largest technical and industrial talent pool. And this pool is constantly being upgraded at a rapid rate with millions of graduates joining the workforce every year.
Proficiency in English
English is the language of business in the US and in a major part of the world and it is here that India really scores big. There are more English-speaking people in India than in the entire Europe, not counting the UK.
24X7 Service
The time difference between India and the US and Europe means that companies based in the US or Europe can enjoy round the clock services if they outsource digital marketing to India. This speeds up the work process in a controlled manner.
Young Workforce
India has a large proportion of young workforce. Nearly 50% of its population is less than 25 years of age while two-thirds are less than 35. All of this makes India an ideal destination for US and Western companies to gainfully outsource their digital marketing activity.