Where does having your digital marketing needs met by in-house talent start? It starts with having the right talent in the right roles.

When I was at Oracle, our in-house team started small and identified gaps in our studio’s capabilities. Rather than hiring urgently, we relied on external resources to scale our production needs while we planned our organization’s future. Then, when it came time to tackle larger, more-complicated projects like programming and animation, we handled it in house with a team who understands the business.

It’s critical to have artists who understand your business to avoid creating in a vacuum. That understanding drives higher levels of engagement and accountability as well as a more-informed creative process, yielding the best creative possible.

The final piece of having your digital needs met in house is prioritizing continuing education and leaning into mentorship. If your teams want to augment their skills, ensure that they are able to do so. Encourage mentorship within your group to scale competencies; each team member brings something to the table that enhances other members’ skillsets.

Ultimately, you want to evolve an organization where everyone is invested in each other’s success and the success of the team as a whole.

A version of this editorial first appeared in Debunking the In-House Myth, IHAF’s 2020 Digital Marketing Maturity Report. Tara DeZao is a creative leader and former Head of StudioODC at Oracle. Want to hear how she integrated talent, technology and processes to scale an award-winning team? Join us for next week’s webinar: Building an In-House Agency from the Ground Up.