In his first post in the new Theorem digital issues discussion space, the firm’s vice president of digital strategy, Nick Strauss, says that first, we need to answer some tough questions in order to get the trading-desk move right and then we need to decide what to consider before taking the in-house route. 

The trading desk. To build or not to build? That is the question. And sometimes it really does seem as if we face a kind of Hamlet-style dilemma in the digital marketing world when we ask ourselves that Shakespearean question. Chief marketing officers have a number of options they can consider, but if you’ve definitely decided to go the in-house route and build a trading desk, there are a number of issues to explore. And there’s no easy way to choose the right path—as far as most chief marketing and chief revenue officers see it, at least.