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In-House Marketing vs. Marketing Agency

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Things to Consider if You’re Having the “In-House Marketing vs Agency Marketing Debate”

Are you torn between whether you should hire an in-house marketer or work with a marketing agency? If so, you’re not alone. Every business owner will have to think about this at some point (probably many points) in their career, but the answer may vary from business to business. 

We’ve pulled together a few points to consider as you’re dealing with this question. 

Evaluate Your Company’s Needs

Depending on what type of marketing assistance you need and the size of your company, you may need access to various different skill sets, such as web development, SEO techniques, social media expertise, email marketing, and more. In this case, building a full-service, in-house marketing team would require time and patience. Additionally, maybe you don’t need full-time marketers, but would instead benefit from part-time employees in different departments. It may be hard finding someone to work just part-time in these positions. Agencies are naturally already equipped with professionals who specialize in all areas of marketing. 

Cost

Along with evaluating which skill sets your company will benefit from, you’ll need to evaluate what cost you’re comfortable spending. Larger companies may be able to make the investment to hire an in-house team. However, if your business is smaller or doesn’t have the funds to pull this off, you’ll get more expertise for less money by using an agency. 

A typical agency usually consists of a digital department, a design department, a social media department, brand strategy experts, and more. Whereas if you’re looking for hire someone to bring on internally, it will be hard to find someone with skills across all of these departments. Or you would spend a small fortune hiring multiple people.

Hiring an agency is usually the best way to diversify your marketing efforts with the budget you have. Typically, you can hire an agency and receive an entire team to work with for much less than it would cost for one marketing manager’s salary.

Are You Keeping up With Industry Trends?

You’ve heard us say many times before that the digital marketing world is ever changing and just when you think you’ve caught up, you’re behind again. Competition is tough and things are changing at a rapid pace. For an agency, staying on top of the latest trends and best practices is what they do day in and day out. As an agency ourselves, we’re always attending conferences and doing research to stay ahead. For an in-house marketer who may have one specific role, it may not be feasible to spend days at a conference. 

How quickly do you need to act? 

Depending on the situation, you might need to get a jump on your marketing right away or maybe you have some time to reevaluate your company structure and think about what hires you can bring on in-house. 

If you’re part of the former group, posting a job listing, reviewing resumes, conducting interviews, and calling references is not the quickest way to work towards your goal. Agencies are equipped to jump in quickly and efficiently and assist where needed.

Consider the Extent of Services You’ll Need

We aren’t just talking about what types of marketing services you need, but also consider any supplementary services you need – think radio or commercial script writing, video production, PR services, and more. 

Your best bet would be leveraging an agency for these types of services. If the agency doesn’t already provide these services themselves, they probably have the connections with a company who does. If you’re just looking for help with one or two aspects of your marketing, you may be able to afford to bring those in-house. 

Tools and Platforms

One of the factors you may not think about right away is that an agency typically comes equipped with the industry’s key technologies. As a marketing agency, we invest thousands of dollars in annual subscription fees to ensure our clients have the best tools. Again, if you have the time to research different tools and the budget to support it, then this may not be an issue for you. If you don’t have that luxury, you won’t even have to think about which tools and platforms to use when you work with an agency. 

While there are many factors to consider when trying to decide between bringing someone in-house to do your company’s marketing or hiring an agency, it’s important to consider your goals and needs before making a decision. There is not a “right” answer for everyone. It will vary depending on the structure and state of your business. 

If you’d like to discuss how our team can help you or learn more about our services, give us a call. 

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