Should we outsource our marketing or keep it in-house – a question a lot of marketers and business owners ask.
There are many things to consider in order to make an informed decision on how to best execute your marketing initiatives.
If you are wondering whether you are better off building an in-house marketing team or hiring an agency, this article will provide objective information, including the pros and the cons.
In-House Marketing
The Advantages of building an in-house marketing team include:
Brand familiarity: Providing you can build a solid internal marketing team, they will know your brand, which will strengthen their marketing decisions and materials. A quality agency will, of course, get to know your company’s value, culture, and brand, but it may take a little more time and effort.
Accessibility: You can access your in-house marketing team by walking over to their desk or office. However, with the business landscape changing, more and more people are either working from home or remotely, so hiring a very responsive agency would nowadays provide a similar if not equal access – virtually.
Focus: An efficient internal marketing team will be focused solely on your business, and, if you prefer having absolute control, you’ll love having the team all to yourself.
As with anything else, there are some important disadvantages to building an in-house marketing team to consider.
Staffing: Building a top-quality in-house marketing department takes time, money, and effort, whether you’re hiring one person or more. The average time it takes to fill up one marketing position is approximately 50 days – that’s almost two months.
Also, if you build your marketing team from local candidates, depending on your location, you may have very limited capabilities. In comparison, hiring an agency can instantly provide the team and tools to help your business.
With internal marketing, you have limited team members and limited resources, and to scale your efforts, you typically need to either decrease work elsewhere, or hire another team member – which, again, takes time, effort and more money.
Staffing Costs: The average an experienced and knowledgeable marketing person, who will bring true value to your business and help its growth, will cost you over $70,000 per year, including benefits. This means an average-sized marketing team requires over $200,000 each year.
Turnover: When your team members leave, it can significantly slow and hurt your marketing efforts, as well as put pressure on remaining staff, which can cause poor performance and even higher turnover rates.
Software Costs: Besides the efforts and cost of hiring and maintaining an in-house marketing team, you also have marketing software expenses, which can range from SEO tools, to freelance services, like graphic design.
Hiring An Agency
The advantages of partnering with an agency for marketing activities, from content creation and social media to search engine optimization (SEO) and paid media advertising, include:
Expertise and Capabilities: You get to work with a team of experienced marketers who can focus their expertise on tailored-to-you marketing strategies, including digital marketing, to benefit your business the most and maximize your return.
A top-quality marketing company comes with skills and capabilities that in-house teams may not be able match, especially if you’re running a small-to-midsized business, which can range from enhancing your web design, to accessing beta features in Google Ads, to specialized effective tactics. Many marketing agencies offer specialized services such as SEO, social media, paid advertising, and web design, allowing your business to take advantage of multiple marketing channels.
Tools: Cutting edge digital marketing companies will provide the necessary marketing tools and software for measuring and tracking your online marketing campaigns.
Scalability: Whether you’re looking to increase your paid advertising efforts during a busy season or expand your presence across social media platforms, an effective marketing agency can meet your needs and scale quickly to your business.
Cost: A cost-effective option to having a big budget to hire a fully-staffed marketing team would be to hire a digital marketing agency – for the cost of employing one marketing specialist you could work with an agency and get access to multiple marketing experts.
The disadvantages of working with a marketing agency include:
Location/Time Difference: Working with an agency from another part of the world, as cost effective as it may be, could easily prove challenging when trying to align schedules and deadlines across time zones.
Multiple Clients: Internet marketing agencies work with multiple businesses, which can make some companies feel neglected. A responsive, client-focused marketing agency will, however, make you feel like they are a part of your business.
So, which is the best option for your business?
The best option depends on factors related to your business, such as your marketing goals, your in-house marketing capabilities, your marketing budget, and your marketing challenges.
If your company is struggling to reach its marketing goals, then hiring an agency could be your best option, or, at minimum, investing in some consulting services to help your company get a better return from marketing.
At RODA marketing, we are driven by much more than profits, which is why we’re not constantly looking for more and more clients. Instead, we’re looking for the right clients because we believe it’s all about creating a partnership for success.
For us to succeed means to create success for our clients – and that’s our commitment and our focus.
When you choose RODA marketing, you are choosing our passion, experience, and proficiency – as our teams embark on a professional journey of collaboration paired with progress to deliver value and results to your business.
We understand the importance of brand recognition and brand reputation, and our efforts are focused on brand consistency across all media, reflecting your professionalism and quality services or products. Our approach to digital marketing is holistic, and with well thought-out strategies that include SEO, social media, blogging, infographics and more – your business can generate qualified traffic leading to more sales.
dCheck out our portfolio and contact us to see how together we can take your business to higher levels of success: 888.653.0331.