As a business, knowing the difference between hiring in-house vs agency marketing is crucial to your company's success.
Agency marketing involves outsourcing to a team of experienced marketing experts who are working with multiple clients. In-house marketing involves hiring individual employees who work exclusively for your company and often specialise in particular areas such as social media and analytics.
Here are four things to consider to help you make an informed decision between an in-house vs agency marketing hire:
#1 Expertise
Agency
Marketing agencies often specialise in a specific area or industry. This means they have most likely worked with clients in your industry and have produced similar content to what you require. Marketing agencies are comprised of a team of experts in their industry with shareable knowledge. This can lead to greater problem solving and an expanse of knowledge over various areas of the industry. Sharing knowledge and driving results for your business not only rewards your company but also ensures they keep your business. Due to the specific knowledge in an area of marketing, often agencies don’t have the scope across all aspects of marketing that a larger in-house team has.
In-house
Hiring internally often means you are onboarding an employee that aligns with your company mission and values and has previous experience in similar roles as you are hiring a specific skill set for your business. Working for one company often means the employee becomes an expert in your company's industry. In-house employees can also give their business’ tasks their full attention. However, in-house individuals can be spread quite thin across different responsibilities and areas of marketing, depending on the size of your team.
#2 Time
Agency
Agencies have immediate skills that recently onboarded in-house employees haven’t been trained in. It is more time-efficient to have access to an entire team of marketers through an agency than taking time to build a team from scratch. However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t put time and effort into choosing the right agency for your brand, as choosing too quickly without much research can result in having to rehire, sometimes multiple times to find the right fit.
In-house
Hiring internally can be a lengthy process—from posting job ads, screening and interviewing potential employees, to then onboarding and training your hire. This process can often take months and potentially can be not feasible around a busy schedule. However, putting the time and effort into finding the right fit for your company can be extremely rewarding and ensure the long-term success of your business.
#3 Adaptability
Agency
An agency is well-equipped with the tools and training to implement changes, and often has prior experience working with similar clients on strategy in a fast-paced environment. Due to agencies managing multiple clients at once, however, there can be a slower channel of communication and the ability to prioritise your company. The best way to enhance communication between agencies and clients is having a single person or touchpoint on each side to stream information through quickly and efficiently.
In-house
An in-house team of employees will have the ability to prioritise your business and often implement adjustments and reallocate resources at a faster rate than an agency. Because your marketing team is working alongside you, there is also a more efficient stream of communication between internal employees. In-house employees, however, can often be stretched thin with greater responsibility for multiple areas of the company.
#4 Cost
Agency
Recruiting an agency doesn’t come without costs. Agencies will determine their own rates, and you will be covering their fees as well as extra media and marketing spend. Costs between agencies can vary greatly, and you will often have to enquire to determine the fee you will be paying based on the services you require.
In-house
The cost of hiring in-house can vary from business to business but generally fluctuates around the key points of the hiring process. This involves in-house costs such as job ads, onboarding and training, as well as equipment and programs, office space, and salaries and benefits. As a business, you will also have to consider the cost of marketing campaigns and ad spend. Costs will also be determined by the number of marketing team members you require.
Whether your business is choosing to hire in-house vs agency marketing, or a blend of both, it is important to consider expertise, time, adaptability and cost when choosing the right fit for your company.
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