In-house Marketer OR Marketing Agency?

98% of businesses need a marketing department. It’s an essential part of business.

There are strengths and shortcomings to any solution you find and I’ll be outlining a few in this article. 

This article is for you if:

• you have hired an in-house marketing person but that one person didn’t work out or left.
• you’ve delegated to a marketing agency but they didn’t or haven’t given you the attention needed to fulfil the role

Depending on the nature of your business there are a few things to consider here. 

Firstly, whoever you choose should be able to action both the strategy AND execution of that strategy to really be worth their value. Execution without strategy is just burning money. And strategy without execution is all heresay.

Should you find an in-house marketer or a marketing agency?

Think it’s cheaper to hire in-house? Not necessarily!

IN HOUSE MARKETER
– Full-time availability, responsive and focussed solely on your brand and business
– Potential to get tunnel vision if they’re only working with your business day in and out (creativity and new strategies can wane – is that important to the role?)
– Access to one mind or expertise instead of many (an advantage if your chosen individual can bring highly relevant, industry specific insights and greater value to your business than an “average” marketer)
– Rely on the skillset of one person (key source of responsibility. And you may need to outsource other items at additional costs)
– Wage average – $8k pm

MARKETING AGENCY
– Set hours / availability and split focus (they’re working with other clients)
– Working with various clients can mean they have greater strategic ability as they have a wider view of the market, industry, and business types
– Access to a wider team of knowledge – have multiple people with multiple skillsets (so long as they’re a SKILLED team)
– Rely on skillsets of many people (again, so long as they are skilled AND reliable)
– Retainer average – $8k pm

Notice how the wage and retainer averages are the same?
You can’t make this decision based solely on your P&L – consider the support type, expected availability, skill level, strategic thinking, execution skills and level of attention to make the marketing department truly effective in your business. 

You’re welcome to reach out to us for unbiased opinions – just like this article did!