You’ve waited patiently since our last article about the Pros and Cons of Insourcing vs Outsourcing your website design, so without further adieu, we’re here to tackle the same concept for your marketing needs.
You’ll need people to guard your brand, manage social media, write content, drive traffic and ultimately to win clients and spread the word about your brand. However, should you insource or outsource your marketing team?
Of course, the answer will depend on your businesses’ size, needs and goals. Let’s take a look at what you need to consider when thinking about whether or not you’ll hire an agency or keep an in-house marketing team.
In-House Marketing vs Marketing Agency
1. The Cost
If you want an in-house marketing team, here’s an idea of how much it will cost.
A full-time marketing manager has an average salary of $145,620, market research analysts make $71,450 and social media managers make $54,238 per year. You’ll need to keep them busy with projects from 9-to-5 to ensure you’ll get a bang for your buck.
In contrast, an agency's cost is based on the contract terms, projects and tasks. A monthly retainer contract can range from $2,500 to $25,000 per month. Most agencies can give you access to a team with a public relations manager, graphic designer, marketing analyst, SEO specialist, content manager and copywriter — for a fraction of the price.
Hiring an agency is certainly cost-effective, but while working remotely means you might save some cash, the decision to hire in-house or outsource will ultimately depend on your demands for your marketing team.
2. Quality of work
The success of your campaign will ultimately depend on the skillset of those you hire.
Assuming you have a limited marketing budget, you’ll want to hire a full-stack marketer who is skilled in content creation, graphic design, SEO, conversion optimization and a load of other necessary skills. This is an exceptionally tall order and may be akin to finding a unicorn. We’re not saying don’t take a look at the options, just know that you might not be able to find all of those things in just one person.
Most marketers specialize in one or two skill sets and have basic knowledge about other aspects of marketing. While this is ideal, you may need to hire a bigger team, or outsource components of it, so that all the bases are covered. It doesn’t have to be an either-or choice, but making sure that you have both an agency and an in-house hire that can communicate would be a crucial first step.
Hiring an agency definitely has its perks because it gives you access to a team of marketing experts with years of previously vetted experience. Of course, you’ll still have to find a marketing agency that fits your needs, but once you find the right one, your business will be up and running and you can establish a relationship that will suit your business for years to come.
3. Quantity of Work
An in-house marketing team needs a full-time workload.
There needs to be a near-constant stream of press releases, social media campaigns or content to justify the cost of your marketing spend on the staff themselves - and you haven’t even managed ad spend yet.
You’ll also need to pay for workshops, conferences and courses so they can improve their skills and round out any deficiencies in your team if you can’t hire all of the personnel you need at the drop of a hat. It’s a worthwhile investment when a quality employee becomes a good long-term candidate.
Agencies have a smaller workload as compared to full-time employees. While it takes time to build trust and understand one another, their results will improve as the relationship grows. In addition, agency employees are solely focused on their duties and improve their skills through the agency’s training and investments – so you’re not on the hook for that part.
4. Stability
Employee stability is a growing concern for most companies.
A study found that 43% of millennials plan to leave their current jobs within two years and only 28% have plans to stay beyond five years. It’s not surprising, since top-performing employees are always taken by bigger and higher-paying companies.
Enticing employees to sign on the dotted line can be an investment of both time and money, but there’s no doubt that helping them stay is definitely a costly part of the business. You’ll need to spend on interviews, recruiters, and training. If an employee quits, there’s an impact on the workload of other employees until a replacement is hired, and you’re back at square one in terms of the interviewing and training. That’s a treadmill no one wants to find themselves on.
In addition, an agency ensures that the output is consistent every single time While the employees handling your account may change, it’s up to the agency to train new hires and ensure that the results are maintained - and they’re often overseen by a project manager, or a creative director, if not both.
Wrapping it up
Should you choose an agency or hire an in-house team?
As with any decision - we don’t have a crystal ball and there’s no one answer that works for everyone. Each business has a different set of needs from their marketing team. But, hopefully, you have a better understanding of the questions you need to ask yourselves and the things you need to think about to make sure that you make the best decision for you and your business.
If you think an agency might be the right fit for you - book an intro call with us. We’d love to hear more about what you’re working on and how we can help.
UP NEXT: Subscribe and stay tuned for next week for our post where we answer the question, “Why work with a HubSpot agency, and how much will it cost me?”
Article written by Monique Danao
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