When companies decide to invest in growth, they need to choose between hiring an agency to do the marketing work for them or building an in-house team to do it.

You want to grow your business and drive revenue, and you know there’s a lot of marketing work 🧔to be done. You need to build your brand and increase leads and sales, and you need a partner that can help you get there as soon as possible.

You want to make the choice that helps your business get the best ROI possible. 

In this article, we’re going to explain how to choose the right marketing option for your෴ business, be it an ag♔ency or hiring and training an intern🤡al team.

Now, we know that the "best" option depends on your needs, but we promise to help you make the best decisio🐷n possible. 

Building an in-house marketing team: Pros and cons

Hiring an in-houseꦉ marketing team can seem like a huge undertaking — especially if you're starting from scratch. However, the benefits can be massive. There are drawbacks to consider as well. Let's dive in, starting wiꦇth the Pros.

Pros of building an internal marketing team

Pro #1: More control over your marketing

When you bring marketing operations in-hou🌱se you have more control. This in🅰cludes your tools and staff, but most importantly your strategy. 

What goals are you prioritizing?

What activities are you going to engage in?

What will the publication cadence be? 

When marketing is internal, your team can be more hands-on with the detai🤡ls of your plan. Plus, they will also arguably be more invested in the outcome of marketing strategies, as your business is their sole focus. 

Pro #2: Get things done faster

When your entire marketing efforts are done in-house, you're also more likely to get things done quickly. As the team's "only c🍒lient," you get their full attention.

You don't have to worry about waiting for projects as they work fo⛄r different clients or the🌺 constraints of a contract like you would with a third party.

You also have more flexibility to pivot, request edits, and have them turned💞 around quickly, without going through layers of red tape. 

Pro #3: Truly capture the voice of your brand

While agencies can be incredibly talented and may have experience in your industry, they will never have the same brand or operational-level underst⭕anding of your business as the people who are in it every day.

In-ꦯhouse talent will be the ultimate source of the most honest, helpful, and transparent marketing availablℱe, anywhere.

Their institutional knowledge is reflected in every marketing strategy they develop and that authentic voice is what's needed to 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:build trust with your audience.

Cons of building an internal marketing team

Along with the favorable outcomes of hiring an in-house marketing teꦑam, there are als🐠o a few drawbacks to consider. 

Con #1: Potentially higher initial costs

If you do decide to build an internal marketing team for the first time, you will need to make a few additional hires, such as a content manager or videographer. 

F꧒inding and onboarding new team members takes time, and once you do, they do come with their price tag. 

A 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:content manager who has the knowledge and experience to lead your internal marketing team will require an average salary ofꦆ $75,672 ().

And PayScale reports that , and these numbers can increase depending on your comp💎any size, location, or the candidate’s lev꧅el of experience. 

You may be thinking you already have people on your team who can fill these roles. That's gr𓃲eat! But marketing will need🌊 to be their full-time job and focus.

Their original jobs may need to be filled by a new hires, if their workload can't be distribute💞d to others. 

If you're going to build a team internally, these additional salaries are something you need to be ready and equipped to take♏ on.

Additional staff members also require paperwork, onboarding, one-on-ones, up-to-date job descriptions, performance reviews, raises, career-path conversations,ꦰ supplies, tools, and much more.

Con #2: Need for organizational buy-in

Insourcing your marketing requires all parties fro🌞m executives to sales to be bought in an🏅d aligned on the vision and activities.

Achieving stellar results with marketing requires tha💦t each person must have a shared understanding of the value, what it takes to be successful, and 💦be committed to making it happen. 

This can certainly be a challenge.

For our clients, we recommend conducting 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:a workshop as a critical first step.

You don't have to do it alone

Even if you decide to hire an in-🗹house marketing team, y🌳ou don't have to go it alone.

There are training companies to help you go through the hiring process and train your talent. At IMPACT, for example, we offer 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:marketing training for your in-house staff.

We help you to build your team and teach them to create great content. Once they're up to speed, we phase out our services, so the cost of working🌳 with us is temporary. 

Our main objective is to help businesses learn to generate so many leads and sales on their own they won't need an agenc🥃y. 

Hiring a marketing agency: Pros and cons

Now that you understand the pros and cons of hiring in-house, here’s✨ what to consider when hiring a marketing agency.

Pros of hiring a marketing agency

For businesses that do not want to bring their marketing initiative in-house, 💯here are t𒁏he pros of hiring an agency.

Pro #1: Faster to get started

The faster you can get your marketing going, the sooner you’ll see the benefits of yourꦛ efforts.

When you work with an agency, they have processes, talent, and resources all lined up so you don't have to do any ofඣ the vetting or planning.

While there is always some initial setup when kicking o✤ff your marketing, with the experience of an agency, this s💙tage should move quickly compared to doing it on your own. 

Pro #2: You can be fairly hands-off

Depending on your needs, you may not be in a place to 🌠give your marketing much 𓆏focus.

When you work with an agency, they are equipped to develop your strategy, produce your content, film your videos, and write your emails, among other things. You generally don’t have to worry about much, with the exception of sharing initial goals and business insights — as well as o🉐ngoing feedback. 

Pro #3: Large resource pool

With marketing as their focus, an agency can provide you with an ♌array of talent, including experts in st✅rategy, website copy, social media, YouTube, email marketing, graphic design, and more.  

They also likely have a large network of trustworthy talent outsiಌde their organization to pull in if needed.

Cons of hiring a marketing agency

Hiriꦰng an agency might appeal to you, but there are some cons to consider.

Con #1: Less experienced with your brand and voice

While this model is a good 🧔fit for some companies, it’s our experience that many end up unhappy with the results because the work they get back “doesn’t sound like us” and lacks authenticity.

Yes, there are industry-specialized agencies available, but truth is they are 💧unlikely to capture your true particulars or voice, and you might end up with content that sounds the same as everyone else in your industry.

This ♈results in potentially slower production, labor-intensive editing, and constant back-and-forth with your account manager.

Con #2: Lower flexibility

When you rely on an agency or any third party for that matter, you will be limited to the conditions of your contract. This💟 means you're held to a certain number of deliverables and time spent on your company's needs.

This makes it harder to pivoඣt your strategy or make changes quickly if need be.

Con #3: You will always be depending on an outside source.

When you hi🙈re an agen💯cy to do the work for you, you will always depend on them for the work. This is perhaps the greatest drawback of leveraging an agency. 

Instead of building the expertise and proficiencies of your internal team, you’re investing in the growth and development of peop♔le outside your organization.

Even if you find someone you l🔥ike, if the platform, agency, or talent is no longer available, you’re left high and dr🐽y. Once you stop writing checks, the campaigns shut down and you lose access to agency expertise.

Are there other options?

Hiring an in-house marketing team or an outside agencཧy aren’t the only options for implementing𝔍 a marketing strategy for your business.

You can also consider an independent contractor or freelancer. 

Hiring a freelancer

Independent contractors andꦍ freelancers can have a wealth of knowledge. Many of them have left successful carꩵeers to start their own one-person operation and have a lot of talent.

It's common to hire them in a consultative nature when you ne🐼ed to complete one-off marketing activities and deliverables. 

Independent contractors are not treated as employees; therefore, they are not subject to payroll taxes or state and federal employment laws, which is a benefit over hiring an internal team, but many of the cons are similar to hiring an agency.

꧋They can never understand your brand like an in-house marketing team do🐻es and they are limited in their ability to provide a full array of service offerings.

For example, they may have great ideas and a vision for how to help you reach your marketing objectives,𝓰 but lack the technical expertise to execute it. This may cause you to need multiple independent contractors (strategists, content creators, designers, developers) to really get the job done.

In ter💫ms of cost, working with a freela🌼ncer or contractor can vary.

Someone who has a high level of expertise starts at around $200 per hour. If they’re providing you with 15 hours of service a week, that’s around $12,000 per month, which is more🔥 than what a typical agency would cost you. 

So which is the right choice for you?

The good news is there are a few questions you can ask yourself to help narrow down♔ your thoughts on whꦉich marketing option is for your organization:

• Do you agree that marketing is vital to the future prosperity of your business? Does your executive team feel the same?
• How are your current marketing efforts going? Is growth stagnant or steady?
• What practices have been successful in the past?
• Do you already have someone on your team who could own marketing?
• Do you see your marketing efforts as a short-term or a long-term play?
• Do you favor speed and adaptability or a set-it-and-forget-it model that might cost more?

These questions can help you have the right discussions and determine what factors are more important in your♍ decision between in-house marketing and an a🍬gency or third party.

Perhaps you just need a content marketing solution for a short period of time, or maybe you're a small organization that doesn't have🔴 the budgeꦇt for a full-time hire yet.

That's fine — an ꧙a𒈔gency will get you where you need to go to. 

Use the information we shared above to help you determine the best solution for your organization. However, should you realize insourcing your content is the way to go, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:we're happy to help you get started.