Choosing to invest in marketing is one of the most significant decisions you can make for your business. A successful marketing campaign can bring about explosive growth that can help turn your business into a booming phenomenon. However, one of the most common issues business owners encounter is whether to hire in-house or go with an agency.
The difference between hiring an agency or hiring in-house is massive. Keeping things in-house will ensure that whoever works on your marketing has the highest level of familiarity with your brand, although hiring a marketing team can be expensive. Hiring an agency will give you flexibility and scalability while keeping your costs low.
Keep reading to learn more about the pros and cons of hiring in-house versus hiring a digital agency.
In-House Marketing
An in-house marketing team can be an excellent choice for very large businesses. However, most small and medium-sized companies would be better off with an agency.
Pros
Hiring in-house will ensure that your marketing team is as familiar with your brand and vision as possible. After all, they are a part of the team. This will ensure that your marketing most accurately represents your vision for the company.
Cons
First, let’s talk about cost. A comprehensive marketing strategy will incorporate most of the following:
Are you prepared to hire people who specialize in all of these? At the very least, you will need to hire a designer, a developer, an SEO specialist, a content producer, and a videographer/photographer. That’s a team of five full-time employees, at the minimum.
Most SMBs cannot absorb this kind of expense, and even if they could, they would most likely be able to better allocate those funds elsewhere.
In addition to paying for employee salaries, you will also need to invest in dozens of products and software that can quickly run you thousands of dollars per month. As the sole person responsible for your marketing team, you will have to absorb all these costs independently.
Digital Agency
A digital agency offers many of the same benefits as an in-house team at a fraction of the cost.
Pros
Besides the lower cost, hiring a digital agency can ensure that you have a large team of specialists on your side. Even if you were to hire a full-time SEO specialist, there is only so much one person can do.
An agency will include a larger team of specialists who can bounce ideas off of each other, attend training and conferences, and stay up-to-date on the most recent developments in online marketing.
Additionally, agencies can absorb bigger overheads as they can split up these costs among all their clients. This will allow agencies to have the most sophisticated software and hardware to help their business thrive.
Cons
The biggest con of hiring an agency is the lack of immediacy. However, this is becoming less and less of an issue in the era of Zoom and Google Hangouts, allowing you to be as close to your digital agency as you’d like.
Key Takeaways
Most SMBs have more to gain from an agency than an in-house team. Unless you have a massive budget for your in-house marketing team, a digital agency will be able to deliver better results at only a fraction of the cost.
Auxilium Technology is a full-service digital agency with a team of talented specialists ready to help you grow your business. Call us today at 301-519-9622 for more information on how we can help.