The Great Debate of In-House Marketer vs. Marketing Agency

It’s an exciting time for your company – it’s time to jumpstart your marketing! However, you’re now stuck at a crossroads: Do you bring in a new marketing hire, or go to a B2C or B2B marketing agency for your services?  Is there an agency advantage or is hiring in-house the smart move? We’ve put together some advantages and disadvantages for both – so the decision is up to you and what you believe will better suit your company’s needs.

Costs

Whether your business is a large Fortune 500 company or an up and coming startup, money is always at the top of everyone’s minds.

In-House

Hiring a Marketing Executive ranges in price and depends on your location (a Marketer hire will be more expensive in New York City opposed to Pittsburgh), however typically an In-House Salary can be anywhere from $70,000 – $100,000 annually. Don’t forget about benefits – the costs to this point (basic salary, employment taxes and benefits) are typically in the 1.25 to 1.4 times base salary range. Breaking this down, a new marketing hire with a salary of $70,000 would actually cost your company $87,500 annually.

Training is also another cost that needs to be configured. The average cost to train a new onboarding hire is typically around $1,200 a year. There is also the lack of productivity that needs to be measured. This lack of productivity can end up costing a business 1%-2.5% of total revenue. Of course, not every new hire works out. Whether it’s personal or professional differences around 46% of newly hired employees will fail within 18 months; only 19% will achieve unequivocal success. With all this taken into consideration, the average cost-per-hire for a 0-500 person company is typically around $7645.

Agency

Now all agencies are different and once again may vary considerably depending on where your agency is located. Costs are also going to range depending on if your agency is working off a retainer, hourly, or project basis. Most good agencies will also give you an initial assessment with your company. These onboarding meetings will go over what will work best for your company and will give you a projected revenue from what these marketing services will bring you. You have to spend money to make money, but how much? Typically, however, marketing agencies can charge anywhere from $1,000-$10,000 a month. This largely depends on what services you are signing up for, but on average a large company will spend around $5,000 a month on high-end marketing services. Annually, that comes out to be around $60,000 annually. Not a huge difference from a new hire, right?

Typically, however, marketing agencies can charge anywhere from $1,000-$10,000 a month. This largely depends on what services you are signing up for, but on average a large company will spend around $5,000 a month on high-end marketing services. Annually, that comes out to be around $60,000 annually. Not a huge difference from a new hire, right?

Take this into consideration; when hiring an agency there are no benefits you will need to be paying your agency. No ‘new hire’ training will need to take place, as your agency will already have the skills and knowledge to do the job correctly. Don’t like your agency and want to call it quits? There is no stipend you will have to pay them. While Agencies do work at a higher cost rate, it’s because of the things that happen behind closed doors. Marketing agencies are well equipped with accomplished project managers, marketing experts, graphic designers, and developers. An agency will also have the newest in technologies at their disposal, that you won’t have to pay a cent for. You would be paying 1 price for all these needed resources.

Expertise

With money issues aside, you want to be sure who you are hiring, regardless if it’s in-house or an agency, is an expert in their field.

In-House

One of the best aspects of onboarding a new marketer is that they will become an expert in your industry. Through their training, they will get to understand the ins and outs of what makes your company go, your target demographics, and what best channels to reach them on. They will obtain superior knowledge of your product or service. If they have a question, they can easily walk over to your desk to ask it.

However, you will need to be aware of their operational duties; making sure they are getting the work done when it needs to be done. While we would never promote micromanaging your employees, a new hire most likely will need your assistance more than you would prefer.

Now that you have your marketing rockstar, you need to make sure they are being managed. Are the being proactive with the company? Are they figuring out the best techniques for your industry and new measures they can take? Do they lay out steps that will show their effectiveness? According to a study by Mellon Financial Corporation, it takes a new employee anywhere from 8-26 weeks to achieve full productivity. In this time, are you just throwing money down the drain?

Agency

When working with an agency, you have the opportunity to work with senior-level marketing professionals. Although they might not be an expert in your industry yet, they know the marketing world. They can show you new techniques that have helped former clients that you may have never even thought of. An agency can provide you will the latest technology and tools that are new to you, but will also have the help of an entire agency if they need a second pair of eyes on anything. However, there might be a slower process time if your agency is waiting for your approval.

A good agency runs the show for you. They assign out tasks to their team and yours, set agendas, thinks outside the box, and manage the project so you don’t have too. The main benefit of hiring a marketing agency is that it is truly a thing you shouldn’t have to worry about.

In conclusion, you need to figure out what will work best for your company. Whether on-boarding a new marketer or hiring an agency, be sure to do your research and ask the right questions. Have a plan set up and know what you are looking for and objectives you want to achieve for your business. Nuanced Media is a premier Phoenix marketing agency, and our experts are always willing to answer your questions about hiring a new member of your marketing team.