Consumer content preferences and attention spans keep changing and businesses need to always be on the lookout for new branding and marketing trends to add to their repertoire. That may require bringing in a team of talented and skilled marketing professionals to do the strategic planning and execution. 

Many businesses find themselves at crossroads when it comes to deciding whether to hire a specialized marketing agency or build their own in-house team. Understandably, each of these options has its pros and cons, depending on the business situation it may be hard to know where you fit.

Benefits of In-House Marketing Teams

In-house marketing is basically conducted by people who are recruited, hired and trained by your business. They are managed by the company’s own management without any third party contribution and fall under the same umbrella as the other employees.

In-house marketing approach is used by many companies since it’s more flexible – they can hire as long as their budget allows it – and it gives the management more activity control.

Other advantages:

a) Consistent Branding and Voice

In-house teams, once instituted, are a permanent (or at least semi-permanent) members of your company. Hence, they are familiar with your corporate elements and will expose your audience to a constant stream of core messages, visual branding etc.

In the long term, all these can significantly enhance brand awareness and recognition, especially if the messaging is creative enough.

b) Knowledge of Your Customers, Products and Services

After being initiated into your organizational culture and practices and spending time with your customers, your in-house marketers will develop deeper knowledge of what your customers want, what messages resonate with them and which strategies are ineffective. They will thus be in a better position to plan and carry out more effective campaigns.

c) Quick Turnarounds

In-house teams, unlike agencies, are fully dedicated to the company and can make changes to the marketing content in real time to reflect popular trends. They also benefit from fast and streamlined approval processes (as they work in the vicinity of business managers), which means they can plan, deliver and complete campaigns within very short periods.

d) Shared Goals and Interests

With marketing agencies, you are typically working with a group that has collaborated with other businesses. Therefore, they have little to no emotional connection to yours.

An in-house team, on the other hand, will be fully dedicated to your business, spending hours every working day poring over your strategies and programs. In most cases they will have developed some mutual working relationships and connections which makes them even more effective.

Benefits of Working With Agencies 

Outsourcing marketing processes to specialized agencies used to be something only big businesses could afford. With the rise in freelance firms and the SME economy, many smaller firms have been levitating towards this approach due to the convenience it presents, and it’s relatively low cost compared to having a full fledged in-house team.

Overall, the benefits of working with marketing agencies include:

a) Right Amount of Experience and Skills

The average content marketing agency will consist of several members with different backgrounds and work experience, with the bigger companies having entire departments dedicated to every aspect of the business.

By working with an agency, you get to benefit from a large pool of skills, expertise and professionalism, all for an amount lower than what you would spend to hire a similar in-house team. 

b) More Exposure to Different Strategies and Tactics

As mentioned above, marketing agency work with several businesses every year, with each business having its own challenges, strategies, procedures and objectives. So, you are assured that whatever your situation, your agency team will have the benefit of leveraging off their experience and find a workable solution even on short notice. 

c) Savings On Training Costs

Basically, an agency is a ready-made solution to your business’s marketing needs. You don’t need to train them on how your business works, or take them through orientations and seminars – just give them the brief, sign the contract, and leave the job to them. 

d) Unbiased Overview of The Company

As mentioned earlier, marketing agencies typically hire seasoned pros in different capacities, each with their own perspective and ideas.

Unlike your in-house staff who will sometimes be too emotionally invested in the company to see things clearly, any typical agency’s staff will have done multiple projects with different clients and perspective will thus be more clear and honest.

They will be more open to you in regards to what you’re doing wrong and what improvements are required.

So, Which Approach Should You Take?

As you can see, there are good arguments for going with either approach, depending on your needs.

To this end, there are lots of things you need to consider, chief among them being:

a) Your Company’s Best Interests

It is important to first take stock of your business needs, industry trends and the types of products you offer then determine which approach will benefit your bottom line more. In some instances, you will find that hiring an agency would be much cheaper than going in-house while in other cases you will find it much easier and convenient to run your own team.

Your situation may change so it’s always a great idea to keep that into consideration when you are building your team. Having that kind of  flexibility will allow you to switch from one approach to another in the future should you need to.

b) Associated Costs of Each

It goes without saying that you should go with the option that gives you the best value for money. This, however, does not imply that blindly choose the cheapest option.

A case in point: if your business require the full function of a marketing department, agencies are usually seen as more expensive than hiring in-house teams.

However, this isn’t always the case, as the latter carries some hidden costs which can significantly add up. For one, there are the recruitment and training costs, then salaries and allowances, not to mention the potential legal costs if you need to fire them. 

In a nutshell, your finances will determine to a large extent what kind of arrangement is suitable for you. If you are a small business with minimal marketing needs, a single in-house salesperson would do just good. If you don’t have a marketing strategy or don’t know anything about marketing, an agency would be the most sensible option. 

c) Finding a Right Partner

All other considerations aside, you should put a lot of emphasis on finding a partner who understands your business and who you connect with on both personal and professional levels. If finances allow, aspire to work with small teams rather than individual freelancers.

The former, although seemingly expensive, has quicker turnaround times and will probably bring together multiple talents and skills. But most importantly, the work will be more cohesive since it is easier to motivate a team than an individual.

d) Agency’s Flexibility

As a rule of thumb, only work with marketing agencies that are willing and able to fit themselves into your business’s plans and culture.

The right agency will want to know more about your company and will take time to search for you online and go through your business profiles. They will then try to integrate their activities with your business operations, essentially becoming an extension of you. 

Conclusion 

Whether you look for internal or external solutions to your marketing needs will depend on your unique situation. The good thing is, you can use both approaches at different times (yes, short contracts are a thing) to meet different needs. 

At Stratwell Strategic Solutions, content marketing is our strong suit. We work with businesses to develop and execute unique marketing strategies that fit their needs and general objectives that help them connect with their audience better. 

Our services include social media management, content creation, audience research, search engine optimization and content marketing.

Schedule a free consultation with us today and find out how we can help you with your marketing needs.

What is your experience with handling your marketing needs? Do you prefer having an in-house team or outsourcing the tasks? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

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