The Difference Between an In-House Marketing Team and an Agency

One of the biggest questions for small business owners is this:

Should you put together an in-house marketing team or hire an agency?

While all businesses are different, hiring an agency typically makes more sense. Why? Because there are some big differences between an in-house team and a digital marketing agency. After looking at these differences, it’ll be easier to see why agencies are so popular.

In-house teams are part of your business

The fundamental difference is that an in-house marketing team is part of your business. You go and hire each individual person to form your team. They work on-site and collaborate with you on everything. This can seem beneficial as your team devotes all of its time to you, rather than a large list of clients, but it comes with a big caveat: this team is on your payroll.

As a consequence, you’re paying their salaries – as well as employee benefits. Very quickly, this can become an extremely expensive in-house team.

Contrastingly, marketing agencies aren’t part of your business. You have no responsibility to pay for individual wage packages or benefits – this is taken care of by the agency itself. Instead, you pay a fee for the agency’s services whenever you need them.

Marketing agencies boast pre-formed teams

When you hire a marketing agency like Distribute Digital, you get the luxury of a pre-formed marketing team. You’re hiring an agency composed of numerous people that have worked together on a multitude of campaigns for a range of clients. In other words, you get an experienced team that knows how to work together and get results.

In-house marketing teams tend to be made of random people that have never worked together in their lives. You don’t get the same level of instant synergy, often relying on them to work on numerous campaigns before they start gelling. Even then, teams don’t often work out, meaning you spend lots of money replacing people until you find the perfect team.

Marketing agencies work remotely

If you put together an in-house team, you need them to work together. This tends to mean you have to find an office for everyone to fit in. Again, this can ramp up the overall costs of an in-house team.

Agencies have their own offices and work remotely from your business. They’re out of your hair, giving you more freedom and breathing room. It can allow you to downsize to a smaller office or run your entire business remotely without worrying about collaboration or productivity.

In conclusion, the key difference between an in-house marketing team and an agency is that agencies are more affordable, more experienced and easier to hire. If you want to develop a winning digital strategy, it makes more sense to hire an agency with a fantastic track record that can get started right away.

The alternative is spending days/weeks advertising various jobs, interviewing candidates, and putting a team together. Then, you have to hope the team gets well and works productively from the word go. There are too many things that can go wrong, which is why agencies have become so popular.

If you’d like to work with a digital marketing agency, contact us today to learn more about our services and what we can do for you!