There are pros and cons to hiring both an in-house marketing team and a marketing agency. As a small business, it’s crucial that you make the best decision for your company. There are many factors to consider, such as cost, the specific needs of your company, and what a specific in-house team or agency would be able to provide. 

What is an in-house marketing team?

An in-house marketing team would be a person or group of people that work for your business as employees. The team’s job would be to create marketing materials for your business. This team could be one employee, a group of employees, or an entire department of your business, depending on the size of your team. Typically, in small companies, an in-house marketer is one person who also has other roles within the company, such as HR, sales, customer service, or something else entirely. 

Wait. I thought marketing is sales? 

Ah, good catch! Marketing and sales are not the same things. If you’d like to learn more, I recommend listening to our podcast episode What marketing and the military have in common. Or, if you’d like to read about the topic, I recommend reading our article Let’s talk about marketing and the military (yes, they’re related). 

What is a marketing agency?

A marketing agency would be a separate company your business would hire to create marketing materials for your business. The agency would already have a team and processes set in place so they can get working on your needs right away. You would be able to hire the agency for a single project or to take over all marketing needs. The limits are endless when hiring an agency!

Why would I hire an in-house marketing team?

An in-house marketing team is great for businesses:

• That would like immediate access to their team (ex: walking into their office with a need rather than calling)
• Large enough to create diverse teams (ex: hiring a graphic designer, web developer, photographer, etc.),
• That would like the marketing team to be entirely focused on their business (ex: agencies have more than one client they tend to be focused on at a time). 

Why would I hire a marketing agency?

A marketing agency is great for businesses:

• That would like immediate access to a diverse team (ex: no wait to hire individual employees)
• That would like access to specialized skills and knowledge (ex: perhaps your business needs a technical skill for a single project)
• That would like to outsource its marketing (ex: maybe your business would like to grow in other areas, so it’s easier on the business owner to outsource)

Can I hire an agency if I already have an in-house marketing team?

Absolutely! Agencies and in-house teams can work well together. Often, the agency steps in to complement the in-house team’s work by filling in any gaps the in-house team may have. 

Whom should I hire?

In the end, whom your business should hire is a rather personal question. There are many factors to consider, but the points mentioned are great things to consider when making the decisions. If you’re still unsure, feel free to contact us! We would be happy to let you know if our marketing agency would be a good fit for your small business.