In-House vs. Agency: Choosing the Best Digital Marketing Strategy

In-House vs. Agency: Which Digital Marketing Route Works Best?

In this digital-first world, marketing online is necessary for every brand to widen its reach. Marketing can be done in two ways: hiring an in-house marketing team or hiring a digital marketing agency. Choosing between the two ways of digital marketing is a challenging task for a brand.

While each of the ways has its own pros and cons, a brand’s decision to go either way depends on a number of factors. In this article, we are going to discuss the differences between hiring an in-house marketing team and hiring a digital marketing agency.

1. Access to expertise

In-house: When hiring in-house marketers, finding marketers who have a deep understanding of all the aspects of marketing is difficult. Even if you hire specialists for each aspect, It costs a lot to hire a specialist. On top of that, one person can’t handle it all, especially keeping up with the trends and updates in each area of marketing.

Agency: When a brand hires an agency, it gets access to specialists in all areas of marketing in one place. The specialists working in the agency are already working on a lot of brands so they have good knowledge and command over their areas of expertise. They have access to the best marketing tools is required.

2. Brand familiarity and execution

In-house: No one knows a brand better than the team working on it daily. This makes it easier for a brand to maintain the brand tone and voice consistently everywhere. Coming to execution, it’s easier to communicate things to your team than to an agency and then get it done.

Agency: An agency may not know as much about the brand as its own team. Communication and Execution may have some gaps as well. These challenges can be resolved when working with a dedicated agency.

3. Adaptability

In-house: An in-house marketer may not be updated with the knowledge, trends and updates of all the aspects of marketing like SEO, social media, ads, etc. This can be a downside, as one needs to be on top of trends and updates in this ever-changing digital world.

Agency: An agency is already working in the industry with dedicated specialists for each area of marketing. This makes it easier for them to be on top of trends and updates and execute things faster.

4. Control

In-house: Having an in-house marketing team makes it easier to switch things up and have control over the marketing.

Agency: When working with an agency, it is important to trust and give them the creative leeway to work on the brand. If a brand needs control over marketing, it’s best to hire an in-house marketing team.

5. Scalability

In-house: A brand grows with time, and with growth comes the need to scale the marketing as well. It can be challenging to scale the in-house team as quickly as the brand grows.

Agency: It is easy to scale the marketing scope when working with an agency, as the agency already has specialists. One needs to revise the scope of work and cost accordingly, and you’re good to go.

5. Cost

In-house: The cost of hiring an in-house marketing team can be time-consuming and costly. The fixed costs, such as salaries, training, etc, and the cost of marketing tools will increase overall costs. On top of that, finding the right candidates may take time, increasing the hiring costs as well.

Agency: The cost of hiring an agency can be higher at once, but it can be scaled up and down depending on the requirements. The agency fee includes the cost of marketing tools and specialists, both, saving a brand from fixed costs and hiring costs.

Choosing between hiring an in-house marketing team and hiring a digital marketing agency

We’ve given you the pros and cons of hiring an in-house marketing team and hiring a digital marketing agency. The decision will depend on a number of factors. Also, there’s no answer that fits all here. A brand may have an in-house marketing team and outsource some marketing work to an agency as well. The quantum of marketing work to be outsourced depends on a few things. Here are some questions that may help a brand decide whether it wants to hire an in-house marketing team or hire a marketing agency.

Do you want to be directly involved in the marketing process?
Do you have the time and budget to hire an in-house marketing team?
Do you have an internal person to liaise with external partners?

Ask these questions, weigh the pros and cons, and then decide.

Grow your D2C Brand with The Pencil Advertising

Now that we have discussed the pros and cons of going with an in-house marketing team and a marketing agency, you can decide which way to go.

If you are keen to go with a digital marketing agency, The Pencil Advertising helps D2C brands scale their business on e-commerce. Whether you need assistance with website development, marketplace management, quick commerce management, social media marketing or performance marketing, we’ve got you covered.

Connect with us on Instagram or reach out to us here, and our team will reach out to you.