In-House Marketing vs Specialized Marketing Agency

When deciding if you want to hire an in-house marketing specialist or outsource to a professional marketing agency, read our take below.

Digital marketing. Something every business needs in order to stay relevant and profitable. SEO, paid ads, social media and website optimization. All absolute necessities for any company in 2022. 

Most companies assume that outsourcing these kinds of services will cost them an arm and a leg, and will more than often choose to take the in-house route. This means hiring Sally and giving her the full responsibility of making sure the company’s digital strategies and content are taken care of. That includes SEO, social media, website optimization and development, content writing and paid ads. 

That’s a lot of responsibility for one person. And although it may seem like hiring Sally is more economical than outsourcing a specialized marketing agency, it would actually cost the business more money for sub-par results. 

Let’s look at the reasons why.

 Firstly, like any employee, Sally is going to need a salary. This is a given, and if she’s going to be taking on the role of “In-House Head of Everything”, you’ll need to pay her a fair amount. And being an employee, Sally will also be entitled to certain things an outsourced agency wouldn’t, such as: 

• Vacation time
• Paid time off
• Health insurance
• 401k’s 

So when Sally’s on vacation or taking paid leave, who will take over? Greg from accounting? Will he be able to fill her shoes and manage her tasks (and his own) while she’s cruising around the Greek isles drinking cocktails? Getting PAID for it?

Probably not. The thing is, as talented as Sally may be in certain areas, she will not be sufficiently skilled in all the necessary digital marketing aspects. When you hire a specialized agency, you will have a fully qualified creative team at your disposal, consisting of a:

• Content Writer
• Web Developer
• Social Media Specialist
• Paid Advertising Specialist
• SEO Specialist

Can Sally do ALL of these things at a professional level? Doubtful. She could perhaps be highly-skilled in one or two areas, assuming she has qualifications and experience, but ALL of them? No. And even if she was, it would take her weeks to get anything done, or you’d be paying her for a hefty amount of over-time, because for a professional digital marketing agency, it takes at least 5 specialists to execute these necessary services to the best of their ability. 

And let’s be honest. Sally isn’t THAT good. Not too sure that anyone is. And as a result, the business will miss out on its ROI potential. 

That’s right. Hiring Sally to execute all of the company’s marketing strategies will more than likely result in a very low ROI, nothing at all, or a complete loss. That’s because her job will be time consuming, which means it will take her 10x longer than an agency to complete any kind of task. Therefore, it will take 10x longer to see results. And furthermore, the results will be sub-par if compared to the work of a fully qualified creative team at a specialized marketing agency. 

Think of it like this. If you want to build a house, you will need 

• a design 
• it will need to be built
• it will need electricity
• insulation
• paint 
• plumbing
• flooring and
• water

Would you hire one person to do all of these things? Or would you hire specialists for each specific job? The latter, of course. Why? Because it would take one person 100 years to do it alone, and they would definitely not be specialized or qualified in each field, which means they’d be spending most of their time on YouTube watching tutorials on How To Build A House 101.  

This means a lot of money will be spent on sub-par results (at best). 

Marketing is the same. When taking things like SEO, content writing, web development, social media and paid ads into account, they all require specialized skills and knowledge.  

It would take an SEO specialist nearly 2 years to become qualified at an advanced level, and that’s before they have any kind of work experience. The same goes for  content writers, social media specialists and web developers. In order to attain an advanced level of understanding, they will also require at least 2 years of studying to receive a qualification. 

And again, that’s before any kind of experience in the field. 

And as we all know, when it comes to hiring someone to do the important stuff, we generally prefer at least 3 years experience in the specific role. 

So let’s see. That’s 2 years for SEO, 2 years for content writing, 2 years for social media strategy and 2 years for web development. Let’s say Sally DID have all these qualifications. She’d had to have studied for 8 years and worked 3 years for each. 

That’s 12 years of working experience with 8 years of studying under her belt. Sally needs to be a FREAK OF NATURE to even be considered for the role of “In-House Head of Everything” at your company.

She would also need 8 arms and super-speed, because as we’ve discussed, it would still take her 10x longer to get anything done when compared to a fully qualified creative team at a specialized marketing agency. 

 Not only that. With her salary, health insurance, 401k’s, paid leave AND vacation, how much do you think the ROI will be if the company hires Sally instead of outsourcing a specialized digital marketing agency who doesn’t take holidays? 

Let that sink in for a minute. 

Hiring a specialized digital marketing agency like LMR Digital will ensure that every aspect of your digital marketing will be taken care of by specialists in their field, and you will get professional results 10x faster (and better) than your in-house employee. 

 And if you do some research, you’ll find that the monthly fee for an outsourced agency like ours is more or less the same as Sally’s salary. And we won’t tie you into a long-term contract. . 

Written by Tristan Coyne

Tristan is a writing and marketing geek who enjoys long walks on the beach, Rocky-style workouts and Spotify – in that order. Before LMR, Tristan was a copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather for 2 years. This was until he decided to pursue the “digital nomad” lifestyle in Asia, working from home and coffee shops, accompanied by copious amounts of cappuccinos and avocado toast. He has worked with brands such as Audi, Volswagen and Revlon, and is a self-proclaimed “Jack of all trades” in the field of digital marketing and sales.