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Hiring an employee vs. marketing agency support.
As a business owner who’s built their company from the ground up, there comes a time when the only way to continue scaling is to start properly investing into marketing.
In the early stages of business growth, marketing is often managed in-house (usually by the founder) until there becomes a clear tipping point when your growth ambitions need dedicated marketing support enabling you to focus on the business rather than in it. When this time comes, the question you will ask yourself is whether to hire an in-house marketing executive or whether to outsource your marketing to an agency.
It’s a difficult choice. There are pros and cons to both approaches and it really depends on your individual needs on which is best for your business. So which is the best choice? Let’s discuss.
The Internal vs. Agency Debate.
Getting to the stage where you need to expand your internal team is a huge achievement for any company. It’s proof that you have the success and resources to invest directly and bring in fresh talent. Bringing on an in-house marketer means you gain access to an immediately available resource, who lives and breathes your brand.
Hiring internally is also great for collaboration – there’s no faster communication than someone within your company who can focus solely on growing your business. It also provides opportunity for quick turnaround on immediate or sudden needs such as responding to a viral social post, or an emerging PR crisis. However, the benefits of hiring internally also come with notable trade-offs.
The hidden costs of hiring an internal marketing executive.
Employing someone often has lots of hidden costs far beyond their salary. With marketing hires, using an external recruitment agency is typically the best way to guarantee a highly experienced candidate which also means you need to pay recruitment agency fees.
Once you’ve found the right candidate, you’ve then got considerations such as tools, equipment & software, training, pensions, National Insurance, alongside paid annual leave. The recruitment process itself is lengthy, and this hidden cost in time and focus can be detrimental to your business. It all adds up.
- Base salary: £26,000 - £32,000
- One-off recruitment agency fee: £3000 - £6000
- Employer National Insurance: £3750
- Pension: £900
- Tools and training: £3,000 - £7,000
To hire a marketing executive (non-London) on a £26-£32K salary actually costs your business £32,000 - £42,000 per year.
The cost of hiring a marketing agency.
Compare that to hiring an agency where you gain access to an entire team of experts, often at a lower cost. When you factor in salary, benefits, and other overheads associated with a full-time employee, a monthly agency retainer is often the more financially competitive choice.
- Annual retainer: £24,000 - £36,000
- One-off recruitment agency fee: £0
- Employer National Insurance: £0
- Pension: £0
- Tools and training: £0
Your annual cost of partnering with an agency can range between £24,000 - £36,000 +VAT depending on agreed level of support.
One marketing hire can’t (and shouldn’t) be doing everything.
There are also practical limitations to hiring internally. The Modern marketing approach requires an omnichannel approach – which means your marketer needs to be an expert in a range of disciplines: including SEO, paid media, design, email, analytics and strategy. Even the strongest candidates will have gaps in their knowledge and will not have capacity to take on all these tasks and do them well.
Their work will often need to be overseen by a manager to ensure employee success and satisfaction which eats into time that could be used building your business. Working with an agency grants you immediate access to a whole team of senior-level experts in their field.
That’s not all. If all marketing responsibilities fall on one person, then any absences due to illness, holidays, or parental leave can be devastating to productivity and consequently, your results. Working with an agency has no downtime, there’s always a team who can continue to deliver what’s needed.
Hiring internally isn’t always a bad thing.
All the largest companies have in-house marketing departments that constantly push out groundbreaking content. In our experience, most growing companies benefit from a hybrid model: an internal stakeholder for brand ownership, supported by a strategic agency partner for scale, expertise, and execution.
Partnering with a marketing agency.
The other side of the fence is to outsource marketing to creative agency like GEL Studios. Collaborating with an agency is an attractive option for businesses for a few reasons.
Beyond the clear cost advantages, you gain access to a whole team of experts working together towards one strategy. When you work with an agency, you can draw from the experience of the whole team. This means your business benefits from expertise across all outputs and can deliver campaigns at pace, with very little to no downtime. At GEL Studios, we have specialists in SEO, paid media, social media, content, graphic design, branding and website development.
With requirements set from the get-go, there’s also direct accountability for your agency to achieve set kpi’s, creating the opportunity for a flourishing relationship that doesn’t require constant oversight.
Accessing broader industry insights.
Agencies typically manage multiple clients at the same time, which gives them exposure to a wide range of industries, challenges, and strategies. This broad experience allows them to identify patterns, best practices, and successful approaches that have already been tested elsewhere. As a result, agencies can apply these insights to your business, helping you avoid common pitfalls and implement proven solutions more efficiently.
There are some limitations to working with an agency. Because agencies are not embedded in the day-to-day operations or culture of your company, there is an initial learning curve as they become familiar with your brand, audience, and tone of voice. However, agencies are typically able to ramp up quickly and put effective project management processes in place to ensure requests are handled in a timely manner. This approach relies on clear communication from all parties and a strong willingness to collaborate.
Trust your instincts.
Ultimately, the decision to hire internally or use an agency is entirely up to you. Your business needs are unique to your circumstances, and you will need to weight up the pros and cons to decide what feels right.
At GEL Studios, we take pride in being a creative agency that keeps conversation open. If you’d like to discuss the potential of collaborating with a team of strategic experts, head on over to our contact form.
