[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We frequently get asked the big question, “Should we bring all of our marketing and Technology efforts in house or should we use an agency to take care of it?” The answer depends on many factors ranging from how your company operates to the size of your team and the expertise that you already have.
In order to help you make a careful decision, we’ll walk you through the pros and cons of each option and finish off with our recommendation based on what we’ve seen work with many of our clients.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
What Do In-House Teams Do Well?
- They are deeply embedded in your company and have a strong connection to the brand
- They have real-time knowledge of your products, services, news and successes
- They have direct access to tools, people and data on the inside
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What Do Agencies Do Well?
- They bring a deep expertise in digital strategy and technology
- They often have a larger team, with experts in each field
- With experience comes data. Working with a variety of customers across industries, and many within your industry, they bring a lot of learnings to the table
- They spend 1000’s of dollars on tools to serve many clients, that individual clients wouldn’t likely be able to budget for
- Through partnerships, they have direct access to advertisers and often advance knowledge of what’s coming
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The Challenges Of Each Approach
Going all-in on either approach comes with some challenges. Let’s take a look…[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
In-House Only Challenges
- Companies often only have the budget for 1 or 2 marketing staff
- Minimal staff often results in a “Jack of all trades, but a master of none” situation
- Hiring and training can be expensive
- In-house turnover tends to be higher than agency staff turnover
- Employees tend to be more susceptible to bias with their attachment to the brand, their career, their co-workers etc.
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Agency Only Challenges
The agency-only route comes with one obvious downside: they are too disconnected from the day-to-day to create meaningful campaigns and content from scratch. In our early days, we took on a client or two who wanted to completely hands off. The result? Fluffy content with no soul.
An agency-only approach is like a super-powered engine with no fuel.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Our Recommendation: The Hybrid Model
After taking our lumps in the early days, we learned that a hybrid approach absolutely works best. Looking back to our initial look at what makes each side strong, you’ll see that in-house teams have the advantage when it comes first hand information for content creation. The agency however comes with the deep strategic and technical expertise based on a ton of experience.
- Agency experts provide strategic advise up- front, without internal bias.
- Content comes form the source, incorporating the deep internal working knowledge.
- The agency takes that content, massages it and prepares it for distribution across all appropriate channels.
- Deep technical knowledge and experience leads to stronger and faster execution.
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