It’s a question that leaders must grapple with throughout all phases of growth and maturity – when does it make sense to build the marketing team in-house, and when should you tap the expertise of an agency?

Size of the business, as many tend to think, isn’t the deciding factor. Startups and small businesses can benefit from a combination – just as enterprise-level organizations can. Nor should you rely on the same model of your peers or competitors, as you likely have different visions, goals and resources.

A hybrid approach tends to be the most common, but that still raises the same questions – who holds down the fort internally, and which skillsets are outsourced?

An assessment of needs, expertise, scalability, budget and technology can help you make the right decision for your organization.

Who Is Your “Quarterback”? And Are Quarterback Expectations Realistic?

A marketing “quarterback” is the person who ensures all marketing efforts align with greater business goals. They serve as the primary point person in-house for all marketing functions and determine how to execute the strategy.

With many small businesses, the owner, founder or principal commonly serves in this role. As the organization matures, a full-time manager, director and/or vice president of marketing is brought into the fold. Within larger organizations, there can be several professionals holding quarterback-like roles for their niche or specialty.

Understanding your quarterback’s resources, skills and capacity is essential for assessing team composition. Start here:

  • If the owner or CEO is serving as quarterback, is overseeing the marketing function the best use of time, talent and leadership?
  • Is the quarterback a generalist or a specialist? What expertise does the quarterback thrive in, and what is lacking?
  • Do the marketing needs extend beyond the capacity of the quarterback? In which manners?
  • What budget is available to build the team?
  • How does the budget and quarterback expertise fit into overall business development goals?

Every organization needs a quarterback, and answering these questions will help you understand in-house resources. If your organization isn’t aligned with who the quarterback is, start there, before any additional hiring decisions are made.

A quarterback is your key player who will drive the overall strategy. Yet suffice it to say, a quarterback doesn’t win games by themselves.

What Marketing Expertise Do You Need to Reach Your Goals? 

No two businesses are alike. Once the quarterback is determined, you need to assess required skillsets to meet your goals in alignment with a marketing plan. A quarterback needs to drive the development of the plan, but they are not solely responsible for determining the tactics and strategies alone, nor are they expected to execute a multi-faceted plan on their own. You have options:

  • If you have one quarterback without full-time marketing staff or a small marketing staff, an integrated agency can create and execute the plan.
  • If you need a particular expertise 40 hours a week, every week, then you need to bring in a full-time professional to fill that role. For example, an e-commerce company may require a full-time developer, a consumer product may need a full-time social media strategist, and a B2B SaaS company may need a full-time lead generation specialist.
  • If you don’t need a particular expertise for 40 hours every week, then an agency can bridge the gap without the costs of a full-time employee.
  • If you have difficulty finding or affording a particular experience – especially at a senior level – an agency can fulfill the role and eliminate lengthy hiring, onboarding and training processes.

You have two fundamental options with agencies – there are specialized agencies that focus on just one or a few strategies (such as Google Ads or PR), or there are integrated agencies that deliver on multiple tactics and strategies. Integrated agencies, like Aker Ink, provide the most flexibility and cohesion in reaching your goals without managing multiple vendors.

Another factor to consider is perspective – agencies offer an expert outside perspective that can help companies avoid internal blind spots and stay ahead of industry trends.

How Are You Positioned to Scale Your Marketing Efforts?

You can think of scaling in two ways: Scaling can refer to the overall growth of the organization, or it can refer to an influx of seasonal needs related to a business cycle or event.

Scaling a Department to Meet Organizational Growth

As the organization matures beyond the need of a single quarterback, full-time staff will be added to replace the quarterback (if an owner/founder) or to support the marketing plan execution.

A common mistake companies make is hiring a generalist to execute a multitude of specialized tasks – and expect the generalist to scale in areas where they haven’t been trained. A single professional does not have all of the capabilities and training of a strategist, copywriter, graphic designer, website developer, paid media specialist, PR practitioner, data analyst, etc.

A generalist is vital to steer a plan, but they need specialized support. Remember that a quarterback can’t serve as their own offensive lineman. Each position needs to work in concert to move the ball.

With that said, companies assertively focused on growth will likely reach a point when it makes sense to hire specialists full-time – you need to carefully assess the source of overwhelm for your current team and/or determine where you might be lacking expertise.

Seasonal Scaling to Meet Various Business Cycles

When seasonal support is needed – or if seasonal marketing tactics and strategies vary throughout the year – an agency is often your best bet. Even if you have the in-house support full-time, seasonal episodes can stretch staff beyond their typical capacities. Rather than hiring more full-time support that will eventually wane, agencies can provide the expertise to scale quickly in any direction.

What Does Your Marketing Budget Look Like?

That darn money question. There are times when it makes financial sense to either hire internally or externally:

  • Full-Time: If your needs for a particular expertise are 40 hours a week, then a full-time staff member is likely more affordable compared to an agency’s hourly rate or retainer. Also remember to factor in costs beyond salary, such as benefits, bonuses, tech subscriptions and other overhead. You should consider training and resource capacity as well.
  • Agency: A combination of specialists is generally required to execute a plan. An agency can provide all of this expertise at a fraction of the cost of hiring a team of specialists. This is why a hybrid approach is common for businesses large and small – it is a cost-effective way to execute a plan and scale quickly without the need to train new staff.

What Else Do You Need to Consider When Hiring an Agency vs. In-House?

We’ve touched on the main factors making up the tip of the iceberg, but there are more things to consider depending on your company’s resources and industry. Diving a little deeper…

Hire Full-Time If:

  • You need a professional on demand who can instantly respond to business needs. Agencies have multiple clients, while an in-house professional can be there right when you need them.
  • You need a highly specialized expert within your field who has experience reaching similar goals at a related organization.
  • You need someone with full freedom to experiment and continually iterate campaigns, which might be more difficult financially with an agency on a limited budget.

Hire an Agency If:

  • You need access to multiple specialists – from lead generation and data analysis to content and PR – that can scale quickly depending on need.
  • You want to be able to pivot quickly depending on market trends or competitor actions.
  • You need to tap into the relationships that an agency brings, which is especially useful in public relations campaigns.
  • You need access to the premium tools, software, databases and analytics platforms that agencies invest in to execute campaigns.
  • You want to audit the effectiveness of in-house campaigns and determine if other opportunities exist.

There is no easy one-size-fits-all approach to building a team. It depends on many factors, and I’m happy to discuss these with you. Reach out to schedule a meeting. Aker Ink works with companies of all needs and team makeups – we are equipped to fully run a marketing department, or we can work with internal team members on specialized initiatives.