pros and cons of hiring a digital marketing agency

Pros and Cons of Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency Vs. Employee

What are the pros and cons of hiring a digital marketing agency instead of an in-house employee? Should we hire a digital marketing agency or an in-house employee? These are common questions often asked by newcomers to the world of digital marketing.

Digital marketing has taken top rung in today’s business clime. Businesses are looking for best hands to help them stay competitive. As a result questions are getting asked whether or not businesses should contract a marketing agency or hire an in-house digital marketing expert to assist with this function.

In this article, we’ll help you to understand your needs and why you should choose one above the other. Further down this post, we’re going to discuss the pros and cons of hiring a digital marketing agency Vs employee.

Putting together a small but complete digital marketing team would require inclusion of a graphic designer, a content developer, an editor, and a social media marketer. While it sounds like a great idea to find one person who is all of that, the probability of not finding such a skilled person is almost one.

Should You Outsource or Hire?

Before we get to discussing the pros and cons, we would like to reveal something. The overall decision to outsource or hire is dependent on a number of factors. Such factors include:

  •       Workload
  •       Budget
  •       Human Resource

1. Workload

The volume of work that needs to be done in the long run determines whether or not you need an external or internal team.

If your marketing needs involve steady flow of work running continuously, you might be better off with an in-house digital marketer. On the other hand, if your needs span over a limited period of time or are seasonal such as during Valentine, Christmas or Father’s Day; you might just need to outsource some workload to a digital marketing agency.

In some other scenarios, you might have an in-house digital marketing team but because of increased workloads during peak periods, you might need to outsource some aspect of your digital marketing.

2. Budget

Budget is a serious factor to consider before deciding to hire a full time staff or external digital marketing expert.

The average marketing budget ideal for businesses is 2% – 10% of total revenue. Taking this into consideration should serve as a guide to know if your business can truly afford an in-house marketing employee or team.

According to bdc.ca:

A common rule of thumb is that B2B companies should spend between 2 and 5% of their revenue on marketing.

For B2C companies, the proportion is often higher—between 5 and 10%. This is because B2C companies typically need to invest in more marketing channels to reach various customer segments.

3. Human Resource

Finding one employee who is skilled in all areas of digital marketing is like finding a needle in a haystack. When it comes to digital marketing, there are individual specialties. The bottom line is you might need to hire more than one employee to ensure you have a fully resourceful digital marketing team.

In some other intricate cases, you might have an employee who is skilled in certain areas of digital marketing but lacking in a couple of other areas.  For example, an employee who is skilled in social media marketing but has not honed his graphics design skills might need external help. In such a case, outsourcing graphic works to a digital marketing agency might be just what you need.

Now that we have fully discussed factors that determine your ability to hire either an in-house employee or an outsourced agency, let’s now look at the advantages and disadvantages of choosing either of them.

Pros and Cons of Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency Vs. Employee

In addition to factors discussed above, there are also pros and cons associated with deciding to go with either a digital marketing agency or an in-house employee.

  • Pros of Hiring an Employee

  1. A full time employee would understand and specialize in your brand without distractions from other clients.
  2. A full time employee or team would have good communication with the rest of the staff.
  3. A full time team guarantees availability which is needed for continuity in the line of work.
  • Cons of Hiring an Employee

  1. A full time employee must be paid even when workload is low or on paid leave.
  2. You might not find one employee with skills set enough to man your entire digital marketing operations.
  3. You might spend more on human resource management to keep employees in-house.
  • Pros of Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency

  1. Contracting a digital marketing agency spells access to a fully resourced team.
  2. You only pay for the exact amount of work done or when they are working for you.
  3. You spend less on human resource management.
  • Cons of Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency

  1. A digital marketing agency might not be 100%  committed to your project as an in-house employee would be.
  2. There’s no guarantee of availability or continuity with the same set of digital marketers from a digital marketing agency.
  3. There could be delays in communication time. It might not be as easy as it would be with an in-house employee to communicate an idea that just popped up.
  4. A digital marketing agency that is not experienced in your industry would require more time to get a hang on things.

Conclusion

The choice of working with either an employee or in-house team or to hire a digital marketing agency is one that is objectively weighed before making.

If you’re a small business who is yet to scale, outsourcing is recommended at the early stage. Other than that, if you have considered all factors, pros and cons involved, you should be able to make a good decision of what should work for your business or organization. Knowledge of these 50 Astounding Digital Marketing Statistics You Should Know will come in handy.

We hope this post on the pros and cons of hiring a digital marketing agency Vs an employee has been helpful for understanding your digital marketing needs.

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