So, do you want to ramp up marketing for your business? You should, indeed.
However, when it comes to finalising the marketing roadmap for your business, there’s one simple question that pops up in the mind of every business owner or a brand head: agency or in-house? While some businesses don’t prefer letting an outside agency look into their nuances, others prefer an agency’s expertise and cost-effectiveness.
According to a report by Harvard Business Review, CMOs tend to have the shortest lifespan when it comes to the top management posts in organisations.
Now, us being an agency ourselves, there might be a tad bit of biasedness, but trust us when we say this- we love to see businesses and brands grow.
So, when we are bound to give you an opinion, it’ll be irrespective of the fact that you work with an agency or have an in-house team.
The agency vs in house debate is a long one. So, let’s stick to the facts instead of beating around the bush. Let us compare the two paths on the basis of a few parameters, which include: skills, costs, timeline, scalability and more.
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Costs
The cost can be a determining factor for many businesses when it comes to the topic of this discussion.
Let’s talk about an in-house team first. When you decide to have an in-house team in place for your business, you have to look into a number of job roles with varying costs.
For a fully functional marketing team in place to cater to your business’s needs, you’ll require a number of managers and specialists in place.Adding the numbers for a large set of managers and specialists takes your costs above the roof.
Whereas, an agency might be able to do it in a fraction of the actual costs, depending upon the services you require.
Not only do they have a set of specialists in place, they have the latest industry know-how, a large range of case studies and tools to get your job done.
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Skillsets
Let’s get the obvious clear first- marketing isn’t a one-person job. You might get a specialist on board, but at the end of the day, you’ll need people to implement, measure, assess and scale your marketing operations.
All of this isn’t humanly possible for one single human to manage. (Well, maybe.)
However, when you get an agency on board, you get a set of specifically skilled people who are going to work on your brand. This brings a set of diverse mindsets that can provide newer perspectives to a problem around your brand.
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Scalability
If you don’t wanna fail, you’ve got to scale. (That’s a Buzz original)
In order to stick to those words, you need a strategy to scale your marketing efforts. So, let’s look into the two aspects of scalability. One being, foraying into newer areas to tap when it comes to marketing.
In order for an organisation to do so, it’ll need a specialist on board. That’d require either to set up a new team for that very effort or to reassign a team to this new venture of yours.
Whereas, an agency has a large talent pool in place with varied skills.
So, all you’ve got to do is send in a brief and the agency has to help you with the solution. Moreover, since you’re outsourcing your duties to an agency you can certainly be more vocal about the agency’s performance instead of a team in your organisation.
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Control
Agency vs In-house: In case, you love to have a closer involvement in your marketing efforts, an in-house team might do the job. Getting a team in-house gives you better control over your marketing efforts. An in-house team might understand your brand’s culture and vision in a better manner since they’re associated with your brand.
While an agency helps you get the work done, there might be a different process to go there. While you might want to take Road X, the agency might take you to a similar place using Road Y.
In case, you are a brand that likes to be closely involved in your campaigns and marketing efforts, hiring an in-house team for the day-to-day work along with an agency for the larger work might do the job. (a hybrid model, if you may).
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Access to Resources
So when we say resources, we mean all the tools, platforms, software, specialists. And when you get an agency on board, they come equipped with the entire arsenal.
Hence, when you get your marketing needs to be outsourced, you save on hours of research, and a plethora of tools and software. An agency has to be fully equipped to provide the best results to the accounts they cater to. So, it only makes sense to keep ’em guns loaded. Isn’t it?
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Adaptability
Need to give your website a new look? Have a new product launching soon? Got a piece of communication you want out there?
This is a situation that might be a decision-making point for many brands. Say, a brand like Zomato hires an agency on-board for their social media creatives.Now, the agency might be able to deliver the same amount of creative prowess. Moreover, an agency might even give an outside perspective to your brand’s communication with its TG.
However, if it’s the speed that matters to you, and a faster turnaround time, say a piece of moment marketing, an in-house team might do the job.
The Agency vs In House Debate: Who Wins?
No one, actually. It wasn’t about winning, ever.
The whole point of this article is to ascertain the way of marketing which best caters to a business. Being a business owner or a brand manager, it’ll be your duty to decide what’s the correct path for your brand to go, depending on its unique set of situations.
Take into consideration each and every aspect, such as costs, marketing budget, your target market and much more. In case, you decide to do it in-house, we wish you all the luck! Here’s to hoping you ace this game called marketing, like a boss.
However, if it’s an agency that makes you intrigued, you know what to do. Reach out to us today for a free consultation and our Buzzheads will help you overcome your marketing needs.
Give us a call or simply write us a mail and let’s have a chat about you, your business and our cooperation. Sounds like a plan?
