Whether you’re a mature global brand like Wusthof or an early stage start up like Docket, identifying how you go to market to capture new customers is the complex challenge that stands between you and success.

When allocating budgets and planning your P+L, there’s often a “chicken vs. egg” discussion:

Do we invest in marketing to grow long term? Do we save money on marketing costs today to protect short term profits?

If you’ve already reached a certain level of success without a significant investment in marketing, this question is even more difficult to answer and boils down to: are you willing to introduce new expenses that may not yield an immediate return?

As you contemplate these ‘money decisions’, you’re also going to have to contemplate the ‘people decisions’ (i.e. who is going to run your marketing initiatives if you decide to keep it internal). You have two options: expand your team or outsource.

What does a digital marketing agency do?

Simply put, a marketing agency, like any other service industry, is outsourced labor and expertise.

Digital marketing itself consists of a variety of different tactics including paid advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, influencer marketing, email & SMS marketing, creative design, martech and analytics – the list goes on.

Depending on your needs and in-house capabilities, you might seek a specialized agency focused on just one area of marketing you’re lagging. Alternatively, you can consider a ‘full service’ agency (hi 👋 ) capable of addressing…anything.

Why hire a marketing agency over an in-house person or team?

Most agencies operate on a monthly retainer model to manage your campaigns on an ongoing basis. Depending on your needs, you might be paying $50K-500K/year in retainer fees, so why not hire a seasoned employee or a few entry-level employees for the same cost?

Here are the perks of taking the full-service marketing agency route:

More Resources

The same money that will get you three in-house employees at market rate salaries can get you access to a team 10X the size for most small-medium sized agencies.

Better Technology

Buying access to marketing platforms, emerging technology, and even platform support reps can be extremely costly – we’re talking 4-5 figures per month. When working with an agency, they’ll often provide you with access to leverage the same tools for little to no cost to you.

Constant Evolution

A full-service agency is serving tons of other clients. While some might view this as a disadvantage (“I want someone focused on only my business”), this model actually provides big benefits to you as the client.

By managing many different brands and industries, your agency has no choice but to keep evolving. As a result, they bring learning lessons, proven strategies and benchmarks from other clients to you and your team.

Less Overhead

Outsourcing your marketing means no training overhead and no benefits overhead. In today’s employment market, benefits and training can often eat into your bottom line even more than annual salaries.

Less Risk

Not every agency-client relationship pans out. Depending on your agency’s service-level agreements, you can usually fire them at anytime with a termination notice. If you do fire them, there are far less strings attached. No implications on your internal culture, no wrongful termination suits – just a clean break.

On the opposite end, if you decide you need more work from your agency, it’s usually just a quick change order (vs. hiring and training a new employee).

Less Time

We all know time equals money. By hiring an agency, you can let your internal team focus on the most important elements of your business, and have the agency do the rest.

Am I ready for a marketing agency?

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Do I know my marketing goals so I can hold the agency accountable?
What are my business goals?
What is my target return on investment ROI?
Do we need lead generation, sales, or increased brand awareness?
Do I know my marketing budget?
Do I have an internal resource to support / manage the agency?

If you're ready, we'd love to discuss your goals.

Get in Touch

Are Marketing Agencies Worth the Investment?