Should I Hire a Marketing Manager or Outsource to an Agency?

This is the dilemma all businesses are faced with at some point in their trajectory.Should I hire a Marketing Manager or Outsource to an Agency?

Every entrepreneur knows that marketing is a crucial part of the growth of every business. Whether you’re a small business trying to let the market know you exist or a large organisation trying to make it to the top of your industry, unless you have a clear and consistent marketing strategy there’s only one outcome for you.

Mediocrity. 

No one wants to be a part of Mediocre Pty Ltd.

There’s no excitement around your brand. No one begging to be a part of your dream. Staffing is a revolving door. Even your friends and family show little interest. 

Mediocrity. 

But effective marketing is not simple, or everyone would do it. Your competitors are always trying to gain ground. If you do the same things they’re doing, you’re most likely just treading water.

Most business owners understand this, but very often they are too busy with day-to-day operations to formulate and implement an effective marketing strategy. They inevitably arrive at the same conclusion; It’s time to get help. 

But where to from here? Do I hire someone internally or outsource? What are the costs and benefits of each?

Option 1: Hiring Internally.

Hiring internally can be a great option, particularly for established companies with a long-term focus. Having a Marketing Manager on staff and able to sit in on strategy meetings can be a huge asset to any company, and they will gain intimate knowledge of your brand and the industry you trade in. Even if they have no previous experience in your industry they will (hopefully) understand the buying cycle and how to identify and define the audience responsible for the majority of your sales. 

But an experienced Marketing Manager does not come cheap. According to Indeed, the average salary for a Marketing Manager in Australia is $102,601. Of course, this doesn’t include the costs associated with recruitment, equipment, HR, workspace, software, superannuation, insurance, travel costs, etc.. You also have to consider the high cost of replacing the Manager if they quit or are underperforming. 

Assuming your Marketing Manager is a great fit for your company you will most likely run into another issue; a good Marketing Manager will not work without someone to take on the lower level tasks, particularly design-related tasks. They have already worked their way up the ladder and want to be pulling strings. Don’t insult your Manager with mundane tasks that a graduate or assistant could do. This means you will also need to employ a Marketing Coordinator. The average pay for this position in Australia is $68,888 according to Indeed. Sure, you could employ a student or graduate for a salary under $60,000 but you will need to factor in the extra training required for someone with little or no experience and the higher likelihood of them jumping ship (Millennials and Gen Z are far less loyal to their employers than Gen X and Baby Boomers). 

A compromise would be to outsource the design related tasks to an agency or freelancer and have your Marketing Manager oversee this. But even this can end up costing more. An experienced freelancer designer will charge $80/hr, more you have contracted an agency. You will need to determine just how much design and shitkicking is required to implement your marketing strategy and weigh up the higher hourly cost against that of a full-time or part-time Marketing Coordinator. 

In short, hiring an internal marketing team is a great option if you can take on a $200,000/year commitment (Manager+Coordinator all-in cost), have a strategy with enough work to fill the days of two full-time staff, with a 1-3 year marketing plan, an established brand with a consistent message, a robust HR framework and a continuity plan to handle any sudden loss of staff. 

Option 2: Outsourcing to an Agency

Hiring a Marketing Agency to manage your brand and run your marketing campaigns avoids a lot of the downsides of hiring internally. The most obvious of these is cost, especially if there is not enough work to warrant a full-time marketing team. While an internal team can cost your company upwards of $200K, an agency could produce high quality effective campaigns and manage your brand for less than a quarter of the cost. Not only this, but an agency will most likely have a broader range of skills and talent at their disposal because they don’t just work on one brand. A good agency will have staff with specific skill sets and a network of contacts for those tasks that might require highly specialised skills, such as branding and advertising. 

An agency worth its salt will also avoid the trap of complacency. They know they are only one mistake away from losing a client, and should act accordingly. After all, changing marketing agencies is far easier than changing an internal marketing team. There are no employment contracts, no labour laws, no internal systems and no long term commitments. The agency will also be able to draw on the experience and knowledge gained from previous successful campaigns they have worked on with their other clients. Not only will they have many successes to draw on but they will also know the pitfalls to avoid. Once bitten, twice shy…. 

But hiring an agency may not be the best option for all companies. If you have full time marketing requirements, hiring an agency will almost certainly cost you more than hiring internally. The agency will need to assign you a full-time Account/Client Manager and bring on their specialist staff for any tasks the Account Manager doesn’t have the skills or knowledge for. You won’t have oversight of the staff and you won’t know if they’re actually working full time on your account or just playing mini golf in their rec room. The efficiencies and advantages enjoyed by an agency certainly have their limits.

Another example where hiring an agency doesn’t make sense is when your company operates in a unique industry that requires specialist knowledge of the market. Most Marketing Agencies will have expert knowledge of consumer behaviour and will know how to market products or services to a general audience, but if you have a customer base that does not come to you using the common media platforms, you will need a Marketing Manager who knows your industry and knows where to find your potential customers.

Option 3: Focus on Social Media Content

Unless you operate a word-of-mouth, run a traditional sales/referral business or sell exclusively to retirees, social media is going to be the cheapest and most effective way to bring in new customers. Most business owners understand their product/s and industry better than any gun-for-hire will, they just need to get their message out. This is where social media is invaluable. 

The issue is that creating an engaging social media environment around your brand is not easy. And it gets harder every year. If you were one of the lucky brands to build a Facebook audience in 2010-2013 or an Instagram audience in 2012-2016, you’ll know the power of social media. For the 95% who missed out on the social media gravy train, there is still an option to carve your name out in this incredibly noisy space: GET THE BEST CONTENT.

Hiring a social media content agency like us (yes, that’s a plug), is the cheapest way to get your brand out there and seen by more people that previously had no idea you existed. Creating a relationship with these people through social media, using high quality images, a consistent brand message, a consistent look and feel, with engaging content that stands out from your competitors can be a very effective alternative to hiring a marketing manager or traditional marketing agency.

Most of your customers have had 10+ years to get used to social media and they’ve seen it all. They’ve learned through experience to guard their wallet tightly from the contestant barrage of brands desperate to sell to them. Otherwise they’d be broke! Sticking to proven strategies for winning the trust of potential customers, and carving out a unique place for your brand on social media is a small cost with huge potential gains.

When deciding on the best route for your marketing there are multiple quantitative and qualitative factors to consider that will impact your bottom line. Remember that marketing should always add to your bottom line in any given year. If you’re not achieving that, perhaps it’s time to rethink your strategy. 

If you’re unsure about how an agency like ours can add value, you can get in touch with us at hello@thesocialcontentfactory.com or apply here. We offer a one-off package that includes a tailored social media strategy for growing your sales and leads, a visual style guide to give your brand an irresistible and memorable look online, and a pack of 30 pieces of content to get you started (includes professional photography and graphic design) and establish your brand as a solution to your customers problems.