In-house marketing team or digital marketing agency?

So you have finally decided to form a Digital Marketing strategy? Wait...what are you talking about Nilanjay!!?

If you have read my previous article about “Right Approach Towards Digital Marketing” then you will be able to understand the first line. It is all good if you haven’t read that article yet..you can find it here.

Moving back to the topic...Yes Nilanjay, I am convinced and willing to invest some bucks in Digital Marketing but now what? How should I proceed?

Before you take any action, you need to ask this one important question:

In-House Marketing Team or Digital Marketing Agency

Answer to the above question is very crucial to your online promotion because based on it you will be finalizing your marketing budget and activities.

Nilanjay what is the correct option according to you?

Honestly, there is no right or wrong answer...it all depends upon your marketing objective...what do you want to achieve from the online promotion? If your Objective is Branding, then I will suggest going with the in-house team but if you want to really boost your sales from Digital Marketing then read further!

I will be covering the difference between hiring in-house and hiring an agency. The differences will help you in making a wise decision.

Costing

Let’s take into consideration the average annual salary of a Marketing Executive in India. A person with 2 years of experience expects an annual package of INR 3,60,000 - 4,00,000 ($30000 - $33,333).  Consider this number when thinking of building an in-house marketing team.

The actual cost of your marketing campaigns depends upon the objectives that you want to achieve. You need to calculate all your expenses before making a decision. Apart from that, you will have to give increment to your in-house marketing team on the basis of your pay raise cycle.

If we talk about hiring an agency, there is always an option of negotiable price plan. On top of that, the agency pays for its own software, tools, training, etc., which ultimately cut down a lot of cost from your end.

Skill Diversification

Generally, an online marketer tends to have in-depth experience in very specific skill sets. For example, you got Pay Per Click (PPC) Specialists, Social Media Marketer, Content Marketing Specialists, and the list goes on.

It is like once in a blue moon when you find a person who is an expert in everything.

So, let’s say you hire a Content Marketing executive in-house. After a few months you are not getting the results that were expected and you believe that you should go for Paid Ads for few months? Now you need to hire a PPC Specialist!! may sound an easy task but in reality, it is not!

What do you do then?

Brands that hire in-house often struggle with the diversification of marketing activities. They are limited to the skill sets, the team comprises of. After all, an investment in a new marketing channel is a risk.  

However, in case of an agency, you get an option to try out new marketing channels because the agency comprises of members with a wide range of skills and experiences. For example: At Vigyapan Tree, we got members who have skill sets in Google Adwords, Facebook Marketing, Growth Hacking, Creative Writing, Designing, etc.

Individually, each member is good at what they do but as a team, they provide much more value than any single person could.

Predictability

Marketers are brilliantly creative but with such trait comes an aversion to boredom!

Just imagine...looking at the same set of keywords every day and being expected to make magic happen. It is totally a possibility but it also brings an invitation to boredom.

Boredom = Low Productivity

Due to which, the majority of junior to mid-level marketers change jobs every 2-3 years. This is good for the individual person but not for the business.

It TAKES a lot of time and efforts to select a new candidate for the job and this duration can hamper with your marketing strategies.

However, in the case of an agency, online marketing professionals get to work with a variety of businesses. This keeps them entertained and active, which ultimately helps in employee retention.

I am not saying that a digital marketing agency has 100% retention rate (that is just impossible) but when you work with an agency then you will have multiple experts working on your account because of which your marketing strategy will not get delayed!

My Opinion

So I read the article after writing and realized that the content is more in favor of hiring a Digital Marketing Agency then In-house team so I would like to share a small pocket-friendly strategy that you can apply.

If you decide to go with a Digital Marketing agency then you must hire an in-house marketing manager who will be responsible for getting the results generated from the agency.

This way, you will not have to bear the pain of communicating with the agency and understanding all the technical terminologies that they use just to divert your mind (not all but a lot of agencies does that!).

If you are hiring an agency, then you need to act smart...by hiring someone who speaks the same language as they do.

Remember! Digital Marketing can create a hole in your pocket if not applied strategically!!