Marketing agency vs in-house marketer for a service business
By the Margin Media team · Updated
For a service business, an in-house marketer is the better choice once there is enough marketing work to fill a full-time role and someone to manage it. An agency is the better choice before that point, because ads, a website, Google ranking and reporting are several different skills and one new hire seldom has them all.
What does each one give you?
An in-house marketer gives you someone who is in the building, hears the phones, knows which jobs are profitable and can take a photo of today's work. They care about one business. They are also one person with one set of skills, a holiday allowance and a notice period.
An agency gives you a group: someone who builds ads, someone who writes, someone who handles the website and tracking. You get the range without hiring it. You also share their attention with other clients, and they learn your business from the outside.
How do they compare?
The comparison below assumes a competent version of each. A poor hire or a poor agency loses to a good one of the other kind every time, so check references either way.
| In-house marketer | Marketing agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge of your business | Deep, from the inside | Learned from the outside |
| Range of skills | One person's | A team's |
| Attention | All yours | Shared with other clients |
| Who manages them | You | They manage themselves |
| If it is not working | A hard conversation and a rehire | End the agreement |
When is an in-house marketer the better choice?
An in-house marketer is the better choice for a larger service business with several locations, a steady flow of content to produce, and an owner or manager who can direct the work. Many such businesses end up with both: an in-house lead who knows the business and an agency doing the specialist work.
Where does Margin sit in this choice?
Margin works as the outside team. It builds and runs ads on Facebook and Instagram, in an ad account you own, and reports monthly on what came in and what it turned into. It can also answer the calls those ads produce. It does not replace someone on site who knows your customers by name.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Ads on Facebook and Instagram, in an account you own
- Google profile and local ranking
- A monthly report and strategy call
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
Related questions
Can an office manager run marketing for a service business?
They can keep the Google profile current, ask for reviews and post photos. Running paid ads well is a separate skill that takes regular attention, and it is usually the first thing a service business hands to a specialist.
What should I own if I hire an agency?
A service business should own its ad accounts, its website, its domain, its Google profile and its phone numbers. Then if the agency relationship ends, the history and the assets stay with you.
How do I judge whether either one is working?
Count booked appointments and new customers, not clicks or leads. A service business should be able to say each month what it spent, how many people booked and how many showed up.