There comes a point in the life of every business when doing a good job isn’t enough. To really grow your customer base, you’ve got to invest in strategic marketing initiatives.

But what’s the smarter choice: in house marketing vs outsourcing?

To be honest, either could be right for you. It all depends on what your business needs. So let’s weigh the pros and cons of each to help you make an informed decision.

Advantages Of In House Marketing

Brand Immersion: If you hire a complete team of internal marketing professionals, they will be completely immersed in your brand. Your vision, your mission, your goals, your operations. Every day, they will work together to help bring your brand to life and grow to wider and wider audiences.

Proximity: Your in house marketing team is likely going to be closely tied with other divisions within your company. This proximity to the daily operations of the business means that they will have a better understanding of your KPIs, internal struggles, communication plans, and other elements that are integral to a smooth marketing campaign.

Complete Control: With a team of full-time employees at your beck and call, they should be able to carry out your plans at the drop of a hat and according to your expectations. Their philosophy should be your philosophy, so you (hopefully) won’t find yourself butting heads about best practices or timelines very often. 

Disadvantages Of In House Marketing

Higher Costs: In order to make a full-time team worth the cost, you’ve got to have a consistent stream of work for them to handle. You don’t hire an in house team for a one-off project. This means that you are going to be laying down the big bucks, and possibly handling costs associated with workspace, materials, technology, and even benefits.

Long Term Hiring: You are assembling a team for the long haul, here. And recruiting top talent takes time and effort. If you aren’t pleased with an employee’s performance, letting them go and replacing them with someone better can be painful and costly.

Narrow Vision: Being immersed in your brand can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, your marketing team has intimate knowledge of the company’s vision. On the other hand, they may lack that 10,000 foot view that is necessary sometimes to accomplish true and lasting change.

Advantages Of Outsourced Marketing

Reduced Cost: For most companies that aren’t running new campaigns 365 days a year, outsourcing is going to be the more cost effective option. As mentioned earlier, it’s not worth paying a full-time staff unless you’ve got a full-time load of work for them. While employing a marketing agency will save you some money, the best way to get the most for your money is to outsource to freelancers on a platform like Legiit.

Variety of Expertise: Whether you choose to work with an agency or hire individual freelancers on your own, you will probably have access to a wider range of talent than an in house team can provide. Unless your company is very large, you simply don’t have the capacity to build a team with all the various marketing skills you really need.

Bird’s Eye View: While an outside agent might not be as immersed in your brand as an in house team, they do bring a very important asset to the table: a new perspective. By hiring outside your company, you are inviting a fresh set of eyes to uncover outdated or ineffective practices that may have wormed their way into your company culture.

Related: How To Outsource Your Entire Business on Legiit

Disadvantages Of Outsourced Marketing

Less Control: When you choose an agency, you may find yourself at odds with their philosophy or practices. This problem can usually be reduced simply by vetting your agencies a little more before hiring. However, if you want to have more control without the costs of an in house team, consider outsourcing tasks to freelance marketers on Legiit. This way, you won’t have to compete with an agency’s ingrained practices. You just have to provide clear expectations for the freelancers.

Lack Of Brand Focus: An outside agent simply won’t have the same immersion in your brand as an in-house team. They aren’t living and breathing your mission, after all. Good marketing professionals with the right experience, however, have the skills necessary to “fake it” well enough that you can’t tell the difference.

Communication Issues: It can be more difficult to communicate with outsourced marketers. After all, you can’t just walk down the hall to the marketing department and get the team to huddle up. It’s definitely not a deal breaker, but be prepared to invest a little more time and energy in communicating with your agency contact or freelancers.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, the question of in house marketing vs outsourcing can only really be answered by you. By weighing the pros and cons of each, you can make a choice that matches your budget and your needs.

Here is a quick take though:

For small to medium businesses, you are probably better off with outsourcing. This allows you to hire part-time marketers when you need them for the specific campaigns that you need to carry out.

You can choose a marketing agency if you have a wide range of different tasks you need completed and aren’t worried about letting go of the reins a little bit. Alternatively, you can search for freelancers on Legiit and hire them a la carte if you are looking to maintain a bit more control and maximize your budget.

For large businesses, you may be able to get the best results from hiring a full-time in house marketing team. Only do this, however, if you actually have a need for constant marketing implementation and the budget to support it. And take your time hiring the best team possible so that you don’t regret your decision in the long run.