Which is more cost-effective: building an in-house digital marketing team or hiring a digital marketing agency? Speaking as the CEO of a digital marketing agency, I’ve seen clients that are a perfect fit for the agency model and others for whom in-house marketing made way more sense. The answer lies mainly in what has the best ROI—but not just in terms of financial return. You need to think about time, resources and culture just as much.
For my business, it wouldn’t make sense to hire an outside organic marketing agency—I already have an entire company of dedicated marketing specialists. But chances are your company doesn’t have the same resources. To decide, you’ll need to understand the pros and cons of in-house marketing teams vs. outside agencies. For this article, I will be focusing specifically on organic marketing efforts, not advertising.
How Much Does an Internal Digital Marketing Team Cost?
Regardless of whether you choose to go in-house or hire out, a successful digital marketing strategy is a long-term commitment. While the price tag for an outside agency may seem steep at first, it compares favorably to the cost of hiring an experienced organic marketing team in-house. Here’s how much an in-house marketing team typically costs in salaries per team member:
In-House Digital Marketing Team Cost Breakdown
| Team Member (3-5 years experience) | Yearly Average Base Cost* |
| Copywriter | $71,500 |
| Copy Editor | $62,000 |
| Graphic Designer | $55,000 |
| Content Strategist | $73,000 |
| Total | $261,500 |
.Now that you’re familiar with the cost of an in-house marketing team, let’s compare it to the prices of external digital marketing agencies. I use an SEO/content marketing firm as our example since that is an area where I have direct experience, and include two common service models for comparison.
| SEO/Content Marketing Agency Average Yearly Cost | In-House SEO Team Cost | Total Savings | |
| Option 1: Thought Leadership Marketing Agency (Full-service technical SEO, research, content strategy, and writing) | $120,000 – $150,000 | $261,500 | $111,500 – $141,500 |
| Option 2: Content Marketing Agency + SEO Agency (Content strategy and writing only. No technical support) | $50,000-$80,000 for Content Marketing Agency; $20,000-$30,000 for SEO Agency Total: $70,000 – $110,000 | $191,500 – $151,500 | |
Hiring a full digital marketing team costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, on average. That’s in salary only, before providing benefits, finding extra office space, paying for advertising, or purchasing tools and services marketers need. In contrast, a typical 12-month contract for a full-service thought leadership content marketing agency costs between $120,000-$150,000 a year.
Of course, there’s more to it than that. In-house digital marketing teams and outside agencies both come with pros and cons that must be weighed. Making the right choice isn’t just about numbers—you should also carefully consider the size of your company and your marketing goals.
Pros and Cons of Digital Marketing Agency vs. In-House
To give you an idea of how they compare, here are some pros and cons of each:
| Pros | Cons | |
| Outside Digital Marketing Agency | Institutional marketing expertise Can hit the ground running Access to powerful tools Fixed cost in contract Limited exposure | Serve many different clients Less control over content (especially if using more than 1 partner) Longer turn-around for revisions |
| In-House Digital Marketing Team | Experts on your business Greater control over messaging Dedicated solely to your company Can adjust messaging in real-time | Higher minimum cost for full team Hiring/training takes longer initially Insularity and internal politics hinder marketing Are costly in slow times/off season |
Considering an a la carte option, like the ones mentioned in figure 2, implies the reality that certain services may not be necessary for an outsourced option. For example, email marketing is a relatively simple process compared to full-on content creation, making it something your in-house team can do while your agency takes on the lion’s share of the work.
The following table provides an overview of marketing services by difficulty to help business owners identify what tasks would be most easily taken over by their in-house teams and which are best left to professionals:
Marketing Difficulty by Channel
| Easy | Medium | Hard | |
| SEO | Meta tag optimization Internal linking Technical SEO | On-Page SEO Local SEO Site Speed Optimization | Keyword research SEO Reporting Thought Leadership Creation |
| Content Marketing | Content Updates Social Media Posts | Landing Page Creation | Long-Form Content Video Creation |
| Social Media | Posting Monitoring Engagement | Managing Ad Campaigns | Social media analytics Influencer campaigns Crisis management |
| Analytics & Reporting | Analytics Monitoring Standard Reports | Custom Reports Conversion Tracking | Data Visualization Custom Dashboards |
| Newsletter Setup | Segmenting Lists Drip Campaigns | Email Automation | |
| Web Development | CMS Updates Fixing Broken Links | UX Testing Speed Optimization | Custom Site Dev Advanced UX/UI Design Custom Plugins |
The other half of your consideration, however, is determining the right solution for your agency. With that in mind, the following sections detail marketing options by size.
Marketing Options by Company Size
Deciding which option is best for your company depends on the characteristics of your business and your marketing goals.
Small Businesses ($5-$50M Revenue)
Small businesses should be able to dedicate enough of their budget to marketing to expand their in-house marketing team or hire an external contractor. Especially on the low end of this scale, any extra revenue earmarked for marketing will be dear and difficult to replace—it absolutely must pay off in increased leads and business growth.
Digital Marketing Agency vs. In-House Marketing: SMB
| Factor | Best Option | Explanation |
| Flexibility | In-House Marketing | Although agencies can provide services at scale, but they require changes in the contract to pivot services while smaller in-house teams require more flexibility than those with more members |
| Tools & Tech | Digital Marketing Agency | Agencies provide tools that smaller companies will not be able to afford in addition to hiring an in-house team |
| Time to Implement | Digital Marketing Agency | The flexibility of smaller teams is a double edged sword, as they are often pulled in multiple directions. Meanwhile, agency teams begin work as soon as the contract is signed |
| Creative Control | In-House Marketing | Agency teams are not going to be as in-tune with your company’s branding or style as members of your in-house team |
| Expertise | Digital Marketing Agency | Agencies will be able to hire a greater number of specialists with a more in-depth knowledge of best marketing practices compared with the limited budget of a small business. |
While hiring an outside agency may seem pricey to a business in this range, having institutional experience, access to software and tools, and a fast time to market is incredibly valuable. With the rest of the company focused on making products or providing services, hiring a team of professionals to introduce your business to the digital world ensures dedicated attention to growing your customer base.
Midsize Businesses ($50M-$5B Revenue)
Medium and large businesses, with revenue ranging from $50 million well into the billions, get to have their cake and eat it, too. These companies will hire internal marketing teams de rigueur while also farming out specific or lead generation responsibilities to outside agencies.
Digital Marketing Agency vs. In-House Marketing: Mid-Size
| Factor | Best Option | Explanation |
| Flexibility | Digital Marketing Agency | Agencies have more scalable resources that can be fit to contracts of varying size, making them ideal for mid-size companies |
| Tools & Tech | Digital Marketing Agency | Mid-size companies may or may not have the ability to purchase one of several tools that come built-in with agency contracts |
| Time to Implement | Digital Marketing Agency | Agencies are able to put as many employees on contract as necessary to start on-time |
| Creative Control | In-House Marketing | In-house teams allow companies to completely direct the tone and narrative of all content put out |
| Expertise | Digital Marketing Agency | Although mid-size companies can hire specialists in-house, agency’s employ coordinated teams of experts for contracts |
Enterprise ($5B+ Revenue)
For these larger companies, internal teams ensure messaging consistency, while outside agencies work with certain divisions or towards specific goals, like a new product launch. Some hire large outside agencies to handle most, if not all, of their organic marketing. These outside agencies, in turn, hire smaller subcontractors to handle niche aspects of large marketing plans. This affords these companies both consistency in tone and the flexibility to adjust their marketing spend as needed.
Digital Marketing Agency vs. In-House Marketing: Enterprise
| Factor | Best Option | Explanation |
| Flexibility | Digital Marketing Agency | Although enterprise companies have increased resources, agencies have the flexibility to scale rapidly depending on the needs of the contract |
| Tools & Tech | In-House Marketing | Having the resources of a large company allows in-house teams to purchase whatever tools required for the campaign |
| Time to Implement | Digital Marketing Agency | Although in-house teams can expertly manage campaigns, agencies explicitly operate on their ability to keep to the time table of a contract, making them ideal for companies of any size |
| Creative Control | In-House Marketing | Agencies have their own protocols that determine how content is made and for what end, while in-house teams have full leeway to create whatever content is necessary. |
| Expertise | Tie | Enterprise-level companies can hire talented teams on par with those found in marketing agencies, albeit at a significantly higher cost (see Table 1) |
A final consideration business owners should consider is consistency of work. Working with an agency often provides a more consistent option than an in-house team, since the latter is easily pulled in different directions while the former has a dedicated purpose in your company structure, similar to exercising with a trainer compared to working out at home.
Still Considering a Digital Marketing Agency vs In-House Marketing?
While most companies above a certain size employ both internal and external marketing teams, smaller companies have to think hard about the best way to deploy their resources. Often, if digital marketing expertise doesn’t already exist within the company, it’s simpler, less time-consuming, and more cost-effective to turn to an outside agency. If you’d like to learn more about working with our agency, reach out here.
