Marketing agency, employee, or freelancer: which should you choose?
Choosing between a digital marketing agency, an in-house employee, or a freelancer isn’t always easy. All three options can help a company improve its digital presence, generate leads, and build its brand, but they address very different needs.
Budget, workload, required expertise, turnaround time, and the variety of assignments: several factors must be considered before making a decision.
So, is it better to hire someone to handle your marketing in-house, work with a freelancer, or entrust your digital efforts to a marketing agency? Let’s compare the three options.
Option 1: Hire an in-house marketing employee
Having a marketing specialist on staff has one obvious advantage: that person is fully dedicated to the organization.
Over time, an employee develops a deep understanding of the company, its products, its customers, and its day-to-day operations. They are also on hand to work directly with the various teams and can quickly be brought up to speed on new developments, promotions, or priorities.
This proximity can be particularly beneficial for companies that have a marketing workload that is large and consistent enough to justify a full-time employee.
The Benefits of In-House Marketing
An in-house employee can, for example, offer:
A thorough understanding of the company and its operations;
Availability dedicated to a single organization;
Close collaboration with the sales, management, and service teams;
A strong ability to document day-to-day activities;
Direct control over priorities and tasks.
However, this option has certain limitations.
No single person can be an expert on everything
Digital marketing today encompasses a wide range of disciplines: strategy, social media, content creation, copywriting, SEO, Google Ads, Meta Ads, graphic design, video, newsletters, automation, analytics, web development, and more.
A single person can be very versatile, but it's difficult to be an expert in each of these fields.
To obtain a range of skills comparable to that of a full team, a company may therefore need to hire several employees or occasionally rely on external vendors.
It is also important to consider all costs associated with hiring: salary, benefits, equipment, software, training, and the time spent managing this resource.
Option 2: Work with a freelance marketer
Between an in-house employee and an agency lies another option: the freelancer, also known as a freelance worker or self-employed worker.
This solution can be particularly appealing when a company has a specific need or a workload that does not justify hiring a full-time employee.
For example, a company might hire a freelancer solely to manage its social media, write its blog posts, handle its graphic design, or manage its advertising campaigns.
The Benefits of Working with a Freelancer
Freelancers generally offer a great deal of flexibility. A company can hire them for a few hours a week, a specific number of deliverables, or a one-time project.
In particular, this formula allows you to:
To access specific expertise without hiring;
To adjust the scope of work to the workload;
To work directly with the person doing the work;
To limit certain fixed costs associated with a permanent position;
To complement the skills of an existing team.
A freelancer can therefore be an excellent option when a need is clearly defined.
The main limitation: capacity
A freelancer, however, is still just one person.
Their availability and skills therefore directly determine the scope of the project. If your needs increase or require multiple areas of expertise at the same time, it may become necessary to work with several freelancers.
The company must then coordinate the various team members itself: copywriter, graphic designer, advertising specialist, web developer, videographer, etc.
There is also the issue of continuity. Vacations, illness, an increased workload, or changes in availability can have a greater impact when the role depends on a single person.
Option 3: Work with a digital marketing agency
A digital marketing agency operates differently because it provides access to a range of areas of expertise under one roof.
Rather than hiring someone who must be proficient in several disciplines, the company can work with different specialists depending on the needs of its strategy.
For example, a project might bring together a strategist, a social media manager, a graphic designer, a Google Ads specialist, an SEO copywriter, and a web developer.
The company doesn't necessarily need all of these areas of expertise every week. The advantage is rather being able to access them when they become relevant.
The Benefits of a Digital Marketing Agency
Working with an agency offers the following benefits, among others:
Access to a multidisciplinary team;
To consolidate multiple services with a single partner;
To allocate resources based on projects and time periods;
To benefit from the expertise of specialists in various areas of marketing;
To get an outside perspective on its strategy;
To reduce the number of different suppliers it manages.
The agency can also take a broader view of a company’s marketing efforts. Since it typically works with a variety of organizations and industries, it can bring methods, ideas, and insights from diverse contexts.
How can you determine which option is right for your business?
Before deciding between a marketing agency and a freelancer—or even hiring someone in-house—ask yourself a few questions.
What expertise do we really need?If your strategy relies solely on a single discipline, such as social media, a specialized resource may be sufficient. If it involves SEO, advertising, content, web development, and data analysis, the requirements quickly become more complex.
Do we have enough work for a full-time employee?Hiring becomes particularly relevant when there is a steady volume of tasks that can actually keep that person busy.
Are our needs likely to change over the course of the year?A company may need a major advertising campaign for a few months, a website redesign at another time, and more content creation during a launch. A flexible structure makes these changes easier.
Do we have the resources to oversee marketing?Hiring a full-time employee or managing several freelancers also takes up internal time. We need to set priorities, coordinate projects, and sometimes act as a liaison between multiple vendors.
Are we looking for someone to carry out the work or a partner to advise us?This is an important distinction. Some companies know exactly what they want to do and are primarily looking for a resource to carry it out. Others want guidance in making decisions: choosing channels, allocating budgets, developing content strategies, measuring results, and so on.
Is it possible to combine an agency, a freelancer, and an in-house team?
Absolutely. These three models don't necessarily have to be seen as incompatible.
A company may have an in-house marketing manager who knows the brand inside and out and who works with an agency to access more specialized expertise.
Another company might work with an agency on its strategy and advertising campaigns, while hiring a freelance photographer or videographer for certain projects.
The main goal is to build a marketing structure tailored to the company's needs and resources.
Why Choose a Digital Marketing Agency?
Thedigital marketing agency becomes particularly appealing when a company wants to ramp up its marketing efforts without having to immediately build a full in-house team.
At Planning Média, our approach brings together different areas of expertise under a single strategy. Social Media, content creation, SEO, Google Ads, Meta Ads, newsletters, websites : resources can be deployed based on the client’s goals and needs.
That doesn't mean an agency is automatically the best solution for every business. A freelancer may be the perfect fit for a specialized need, and an in-house employee may become indispensable when a large volume of daily tasks needs to be completed.
The right choice is the one that gives you access to the right expertise, at the right time, based on your specific situation.
Still can't decide between an agency, an in-house team, or a freelancer? Talk to our team about your marketing needs. We can help you determine the type of support that's right for your business.
