Whatever your business type or size, in order to be successful it will need to be marketed.
And it won’t be long before you’re hit with the big decision: is it better to hire a full-time marketing manager or engage a marketing agency?
There’s no immediately obvious answer and there are pros and cons on both sides – yet it is a decision that can have long-lasting implications for your business.
A great decision can send your business into a new era of growth and prosperity, whereas a poor decision could leave your business languishing and struggling to meet its marketing objectives.
When asking yourself whether you should hire a marketing manager or engage a marketing agency, it’s important to consider which will be the best choice for your business.
Here’s how you can find out:
Hiring a marketing manager
Internal marketing managers are paid to dedicate all their energy to promoting your brand alone.
It is their singular focus and they can have a significant amount of personal investment in their work.
Often, marketing managers have a deep understanding of your product and company culture.
Internal marketing managers can also structure their workload around in-house timelines and schedules, adding a certain layer of convenience.
One of the drawbacks of hiring a marketing manager is that it is rare to find someone who has skills across a range of marketing areas and expertise.
They might have a wealth of skills in advertising and paid promotion, for example, but be weaker in the area of social media and community engagement.
Because of this, sometimes in-house marketing managers slot well into companies that have an existing marketing strategy and direction, where focus is required more on implementation than the development.
Engaging a marketing agency
The benefits of hiring a marketing agency over a marketing manager lies in the ability of the agency to harness expertise across a range of marketing areas and funnelling those skills into marketing your business.
The results this produces can be far-reaching.
Marketing agencies generally have staff dedicated to particular aspects of building and promoting brands.
This includes senior strategists who have the experience and knowledge about overall direction and messaging, to those who are experts in crafting compelling copy, to those who are on top of the ever-changing social media algorithms and requirements for search engine optimisation (SEO).
This makes marketing agencies excellent value for money because businesses get access to the skills of an entire team for a fraction of the price.
Businesses truly stand to benefit from hiring a marketing agency if their requirements go beyond their own internal resources.
These could be businesses that are looking to focus on strong growth, integrating different marketing streams, or aiming to tap into a new market or demographic.
Making the right choice
Every business that ponders the decision whether to hire a marketing manager or engage a marketing agency has one objective in mind: to build their brand and grow their business.
So, what’s ultimately most important is to consider which option will provide your business with the best resources, expertise and experience.
In an ideal situation, and if your business can afford it, you would hire a marketing manager and then leverage the skills of an agency.
However, many businesses are in a position where they can only go with one or the other.
In this case, engaging a marketing agency will certainly be money best spent as your business can get access to an entire team of creative professionals for the equivalent salary you’d pay to hire an in-house marketing manager.
Assemblo offers clients access to a team of dedicated, highly skilled marketing professionals including strategists, account managers, designers, software developers, journalists and copywriters, social media producers, photographers, SEO specialists and more.
We have expertise in digital marketing, but our strength also lies in integrating traditional mediums, such as print, with a strong digital presence.
To find out how we can bring all of our talent together to help your business grow, give us a call on (03) 9079 2555 or send us a note via the contact form below.