Marketing agency or in-house team? How to choose

There is no universal answer, but one rule has served us almost every time: ownership of results and of data stays inside the company, and execution is organised according to volume. For most SMEs that means a hybrid model, with one internal person who owns the goals and external specialists who execute.

The question “should I hire a marketer or an agency?” usually comes from frustration: results aren’t coming and nobody can explain why. Before changing people, it is worth clarifying what the system actually has to do.

What roles does an acquisition system need?

When we break down the work behind campaigns that bring customers, at least six roles appear. We describe them in detail in the PMC system; in short:

• Strategy and offer: who you sell to, with what message, at what acceptable cost per customer.
• Media: campaign structure, budgets and bidding on Meta, Google, TikTok and other channels.
• Creative: ads, variants to test, production rhythm.
• Conversion: landing pages, forms, speed and clarity of the offer.
• Measurement: tracking, consent, attribution, reports reconciled with sales.
• Link to sales: lead definition, CRM statuses, feedback to campaigns.

A single strong in-house marketer usually covers two or three of these roles at a high level. The rest are either left uncovered or done superficially. That isn’t about competence; they are different professions.

When does an agency make sense?

An agency brings access to several specialisations at once and experience from different accounts. It works well when:

• You need several roles but volume doesn’t yet justify several hires.
• You want to start or restart quickly, without the recruitment and onboarding period.
• Someone internal can set goals, give access to data and make decisions.
• The contract clearly defines what is measured and who owns the accounts.

When does an in-house team make sense?

An in-house team wins on context and speed: it understands the product, talks to sales every day and doesn’t depend on a contract. It makes sense when:

• The workload justifies several people, each with a specialisation.
• Marketing is tightly linked to product or operations and decisions are made daily.
• The company has a marketing leader who can recruit, train and evaluate specialists.
• You already have processes and documentation, so one person leaving doesn’t stop the system.

The hybrid model: what it looks like in practice

In our projects, the model that holds up best is one where the company has an internal acquisition owner, even part-time, who holds three things: goals and budget, access to data and accounts, and the relationship with sales. Specialist execution (media, creative, tracking) is handled by external partners or, as volume grows, gradually brought in-house.

The advantage is that the company doesn’t lose knowledge when a supplier or employee changes. The downside is that it requires discipline: regular meetings, a shared report and a lead definition everyone uses.

Illustrative example: how to compare fully loaded cost

The figures are hypothetical; replace them with the quotes and salaries in your market. The point is to compare complete costs, not a salary with a fee.

• Option A, fully in-house: one full-time marketer (total employer cost €2,000/month), tools €200, occasional outsourced creative €600. Total: €2,800/month. Roles covered well: 2–3 of 6.
• Option B, fully external: agency €1,600/month, plus the owner’s coordination time estimated at €400/month. Total: €2,000/month. Roles covered: depends on the agency; the risk is having no internal owner.
• Option C, hybrid: internal owner spending half their time on acquisition €1,000, agency for execution €1,600, tools €100. Total: €2,700/month. Roles covered: potentially all 6, if the agency’s scope fills the gaps, with clear accountability.
• Beyond the monthly cost, estimate the cost of a departure: how many months it takes to replace the person or supplier and what is lost in between.

In this example the cheapest option isn’t the safest, and the difference between A and C isn’t cost but how many roles are covered and who is accountable for results.

What you must own, whatever the model

The most expensive mistake we see isn’t choosing the wrong model but losing control of assets. Platforms let you work with partners without transferring ownership: Google Ads has access levels (including admin, standard and read-only), and Google advises adding more than one admin so access isn’t lost if one admin becomes unavailable. In Meta, the business portfolio lets you give a partner access to assets that remain yours. In practice:

• Ad accounts, Google Analytics, Tag Manager, the pixel and the CRM are created under your company.
• At least one person in the company has admin access to each.
• The agency or freelancer gets partner or user access, not ownership.
• Creatives, copy and reports produced are delivered to you and archived.

Five questions before you decide

Answer them in writing, together with whoever is responsible for sales:

1. Who in the company is accountable for the number of new customers and what they cost?
2. How many of the six roles are covered today, and how well?
3. Do we have reliable data on which campaign brings sales, not just leads?
4. How much work is there for each role, in hours per week rather than impressions?
5. What happens tomorrow if the current person or supplier leaves?

What comes next

If the answers show big gaps in measurement or in the link to sales, changing supplier won’t fix them on its own. A good starting point is the acquisition-system diagnostic, which shows which roles are missing. We describe the full approach on the customer acquisition page.