To hire a marketing agency or to bring the work internally? The age old question on every top CMO’s mind. The overarching difference between agency and corporate marketing (or how we’ll be referring to it from now on as internal marketing) structures lies in their focus.
Agencies typically operate on a project-based model with defined timelines and deliverables. They’re here to assist you with a specific department or service in the larger scope of marketing. This could mean hiring an outside agency to help with a large campaign or even just help manage your website they’re here to help support your overall marketing objectives.
An internal marketing team is there to build and maintain the company’s brand through long-term strategies that align with business goals. These structures often mirror the company’s hierarchy, with teams organized by product line, geography, or different departments within the larger marketing division.
There isn’t a right answer on which is better, but as an agency, maybe we’re biased. We just love working with our diverse range of clients (and if you’d like to be one of them, schedule a call with us today!).
What’s the Overlap?
To create a divide between agency and corporate marketing would be a disservice to our marketing colleagues. While we love working at an agency, it just wouldn’t be right to yuck someone else’s yum. And of course, there’s overlap.
Our goals are the same—increase brand awareness, generate leads, drive sales, build customer loyalty, and enhance the customer experience. How we get there might look differently. For example an internal marketing director could hire an outside agency to do the research and analysis for their brand if they don’t have an internal team to support them or have the bandwidth.
In fact, agencies and corporate marketing teams will work together on projects. Joint strategy combines an agency’s external perspective with the company’s internal knowledge to achieve campaign goals.
One particular client we’ve worked closely with for a few years is Maui Ocean Center, Maui’s aquarium promoting the incredible flora and fauna of the island, as well as Hawai’i’s culture. Our content marketing—including blog posts and social media—and paid search efforts work in tandem with their internal marketing team to enhance brand awareness and increase ticket sales to their center. (You can read all about our work with Maui Ocean Center here.)
6 Benefits of Hiring A Marketing Agency
We wanted to highlight some of the key benefits of working with an agency. Aside from working with cool people, you as an internal marketing leader will get benefits like:
1. Expertise and Specialization
Agency teams are made up of specialists adept in various disciplines such as SEO, PPC, social media, and content marketing, providing deep knowledge in each area. Their experience working across diverse industries brings fresh perspectives and proven strategies, allowing them to tailor their approach to specific client needs and achieve optimal results. (At M&P, our team comes from health, fitness, cannabis, real estate, business management, and retail (just to name a few).
2. Efficient with Time
By trusting an agency with your marketing responsibilities, you as a business can fully concentrate on your core operations. Plus, agencies have specialized resources and experience, enabling them to execute campaigns faster and more effectively, leading to faster and more effective results.
3. Cost-Effective Across the Board
Hiring a marketing agency eliminates the need to recruit, train, and pay salaries for in-house marketers. Agencies can also optimize your marketing budget by effectively allocating funds across various channels (commonly seen in PPC campaigns, for example). Now, an agency will charge what their services are worth, but you’re taking away in-house hiring costs that quickly add up.
4. Measurable Results
Once a month, our agency reports to each client with a monthly report from the previous month’s results. This puts transparency and communication at the front of our partnerships. This includes valuable ROI analysis, which demonstrates the direct impact of our marketing efforts on revenue growth.
5. Able to More Easily Scale
Scalability might be one of the more underrated benefits that comes with an agency, but the flexible resources allow an agency to easily adjust team size to handle the differing workloads. For example, our client in Maui was looking for high-quality brand photography. We have a relationship with a photographer and videographer who we brought on for this specific project.
6. Fresh and New Perspectives
Outside perspective is a good thing—if you’re open to it. An agency provides that in an unbiased and innovative way. A fresh approach or take on a campaign can lead to creative strategies that help your business stand out.
Hiring a Marketing Agency
If you’re a company who wants to expand on your marketing efforts—content marketing, paid search, web design, SEO, and social media—then a marketing agency is a great way to go. Partnering with an agency gives you a group of experts who love what they do working for you to progress your company’s goals. And as we mentioned earlier, if you’re a company with a marketing department looking for a specialized service or additional help, partnering with an agency can give you additional support in areas where you may need that assistance.
We’d love to talk about what we at M&P can do to enhance your marketing efforts. We aren’t here to sell you an empty promise. We love what we do and have a ton of fun doing it. Schedule a call with us today.
