For many businesses, this has been a debate over the past century or so, on whether a company should hire an Agency to help them with their Marketing activities or if they should hire a Marketing Manager who can handle all of this in-house for them.
Well, let’s start with firstly with what the difference is between the two and why you would need anyone to help you with your company’s many Marketing efforts.
Marketing is the quantity of a part of activities that a business puts into practice to generate more brand awareness and potential leads to new prospects. A business’s lifeblood is a continuum of transactions that begin processed whether that is through the sales of products or services, and to have these transactions take place, businesses need to have what’s called a Marketing plan and strategy in place. Think of it this way, ‘How are you going to sell to anybody, if they don’t even know that you exist’?
Marketing can take the form of many different practices or tactics. Networking, Online Advertising/Digital Marketing, Branding, and Print are a few of the many different marketing and advertising options available to businesses that need to communicate with their target audiences. The difficulty for many business owners in today’s world is deciding whether or not to hire externally (Marketing Agency) or to hire internally (Marketing Manager). So we thought we would lay out a list of pros and cons for you to consider if you ever find yourself in this position. So let’s delve a little deeper.
What does an Agency Do?
Marketing Agencies are found around nearly ever-corner today and you don’t need to look that far to find one to help you with your marketing needs. An Agency is a Manager on steroids because when working with an agency you can appreciate the fact that you are not their first and only client, meaning that they have a wealth of experience with different companies and the many different tactics of which you can be sure they have put into action over time. Agencies also understand that they are in a cut-throat industry and being on top of their game at all times is a must at all times. This means being up to date on the latest trends in marketing and know what works and what doesn’t will help them achieve great results for their clients. A second benefit to deliberate is the fact that an agency usually has a team of five or more experts in different fields of marketing working for them, which gives businesses using them an upper-hand by having more skilled and knowledgeable people working on their accounts.
Let’s have a look at five key pros and cons of a Marketing agency to consider: –
| PROS | CONS |
| Cost-Effective | May go over Budget at times |
| Exposure to Highly Skilled People | ·May not agree with your Vision |
| Always on top of Trends | They move fast & need you too as well |
| Pay for what you need | You may not afford all Services |
| No Wage/Salary commitment | Could have a Fixed Retainer |
What does a Marketing Manager Do?
A Marketing Manager is someone who works in-house within your business and whose job it is to meet a set task of deliverables set out by the company. Their roles can include, management of teams like the sales force, management of the out-sourced agencies which you will find in many bigger organisations and you will also find they are involved a lot in the internal marketing of the business, like dealing with printing, meeting suppliers, arranging events and coming up with strategies to take new products or services to market.
The key difference to acknowledge here between an Agency and a Manager is that when it comes down to the advertising and marketing parts of the business, its products or services, that is where the agency comes in handy. The Marketing Manager’s roles are more of a planning and execution of strategies type role.
Now let’s have a look at the five pros and cons of this role: –
| PROS | CONS |
| In-House | May not Require a full-time member |
| Fixed Salary | Fix Salary |
| Manage your Marketing for you | Cannot always do all the Advertising |
| Creates road-map for Company | Can’t Implement Alone |
| Fixed Role (Staff) | Still Paid if no Work |
Understandably, when it comes to choosing between a Marketing Agency or an in-house Marketing Manager it all depends on the situation the business finds itself in. For many smaller to medium-sized businesses, growing the route of using an agency may be the better solution budget-wise, and for the bigger more established businesses a manager is key to its success and ultimately many of these managers look out-ward for the expertise of agencies to assist them in fulfilling their functions within those companies.
If you are a business owner or a marketing manager sitting in a similar position and are needing to look outwards for help in growing your business, then speak to the experts who wrote this helpful article at HashTag Marketing or contact us directly via email (admin@hashtagmakreting.co.za) and let us help you make the wise decisions your company needs!
