Should you outsource your digital marketing or keep it in-house? [Quiz]
Get your answer by using this fast and easy-to-follow decision tree
This quiz is a quick shortcut to help you figure out whether to keep your marketing in-house or outsource it.
If you want the fast answer, go ahead and take the quiz.
But if you’d rather reflect and read your way through each choice to get clearer on your decision, you’ll find that below too—step by step.
It’s time for your business to grow. It’s time to take on more clients, make more money, and perhaps employ some (or more) staff. And you already know that achieving them means increasing your digital marketing.
But what ‘increased marketing’ means to you will really depend on your business goals. It could involve:
- upping your cadence when it comes to how often you post on social, publish blogs, or send out emails
- finding new channels relevant to your ideal people, and figuring out how to market yourself there
- creating more marketing materials such as videos, brochures, email sequences, etc.
- repurposing and reoptimizing existing marketing content
- setting up paid ad campaigns or trying influencer marketing.
Perhaps you already know the marketing growth tactics you want to try. The problem is how to make it happen, or rather who should make it happen?
Should it be:
- you?
- you and your staff?
- someone who already knows how to do it?
Let’s look at the options.
Your options: keep it in-house or outsource the work
Keeping all your marketing work in-house means you and (if you have one) your team handle the work. It’s the DIY approach to marketing, and may involve learning how to successfully implement your content marketing strategy.
It also counts as in-house if:
- you hire a digital marketing professional to consult on your marketing plan, but you still do the actual work
- you want to use an AI tool or agent. (I won’t go into great detail about using AI in this article. But if you want to use AI to do it all, know this: it’s not that easy, and it will require your time.)
Outsourcing is the opposite. You get to ditch the headaches and overwhelm of marketing by handing it over to an agency that does it all for you. Or, if you can’t find a single agency that offers what you need, you might commission 2-3 freelancers who specialize in digital marketing, such as a designer, website developer, copywriter, or SEO strategist.
Doing your marketing in-house and outsourcing it both have pros and cons. As for which model best suits your business, that will depend on factors such as:
- the size of your business
- your business goals and ideas
- your marketing budget
- your personality.
Ready to find out which is right for you?
Of course you are.
Each of the following sections discusses an important feature of in-house vs outsourcing. After reading the information in each section, choose which option best describes your circumstances, then follow the link you’re given.
And in just 3 clicks you’ll have your answer.
First, let’s talk budget
Some business owners have a dedicated budget for marketing projects, while others include the cost in their overall operating expenses. (And some, to be brutally honest, just figure it out as they go.) Whichever way you do it, the important thing is knowing how much your business can afford to spend.
To work out how much money you need to increase your marketing, think about:
- what digital marketing tools, software, or equipment you need
- the ad-placement costs on any platforms/publications you want to use
- how much you need to pay the people managing your marketing. (This might be a salary if you hire someone, extra compensation for staff taking on the additional work, or the monthly expense of a digital marketing agency.)
Effective marketing is consistent marketing. Ideally you’ll be able to maintain these costs for at least 6-12 months.
If your budget is tight or likely to fluctuate, you may lean towards keeping it in-house with bootstrapped efforts. But if you’ve got a comfortable and consistent budget, you may want to outsource instead.
Time to choose
Alright, let’s discuss time and capacity
If money is tight, the resource you’ll rely on the most is time—your own or your team’s. So we need to shift from budgeting money to budgeting time.
Work out how much time each day/week/month you (or they) can afford to spend on marketing tasks while still performing their regular duties.
Implementing a content marketing strategy involves a lot of tasks. You may find yourself:
- promoting offers
- running ad campaigns
- updating older content
- creating and sending emails
- hunting out new, relevant content ideas
- writing press releases and managing business outreach
- managing your community by replying to post comments
- writing, designing, filming, and scheduling posts (social and blogs).
A solid marketing plan also builds in analysis time—a chance to look at the data and figure out what’s working and what’s not.
Note: Get an idea of how long it takes to complete 7 core content marketing tasks.
Time to choose
Great, now let’s talk about skills and expertise
You can learn most of the marketing skills you’ll need, such as:
- how to optimize your website
- how to make the most of social platforms
- how to write and distribute a press release
- how to analyze data and set up Google Analytics or Search Console
- how to set up an email list and contact people
- the principles of design and copywriting
- how to create a marketing strategy.
However, learning these skills and putting them into practice depends on how much time you’ve got and whether you’re even interested in doing it.
If you are interested, you might complete a degree, diploma, or other certificate in marketing. Or you might not. (There’s certainly no shame in admitting marketing isn’t your thing.)
So the questions you need to answer are:
- Do you or a team member already have the skills needed (or the inclination to learn them) to keep it in-house?
- Do you need quick results? (If you do, hiring an external marketing professional with the skills and knowledge makes sense.)
Time to choose
Result: Keep your marketing in-house
You may not have money to spend on outsourcing your marketing, but that’s OK, because you’ve got time on your side.
Whether it’s looking at your own schedule or that of your team, you’re confident you can carve out 5-8 hours each week to dedicate to your marketing.
Keeping the basics in house will do more than save you money. It also comes with some extra advantages.
- You’ll keep full creative control of your marketing.
- You’ll have a direct influence over your brand voice and visuals.
- Collaboration may be easier because you’re working with people in the same office.
That said, it’s important to stay realistic. Growth marketing involves a lot of work. You need to learn the necessary skills and then carry out the many and varied tasks to bring your increased marketing plan to life.
The last thing you want is for you or your team to suffer burnout or resent the work. So set yourself an evaluation date. Give yourself a quarter to get going and settle in. At the end of the third month, look at what you’ve achieved. Evaluate what tasks you liked, and which ones you’d like to pack off to the deepest levels of hell.
Next steps
- Decide how much time you need for core marketing tasks, and how much time you can afford to spend on them.
- If you have a team, make sure everyone is clear about who is responsible for what in the marketing plan.
- Use my free resources or the SEO Power-Up Plan to begin your upskilling journey and get some clear direction.
Result: A bit in-house, a bit outsourced
It sounds like you’re working on a shoestring, and have limited money and time. So I’ll level with you—growing your business will be tough.
But it’s not impossible. Here’s what I suggest.
Look at all your business tasks, not just your marketing jobs. Can you outsource any of them to another professional, such as a virtual assistant or bookkeeper? Outsourcing some bits could free up just enough time for you to handle your core marketing tasks in-house.
Next steps
- Identify areas of your business you can automate or outsource for a low cost.
- Define which area of your marketing you want help with.
- Search for budget-friendly marketing support that answers your needs. You might try looking for webinars or short courses, or book a consultation call with a professional. (You might be interested in my Website Marketing Makeover for this very reason.)
- Look for small agencies or freelancers who offer flexible working arrangements such as ‘Book a day.’ You can then hire them as and when you have the budget available.
Result: Roll with the in-house talent you have
You’ve got some budget for marketing, and some marketing know-how at your disposal. (Or at least someone is keen to learn.)
For many business owners, this is the dream situation. Someone already familiar with your business handles your marketing, saving you time. And the creative process may also feel speedy because the person is already on-site.
But remember: if you ask staff to take on marketing duties on top of their existing duties, some of your budget will go towards compensating them. And, depending on their skill level, you may need to invest in their ongoing training.
Next steps
- Identify who in your team wants to help with marketing, and make sure they know what marketing tasks they’re responsible for.
- Assign your budget. This means working out a monthly cost and how much you need to spend on:
- staff compensation (yourself included)
- any training needed
- tools or software required to carry out your marketing.
- Even though you’re keeping your marketing in-house, you may want a professional to help you get set up and start the ball rolling. See how my 1:1 Consulting can help.
Result: Outsource the 🤬 marketing work!
You’ve got a healthy marketing budget. You (and your team) are happy with your existing responsibilities. And you’ve got time up your sleeve to onboard people who already know about this marketing stuff.
So why risk creating extra stress? Bring in the professionals and outsource as much of your marketing as you want.
This might mean looking for a marketing agency that handles everything. You then simply pay them each month and give them a few clues about what you want to achieve. They’ll come up with the ideas and strategies to make it happen, just as they’ve done a million times before.
Note: The monthly investment for small-to-medium businesses hiring a US-based digital marketing agency is anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000 a month, depending on the services they need. Read this to find out more.
Alternatively, you could hire freelancers who specialize in the areas of marketing you need the most support with. This is great if you need help with specific things. And freelancers can sometimes be more budget-friendly.
So, depending on your goals, you might hire a separate designer, copywriter, PR, social media manager, and SEO strategist.
Either route is great, particularly if you want to see results in a hurry. Both agencies and expert freelancers will have some quick-win ideas in their playbook. (This helps everyone feel good about the working relationship.) They’ll also have the expertise to set up long-term and ongoing projects.
Every agency and freelancer is different, from the way they communicate and what they specialize in to the services they offer and the fees they charge. Before contacting anyone, make sure you’re clear on what’s important to you when partnering with another business and be aware of the signs that may suggest an agency is just out to take advantage of you.
Next steps
- Identify what you want help with, and your maximum monthly budget.
- Be clear on your values, and make sure anyone you work with has similar values. This will make communication and collaboration much easier.
- Understand what initial outcomes you want them to achieve.
- Make a shortlist of agencies or freelancers that interest you, and get in touch with them. (FYI, I offer a Total SEO Solution service. And if you’ve liked this article, I may well be the professional you’re looking to outsource to.)