Decisions, Decisions
Price Tags
The cost of an agency can seem overwhelming to some businesses, but let’s break down the numbers. Hiring a full-time mid-level marketing employee will cost anywhere from $50k-$80k, and that’s not including benefits. If benefits are, say, 30% overhead (IT, other expenses), the cost is even more significant. Training can also be a hidden cost.
It takes time to get new employees up and running – time that an agency could quickly outpace.Based on the sheer numbers above, you can see how the average monthly cost of an employee is much more expensive than a trusted agency, depending on how tenured the marketing employee is. A VP or Director will be at the high end, marketing manager in the middle, and marketing coordinator at the low end.
The Risks of a Wrong Hire
Leave It To the Specialists
On the other end of the spectrum, a typical inbound agency will be adept at a wide multitude of things: SEO, social, conversion optimization, PPC, email, nurturing/automation, web design, print design, etc. They also will have employed their inbound marketing services for 10s if not 100s of clients across different verticals. In addition, with an agency comes the value of having more creative minds solving sales and marketing challenges, creating content, improving the performance of campaigns, etc.
In addition, you won’t have to manage the day-to-day of the campaign as closely as you would with an in-house employee. While you’d certainly weigh-in on the overall strategic direction, the nuts and bolts of the business will be left in the hands of the agency to juggle.
Efficiency is another key to keep in mind. Your one marketing specialist will not have the ability to be as productive as a whole team deployed at an outside marketing agency. Agencies perform the same tasks over and over for many different types of clients, and as a result, they are highly specialized in their roles.
At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide what’s best for your business model. But, it’s hard to ignore the amount of benefits that come from relying on an experienced inbound marketing agency. Investing in the experts is worth it!
Want more stats to compare? Find much more in our free In-house vs. Agency white paper!
