Brittany Wong is CEO of Worcester marketing agency Studio Jade. Reach her at brittany@hellostudiojade.com.
Updated: February 6, 2023
Know How
Know when it’s time to bring in a marketing agency
By Brittany Wong
Business owners are constantly analyzing expenses and looking to cut back costs while bringing in more revenue. Marketing is one of the most enigmatic spends in the business industry. Do you outsource to an agency or try to stay in-house? It’s a tough decision; but eventually push comes to shove, and you have to decide: Is it time to call for extra help?
It takes a village
In today’s world, you need someone specializing in strategy, website, digital, social, billboards, email and SMS, branding, content, videography, and more. That workload isn’t a one-person ordeal. Hell, it’s not even something two can take on confidently. To adequately handle the marketing side of your business, it’s going to take a village.
Someone to captain the ship
One option is to keep it in-house, but that gets pricey depending on the size of your team. The other is outsourcing to an agency, which is not nearly as costly as you might think compared to some in-house solutions. Hiring an agency saves you the cost of big salaries and allows you to leverage built-out project management and reporting progress.
A well-oiled agency can absorb the responsibility of managing an entire marketing team on your behalf. You’ll also get more insight into your campaigns due to the experience agencies get from working with many businesses in several different industries.
Allocating your assets
Appropriately allocating your assets comes with the task of cost comparison. Viewing from 10,000 feet, hiring an agency may sound expensive. However, when you get right down to it, outsourcing can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary and benefits, while boosting your overall profit.
When building an in-house marketing team, you’ll need most, if not all, of the following positions:
• Director of marketing ($100K - $200K)
• Graphic designer ($45K - $70K)
• Social media coordinator ($45K - $60K)
• Videographer ($50K - $80K)
• Website developer ($70K - $130K)
• SEO/Google ad specialist ($45K - $90K)
• Copywriter ($45K - $80K)
The lower end of those salaries comes to $400,000. That’s not accounting for subscription costs, such as tools including project management systems, social scheduling, Adobe software, stock photography, and more. Agencies, however, operate on a retainer basis, with costs built in. My agency, for example, charges an average monthly retainer of $6,000 to handle all marketing needs. Over the course of the year, that’s $72,000, a far cry from $400,000. Retainers are highly fluid, as they can be oriented to supplement your in-house team if you already have one and instead are only looking to fill in some gaps.
2023 is your year
Keep in mind no two businesses are the same. One may need an agency, while another could operate swimmingly with an in-house team. Regardless of what your team looks like, 2023 can be your company’s moment to shine. It’s time to supersede your competition, break any barriers in front of you, and smash your goals. This is your year.
WBJ Web Partners
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