Marketing Agency vs. In-House Team: What’s Best For Your Business?

Are you getting ready to make your first real investment in marketing and not sure which path to take? Or maybe you’ve been working with an agency for a while and something feels off. Perhaps they're not delivering like you hoped, and now you’re wondering if it’s time to make a change. Should you find a different agency? Or is it finally time to build your own in-house team?

These are big decisions that will shape how fast and how well your business grows.

At IMPACT, we’ve lived both sides of this equation. For years, we operated as a full-service marketing agency with clients who outsourced all their marketing to us. Then, in 2018, we made a fundamental shift. Instead of doing marketing for companies, we began coaching and training businesses to build their own in-house marketing teams. That transformation gave us a unique perspective. 

In this article, we’ll walk you through the pros and cons of both in-house marketing teams and marketing agencies so you can see the full picture. You’ll walk away with the clarity you need to choose the right path for your business.

A Reminder of What Marketing Must Accomplish Today

Before we dive into agency versus in-house, let's establish what marketing needs to do for your business in 2025.

Today, roughly 80% of the buying process happens before a buyer ever reaches out or even appears on your radar. Your marketing has to do the heavy lifting early in their journey. It needs to help them find you, grab their attention, answer the key questions they're asking during research, and position your company at the top of their list when they start comparing options.

The only way that happens is through content.

If you want your company to show up in search results, social media feeds, and AI recommendations, you need to be publishing content. Real, educational, authentic content that answers the questions buyers are already asking. We're talking articles, videos, podcasts, YouTube content, short-form social videos, and resources on your website.

That's what gets indexed, shared, and surfaced by platforms. AI models like ChatGPT are trained on existing internet content, which means companies producing the most useful content have the most influence on those AI-generated answers.

Content is the foundation of great marketing because buyers want to self-educate. They want to do their own research, on their own time, without speaking to a salesperson. Content is what guides their thinking and builds trust in those crucial early stages.

Bottom line: Your content needs to win that first 80% of the buyer's journey. Companies that take marketing seriously think like media companies.

The Case for In-House Marketing Teams

Let's start with why we believe most businesses should prioritize building their marketing capabilities internally, especially when it comes to the most important element: content creation.

Why In-House Content Creation Always Wins

Here's our clear stance: Content is always best when it's created in-house.

It doesn't matter if you're a solo entrepreneur, a five-person team, or a large company with a full marketing department. Content is always better when it comes from inside your business.

Why? Because no one knows your business like you do.

• No one understands your customers' pain points the way you do
• No one can explain your product, service, or process with the same insight
• No one can speak with your authentic voice or share your real stories
• No one knows the little moments that make a difference to your buyers
• No one understands what your competitors fail to explain

That depth of knowledge is what sets your content apart, and it's nearly impossible for someone outside your business to capture it authentically.

The Problem with Most Agency Content

One of the biggest problems with outsourcing content to most marketing agencies is how the relationship is structured. Most operate on a deliverables-based retainer where you pay for a set number of articles, videos, or social posts each month. This model prioritizes volume over quality.

The focus becomes getting things done and approved, not making them great. Content creation often gets pushed down to junior staff juggling multiple clients and tight deadlines. The result? Generic, checkbox content that lacks depth, clarity, and originality.

With AI tools like ChatGPT, this problem is getting worse. Many agencies now use AI to generate content more quickly. What you end up with reads fine at a glance but feels generic and forgettable. It lacks the insights, stories, and nuance that come from experience. Worse, it's content that could be written for any company in your industry. Nothing sounds uniquely like you or demonstrates deep understanding of your buyers.

That kind of content doesn't move the needle. It doesn't rank well, get shared, or help your sales team close deals faster. It just fills space and becomes a monthly expense that creates busywork instead of growth.

The Financial Case for In-House

From a cost standpoint, hiring a full-time content manager is often more efficient than staying on a high-ticket content retainer. Here's why:

Long-term cost efficiency: A full-time content manager costs less than premium agency retainers over time

Compound learning: In-house creators become more fluent in your messaging, more responsive to your team, and more strategic about what content actually drives leads

Integration with sales: They understand how your sales team works and can create content that directly supports the sales process

Speed and agility: No approval processes, client calls, or communication delays—just immediate response to market opportunities

What About Freelancers?

Not every business can hire a full-time content manager right away. If you're considering freelancers, here's how to make it work:

You must stay the content creator. This means getting your thoughts out of your head—into writing, video, or voice notes. A good freelancer can help polish, structure, optimize for SEO, and prepare for publishing, but you need to be the source of ideas, stories, examples, and perspective.

You can't hand it off completely. You still need to review and approve every piece of content before it goes live.

View it as a stepping stone. The goal should be to bring someone in-house as soon as possible. A full-time content manager is one of the best investments a business can make in its marketing.

When Agencies and Outsourcing Make Perfect Sense

While we strongly believe content creation should stay in-house, there are plenty of situations where working with agencies or freelancers is a smart move.

Technical and Specialized Tasks

Paid Media Management Running ads on Google, Meta, YouTube, and LinkedIn requires deep platform knowledge, constant testing, and ongoing optimization. Good paid media agencies have the tools, experience, and dedicated focus to get you results faster than building this expertise in-house.

Website Design and Development Unless you're a large company, you probably don't need full-time designers or developers on staff. For major website projects, redesigns, or migrations, experienced agencies can save time and reduce risk.

Technical SEO Performance optimization, site structure improvements, and technical SEO audits require specialized knowledge that most businesses don't need full-time.

Advanced Integrations AI chatbot implementations, complex CRM setups, and other technical integrations are perfect for specialized agencies or freelancers.

Graphic Design For branding projects, social graphics, brochures, or ad creative, agencies can provide expertise without the overhead of a full-time position.

The Key Difference

Notice what these tasks have in common? They don't require someone to deeply understand your buyers, your sales process, or your company culture to be effective. You can get high-quality work without the outsourced provider needing to become an expert in your business.

Use outside help to supplement your team, not replace it. Agencies and freelancers should handle technical execution while you maintain strategic control and content creation.

Making the Right Choice for Your Business

Every business is different, so there's no one-size-fits-all answer. However, there are frameworks you can use to evaluate what makes sense for your specific situation, budget, and growth stage.

Start Here: Assess Your Current Situation

If you're just starting out:

• Begin with content creation in-house (even if it's just you)
• Outsource technical tasks like website development and paid ads
• Plan to hire a content manager as your first marketing employee

If you're currently working with an agency: Ask yourself these questions:

• Are they creating content that sounds authentically like your business?
• Do they understand your sales process and create content that supports it?
• Are you seeing measurable results in lead generation and deal velocity?
• Could you achieve better results for the same investment with an in-house hire?

If you're scaling an existing team:

• Prioritize bringing content creation fully in-house
• Consider outsourcing specialized technical work that doesn't require deep business knowledge
• Invest in training your team on marketing fundamentals

Budget Considerations

Small Budget (Under $5,000/month):

• Handle content creation yourself
• Use freelancers for technical tasks like website updates
• Consider a part-time content creator as you grow

Medium Budget ($5,000-$15,000/month):

• Hire a full-time content manager
• Outsource paid media management
• Use agencies for major website projects

Large Budget ($15,000+/month):

• Build a complete in-house marketing team
• Selectively outsource specialized technical work
• Consider agencies for overflow work or specialized campaigns

Red Flags: When to Avoid Agencies

• They promise to "handle everything" without involving you
• They can't show you specific, measurable results for similar businesses
• Their content samples sound generic and could apply to any company
• They're reluctant to share their actual process or show you behind the scenes
• They discourage you from learning about marketing yourself

The One Thing Every Business Leader Must Understand

No matter what size your company is, someone inside your organization needs to understand what good marketing looks like.

If you're a business of one, that person is you. As you grow, it might be a marketing leader. But someone has to know what great marketing looks like, what good content sounds like, and what drives results.

It's a giant mistake to say "I don't need to learn this, I'm just going to hire someone who does." That's the fast track to wasting money and time. Whether you're managing an in-house team or working with agencies, you need enough knowledge to:

• Set clear expectations and goals
• Recognize good work from mediocre work
• Ask the right questions during reviews
• Make strategic decisions about budget allocation
• Hold people accountable for results

By reading articles like this and taking the time to learn, you're already on the right path. Keep going. The more you understand, the better your marketing will perform.

Your Next Steps

If you're leaning toward building an in-house team:

1. Start creating content yourself to understand the process
2. Document your brand voice, key messages, and content themes
3. Plan your first marketing hire (likely a content manager)
4. Identify which technical tasks you'll outsource initially

If you're considering working with an agency:

1. Focus on agencies that specialize in technical execution, not content creation
2. Maintain control over your content strategy and creation
3. Set clear expectations and measurable goals upfront
4. Plan your transition to more in-house capabilities over time

Regardless of your choice:

1. Commit to learning marketing fundamentals yourself
2. Prioritize content creation as your most important marketing activity
3. Measure results consistently and adjust your approach based on data
4. Remember that great marketing requires both strategic thinking and consistent execution

The path you choose, agency, in-house, or hybrid, matters less than your commitment to creating authentic, valuable content that serves your buyers throughout their journey. Make that your north star, and the tactical decisions become much clearer.

Use the information we shared above to help you determine the best solution for your organization. However, should you realize insourcing your content is the way to go, we're happy to help you get started.