Tatty McIntosh

Updated on Tues 6th Sept • 6 minute read

In-House vs Digital Marketing Agency? How to Take Your Digital Marketing Strategy to the Next Level Today

From social media marketing to plain old word of mouth, there are many ways you can market your company in today's day and age. You may think about taking on that challenge yourself in-house or thinking of paying an agency to do it for you.

It may all be a bit confusing and a tough choice to make. So take a look below to see what you should consider when deciding whether to market In-House or at a Digital Agency.

What is your Digital Literacy Level?

Are you a digital native, someone who has a decent level of knowledge, or someone who has no clue?

When it comes to Digital Marketing, it helps to have a firm knowledge of all things well… digital.

Having a strong digital literacy level will make it easier for you from the beginning to the end of your Digital Marketing journey.

If you have a strong to decent digital literacy level, that will give you a strong foothold if you plan on running your Digital Marketing work in-house.

You’ll have an easier time getting to grips with not only the actual marketing work itself but also the creation and analytic work needed.

If your digital literacy level is low then it may be best for you to have an agency take care of your Digital Marketing.

You’ll want everything to be running at its maximum potential to help your business grow, if you’re trying to run a campaign with very limited digital skills, then that likely won’t be achievable.

How is your Social Media knowledge

The role social media plays in today's marketing landscape cannot be overstated.

Whether it's the running and maintenance of the multiple pages themselves to the paid ads, you can run on them, it's important to know how to market on Facebook, Instagram, and all other social media platforms that apply to your company.

Let's start at the beginning, creating your social media page. Now you don’t need an agency to do this, right? You just need to create a username and password and away you go posting.

That's true, but there may be more that an agency, even just in the creation phase, can do.

An easily searchable @, an eye-catching about section, and integrations with other platforms are just a few things you could miss out on when your social media knowledge isn't at an expert level.

Now, while you run your business, are you going to have time to be posting frequently? The key to getting a good social media presence is to post quality content frequently.

If you're a large company that has the resources to hire its own in-house team to run its social media, then it may not impact your day-to-day work.

If you’re a smaller company, you may be forced between sacrificing your productivity or your social media.

With a digital agency running them, your social media accounts will run seamlessly and improve your company's presence without you needing to compromise your productivity.

What is your marketing knowledge

Marketing can be confusing sometimes. Boston Matrix? Ansoff Matrix? MLMS? 4 P’s? Never heard of them? That's no problem.

You can create an adequate marketing campaign In-House with only a limited amount of marketing knowledge.

It may be a struggle to navigate the jargon and get to grips with the tools, but it can be done.

Agencies however are filled with experts who are filled to the brim with marketing knowledge and experience.

Complex strategies and tools are part and parcel of the job.

From your goals to market segmentation, content creation, final implementation, and beyond.

Agencies can make your whole digital marketing campaign come together how you want it to and with the best results possible.

Will you have to produce content?

Are you looking at creating emails, blogs, photos, or maybe something more?

A high production value in the content your company puts out is key to enticing audiences.

A person browsing Facebook may pass by your company's ad if the images aren’t of good quality.

Your company likely won’t rank high on search engines if there aren’t regular optimised blogs posted to your website.

Content in your Digital Marketing is critical.

This content takes a lot of time, effort, and money to create.

While you could have a go at doing this yourself in-house, the results may be inconsistent, as well as reducing the time you have to focus on the running of your business itself.

This could hinder not only your Digital Marketing but your business’s running on the day-to-day.

With an agency, however, the content for your Digital Marketing will be taken care of from inception to implementation, and at the highest quality.

What is your budget

Whether your budget is big or small, it’s best to get the most out of it you can.

But while you may think that marketing in-house will save you a bit of money, in reality, that wouldn’t be the case.

Your budget may be used in the wrong places and marketing that isn’t at a high standard.

That could lead to you either missing out on the audience you want to reach or your audience dismissing your company because of the quality of Digital Marketing.

With a digital agency, your budget will be put into all the right avenues and on the highest quality ads and content.

Even with a small budget, it's possible for an agency to generate leads for your business.

Conclusion

So it's up to you wherever you want to go alone, learn along the way, and split your time between your work and your marketing.

Or you can have the best in the business take care of your marketing for you and give you more time to focus on your work and your customers.

Have you seen a gap in your knowledge or an area that could be improved by working with an agency?

Let us know in the form below what you are looking for in your digital campaign and how you match up to the sections above.

Find Out More About Digital Marketing

We're Sketch Creative, and we're here to help you create the perfect marketing for your business.

Based in Birmingham, we've been marketing brands since 2016. We work with all kinds of businesses—large and small, new and established—to help them develop their digital marketing presence, whether that's through social media, paid ads or organic reach, we've got you covered!

Check out our services page to see how we can bring a spark to your digital marketing.

Written by

Tatty McIntosh

Hey, I'm Tatty - Head of Marketing at Sketch.