Start with the work, not the structure

List the marketing tasks you need over the next twelve months. Be specific: website changes, search optimisation, paid campaigns, email, content, design, reporting. Then estimate how many hours each takes and how often. You will usually find a handful of tasks that are constant, such as email and content, and several that arrive in bursts, such as a website rebuild or a campaign launch.

Constant work often suits a person who lives in the business. Bursty, specialist work suits a team you can call on when needed.

Compare the total cost, not just the salary

A salary is only the starting point for an in-house hire. Consider the following before comparing it with a retainer:

• Employer National Insurance, pension contributions and holiday cover

• Recruitment time or fees, and the cost of a bad hire

• Software licences for analytics, email, design and project tools

• Training, and the management time needed to direct the role

• Freelancers or agencies you will still need for specialist work

An agency retainer looks higher each month, but it can bring several specialists for the price of one salary. Neither is automatically cheaper. Write both costs down side by side, and use our guide to building a small business marketing budget to check that either option fits your numbers.

Think about breadth of skill

One marketer is rarely excellent at strategy, copywriting, design, paid media, search optimisation and analytics. A generalist can be a great hire, but you are buying a broad average rather than deep expertise in each area. An agency lets you borrow specialists in the moment you need them, such as a developer for a launch or a search specialist for a technical clean-up.

Weigh speed and continuity

An agency can usually start within weeks and arrives with tested processes. Recruiting, onboarding and ramping up an employee often takes months. On the other hand, an in-house person knows your product, customers and internal politics in a way an outside team takes time to learn. Consider what happens if your marketer leaves: with an agency, knowledge sits with a team, but with one hire it leaves with them.

Consider control and accountability

In-house staff are available whenever you need them and take direction day to day. Agencies work to a scope, which keeps priorities clear but can feel less flexible. Whichever route you choose, insist on owning your accounts. Your Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts should be in your name, so you keep your data if people or suppliers change. A clear brief also protects you, as covered in our guide to writing a marketing brief an agency can use.

Look seriously at the hybrid model

Many growing businesses land on a middle path. One person inside owns strategy, customer knowledge and priorities. External specialists handle design, development, search or paid media when the workload justifies it. This keeps control close while avoiding full-time salaries for skills you only use part of the time. Organisations like the Federation of Small Businesses are a useful place to ask peers how they have structured theirs.

Signs that point towards an agency

• You need several different skills at the same time

• Your workload rises and falls through the year

• No one in the business could manage a specialist hire well

• You want an outside view of your market and competitors

• You need to move quickly and cannot wait for a recruitment process

If most of these do not apply, and the work is steady and closely tied to day-to-day operations, an in-house hire is likely to be the better fit.