Many growing businesses reach a point when referrals aren’t reliable enough to count on. Leads are inconsistent. Marketing is happening, but it’s hard to tell what’s working, what’s wasting money, and where to focus resources. 

Sound familiar? 

You may not be shocked to learn that 73% of small businesses lack confidence in their marketing strategies, according to Constant Contact. Wow! It should not be this way, but the truth is that most businesses aren’t short on effort. They’re short on clarity.

That’s usually when the question comes up: should you hire a digital marketing agency or continue to rely on your in-house team?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Some businesses really do need internal marketing support. Others need outside expertise that can move faster and deliver specific value. The right choice depends on your goals, your budget, your timeline, and how much internal leadership you have to support either option.

Not sure which option makes the most sense for your business? Almost everyone who talks to us finds the conversation valuable.

When to think about outside marketing support

This decision usually doesn’t come up when everything feels calm and predictable. It tends to show up when the business is at a turning point.

Growth has stalled. Referrals come in, but not steadily enough to plan with confidence. Your team can push out content, but there’s no clear return on their efforts. You’re spending money on ads, but no one can answer questions about the return on investment (ROI). Or maybe you’re trying to make a bigger decision, like hiring a new employee, buying a new piece of equipment, opening another location, or hitting a new revenue goal. And you want to feel confident that your marketing is going to predictably generate high-quality leads. 

In these moments, marketing starts to feel less like a nice-to-have and more like an essential business investment. You want more than clicks and visibility. You want a reliable, predictable method to generate new clients and projects, while understanding what you’re getting for your money.

Hire a digital marketing agency: what you gain

When you hire a digital marketing agency like J.Scott Marketing, you’re gaining speed, expertise, and experience.

That matters because businesses don’t just need more marketing activity now. They need marketing that generates leads and/or revenue. More than 29% of marketers say increasing sales and revenue is their top goal in 2026, according to HubSpot. In other words, the focus to tie marketing activity to revenue is growing–that’s a trend we fully support

A good agency can bring broader expertise than one hire can. Instead of hoping a single person will bring expertise in strategy, execution, reporting, SEO, campaign planning, and optimization, a digital marketing agency provides access to multiple skill sets at once. That means you see results faster, gain deeper expertise, and gain clarity about what you’re getting for your investment.

There’s also an intangible benefit that business owners don’t talk about enough: relief. When you hire a digital marketing agency, you’re not leaving business development to chance, referrals, or networking. You’re creating predictability around growth.

Lewis Creek Builders, for example, partnered with J.Scott Marketing to build a stronger lead generation system, including Google Ads, a fresh landing page built to convert, and support for organic and paid Meta marketing. The results? Lead quality skyrocketed from 20% to 73% high quality. They received 16 high-quality leads in one month alone, and the cost per conversion sunk from from $316 to $63.

Building an in-house team: where it makes sense

There are absolutely times when in-house is the better move.

If your business has a constant flow of content needs, frequent approvals, or a brand that depends on close day-to-day collaboration, having a marketing resource inside your company makes sense. An internal marketer is closer to the team, the product, the service experience, and the day-to-day realities of the business. That kind of proximity makes sense sometimes.

Building in-house can also work well when you have the budget, HR resources, and leadership structure to support that team member properly.

That last part matters more than people think. A strong in-house setup usually works best when there’s an experienced marketing leader shaping strategy and setting priorities, along with a more junior person who can execute. Without that structure, businesses often hire an entry-level marketer and then wonder why that person can’t build strategy, manage leadership expectations, and manage multiple channels well on their own. They might be great at following directions, but are lost if given the compass. One sign your in-house team may be too junior is if you don’t understand the value of what they are doing. Only a data-driven team with expertise to track performance can deliver clarity in this way. 

The hidden costs of hiring in-house

The salary is only one part of the cost.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for marketing managers was $161,030 in May 2024. On top of wages, employer benefit costs for private industry workers averaged $14.01 per hour in March 2026, which made up 30.1% of total compensation costs. That doesn’t include recruiting, onboarding, management time, software, or the cost of making the wrong hire.

There’s also the specialization issue. A lot of business owners mistakenly assume one marketing hire can do everything. These days, that’s a recipe for disappointment. The person who’s great at execution isn’t always the right person to build the strategy. The person who writes well may not be comfortable setting up data tracking,  reviewing analytics, or optimizing funnel performance.

That’s one of the biggest reasons in-house hiring can get frustrating. Businesses often bring on a lower-level marketer, then feel disappointed when that person needs more direction and oversight than is available. But junior marketers usually do need more support, more accountability, and more strategic leadership. That’s normal. The problem is when a company hires for execution but expects leadership.

Then there’s the risk factor. If the hire doesn’t work out, exits can be expensive, time-consuming, and messy. Even when the person is a good fit, they still need management and feedback. If no one on the leadership team really understands marketing, it can be hard to know whether the work is strong, whether the priorities are right, and whether the business is getting what it needs.