Should I Hire a Freelancer or an Agency for Marketing Services?

Now more than ever, all the services a marketing agency offers can be found in freelance contracts with independent marketing coordinators, designers, and copywriters. When it comes to your business, who should you trust with your marketing plan? What would offer you the greatest outcome for the lowest cost to you? 

Your decision will likely be affected by your objectives and the kind of goals you wish to accomplish with your marketing plan. The most important factor, however, is that you are left with a successful, growing, custom marketing plan that elevates your business and your brand. 

To help you navigate the beginning stages of your marketing plan, we have highlighted some of the pros and cons of hiring both freelancers and marketing agencies. Once you have a solid grasp on the vision for your business or project, consider these factors when choosing who to hire: 

Pros of Hiring a Freelancer

A freelancer is a self-employed individual who offers a specific skillset of services for company projects. Freelancers include copywriters, designers, illustrators, social media coordinators, and so forth. 

There are three specific advantages to hiring freelancers compared to hiring a marketing agency, including prices, flexibility, and specialization. 

Price 

Let’s address the elephant in the room: cost. The first factor in the debate between freelancers and agencies is usually a price comparison. 

Generally, hiring an individual freelancer will be cheaper than hiring an agency. A freelancer will usually work from a personal computer, which is much less costly than a building full of employees. This is beneficial if your goals are to complete a project quickly with the lowest cost to you! 

Flexibility 

Since a freelancer is self-employed, they will probably have more flexibility regarding scheduling or project changes. Also, many freelancers offer to work outside of regular business hours. 

This is a pro for businesses or projects that may need significant revisions or a quick turn-around!

Specialization 

Since freelancers are individuals, they often offer very specialized services for their clients. This is a great solution if a business needs a one-time specific role filled in their current project.  

However, if you have a larger project or marketing plan, you may need to hire multiple freelancers to fill a variety of roles, which could affect the cost benefit of hiring freelance to begin with. 

Cons of Hiring a Freelancer 

After considering the benefits of hiring a freelancer, let’s consider the cons of hiring an individual rather than an agency: 

Limited Work Capacity 

As we’ve established, a freelancer is simply an individual with a certain skillset. One individual can only do so much work and offer so many services to a project. 

A freelancer may not be able to work on every aspect of your project or marketing plan. They may only be able to offer success in, say, your social media marketing, leaving your search engine marketing, advertising, and email campaigns left unattended.  

Also, if the project is small but extensive, such as social media marketing on multiple platforms, the project might be too much for a single freelancer to take on. 

Again, hiring multiple freelancers is a solution, but that would affect the freelancer cost-benefit. 

Reliability Risk 

Accidents and emergencies happen when we least expect them. When you trust your project to one freelancer, that creates a high-risk scenario if the individual gets sick, has a financial crisis, or a family emergency. 

However professional and prepared a freelancer may be, it’s impossible to deter every distraction or emergency. When hiring a freelancer, you must be prepared for the possibility of your project going into limbo if your freelancer comes across any unexpected situations. 

Working Relationships 

In the best-case scenario, your freelancer will be familiar with your brand, your identity, your marketing strategies, your audiences, and your industry. However, the reality is that they will rarely be familiar with any of these. 

Creating a working relationship with a freelancer will take time and may create more of a challenge than is worth for your project schedule. 

Pros of Hiring an Agency 

Now why should you hire a marketing agency? Is an agency the best option for your business or project? Here are the benefits of agency work: 

Teams of Skills 

An agency is stocked full of professional employees that work together daily to complete projects successfully. Unlike a freelancer, an agency has many creatives with a variety of skillsets who can tackle a multitude of project challenges without having to outsource. 

Even if you hire multiple freelancers for a project, there is no guarantee they will work together successfully. An agency is a well-oiled, skilled machine that is ready to work for you! 

Low Maintenance 

Working with a freelancer takes a lot of extra time and management. Keeping consistent communication is key with freelancers, whereas hiring an agency guarantees you an efficient, independent workflow. 

When you hire an agency, project management is not a worry! You’ll still be involved in the decision-making process, but the grunt work of driving your project will be handled by experts. 

Speed and Efficiency 

Agencies are well-versed in project workflows and creative solutions. This means that when you have a project with a strict deadline, hiring an agency will usually offer a quick, reliable result as compared to a freelancer. 

Ongoing Support 

Many agencies also offer ongoing support and services to their clients. When it comes to customer service and well-established relationships, an agency is your best friend.  

A great marketing agency will offer continued support, including SEO work, marketing analysis reports, and more. This is especially important with online marketing, as it is reliant on keeping your business at the forefront of the digital age. 

Cons of Hiring an Agency 

Of course, there are also cons to hiring a marketing agency. Take these points into account when considering your next project: 

Higher Cost 

Hiring an agency is more expensive than hiring an individual. Most marketing agencies will make it well worth the cost, thanks to industry-leading production and ongoing benefits, but some small businesses just might not have the budget for it. 

If your main concern is the bill for your project, go ahead and reach out to an agency to discuss what custom plans and packages are available. An agency might be less expensive than you think! 

Potentially Low Involvement 

Some large agencies can be strict with their client feedback. When hiring a large agency, it is possible that you may not have as much freedom or control over your project as you prefer. 

Smaller marketing agencies, however, offer more involvement for clients and a clear path for feedback and communication. When hiring an agency, find a business that allows you to give plenty of input about your project’s vision and goals! 

Start Your Marketing Project With Strategy 

Strategy is a small, well-oiled, expert team of marketing specialists that can deliver the most successful results at the best cost for you! 

We are here to help you guide and inspire your audiences through online marketing, advertising, website design, branding, and more. We work with you to create custom marketing solutions for your business. 

Connect with us today to begin your marketing project with reliable support from Strategy!