3 Major Challenges of Moving to In-House Marketing

Bringing all of your marketing efforts  in-house can sound super appealing. 
While the idea of having more control over your  marketing strategies may entice you to consider  
building your very own in-house marketing team,  these benefits aren’t always what they seem. 
That’s why we’re covering the challenges  of in-house marketing in this video. So,  
stick around to get the full picture of what  it takes to build your own internal team! 
Challenge #1: Higher costs You might be thinking,  
“Wait — there’s no way! Hiring an in-house team  is definitely cheaper than hiring an agency!” 
Well, that’s not really the case. Actually,  saving money on marketing efforts by building  
an in-house team is one of the biggest  misconceptions about in-house marketing. 
The truth is — an in-house marketing team  can be expensive to build and maintain. 
Let’s say you want to launch  campaigns for SEO, social media,  
and email. You might think that one person  can handle all of your campaigns, but there’s  
a lot more than meets the eye in marketing! At a minimum, you’ll need to hire at least  
three employees — an SEO specialist, a social  media specialist, and an email specialist. All  
three of these roles have an average annual salary  of $40,000. That’s a total of $120,000 a year. 
Now, let’s say you want to hire a digital  marketing manager to oversee your campaigns.  
That’s another average annual salary of  $60,000. Now, you’re up to about $180,000  
a year to run three marketing campaigns. And it’s important to note that with this  
approach, you’ll only have one employee working  on each strategy, which could make it incredibly  
difficult for them to manage all aspects of your  campaign. A larger team with multiple people  
gives you the support you need to implement  multiple campaigns and track your results so  
you can earn the highest possible ROI. Whether  you want to start creating custom content or  
redesign your website, a larger marketing  team can help make that reality possible. 
So, you’ll likely want to hire two to  three more employees for each strategy  
to get the best results for your company. With a team of six specialists and a manager,  
you’re looking at costs of more than  $300,000 a year for just three marketing  
campaigns. Not to mention everything  else that comes with hiring an employee,  
such as benefits like healthcare, PTO, and more. And that’s just hiring employees. You’ll also  
need to consider investing in the technology  they’ll need to do their job, like computers,  
additional office space, and any marketing  tools or software. More on that in a bit. 
Now let’s compare these costs with an  experienced digital marketing agency. On average,  
digital marketing services from an agency  start at $2500 a month, or $30,000 a year. 
When you partner with an agency  like WebFX, you’ll get access to: 
Personalized strategies for  multiple digital marketing channels 
A team of over 500 digital marketing specialists In-house marketing software and technology 
And so much more 
Those are massive cost savings  and benefits for your company! 
Challenge #2: Building a tech stack It’s no secret that you need technology  
to drive revenue with digital marketing. To  improve your marketing tactics and invest in  
the right strategies, you need access to data. And  to get that data, you need marketing technology. 
This tech can include a variety of  tools, like analytics platforms,  
customer relationship management software,  customer data platforms, and more. 
If you’re new to digital marketing or aren’t  very tech-savvy, it can be confusing to find  
the right tools for your company. Not only can it be tricky to find  
the right tools and build up a tech stack, but  you’ll also need to know how to use those tools. 
For example, you’ll need to know how to set  up the platform, migrate your existing data,  
and interpret the new data from your campaigns.  And you have to get all of your tools working  
together. Otherwise, you’ll have disjointed data. You or your team will need to have the expertise  
to analyze all of that data and  identify insights that enable you  
to improve the ROI of your campaigns. And this process can be extremely  
time-consuming. Many companies spend tens  of thousands of dollars just to get these  
tools implemented and it can take several months  until your tools are up and running — even with  
the help of an expert. Not to mention how much  time you’ll spend listening to sales pitches,  
watching demos, and signing contracts. And I didn’t even mention the costs involved  
in building a tech stack yet. Some businesses  spend upwards of $100,000 per year on just a  
CRM platform. A lead management and tracking  tool can cost around $24,000 a month, call  
tracking software can cost an average of $3300  per month, and email marketing tools can cost you  
upwards of $4500 a month. And those costs will  continue to rise as you build your tech stack. 
So, what can a digital marketing agency bring to  the table when it comes to tech? Well, at WebFX,  
our digital marketing plans give you access to our  own in-house marketing software and CRM platform. 
And the best part is, our team can take the  weight off your shoulders by helping you get  
the software set up and by implementing custom  integrations with tools you’re already using. 
Oh, and did I mention that our digital marketing  experts can also assist in analyzing your data  
and optimizing your strategies? We  take care of everything so you can  
focus on the tasks that matter most to you. Challenge #3: Industry knowledge and expertise 
While your team is no doubt experts at what they  do, in-house marketing does add a whole new layer  
of skills you and your team will need to master. The digital marketing industry is constantly  
changing with new search engine algorithms,  tool updates (like Google Analytics 4),  
new advertising methods, and more. You and  your team will need to keep up with these  
trends to stay ahead of your competitors  and ensure your strategies are successful. 
And keeping ahead of all the new tech  and trends is easier said than done. 
Time spent reading up on the latest  trends or learning how to use the newest  
advertising platform is time spent away from  completing everyday tasks for your business. 
For example, platforms come and go and new ones  often pop up. Just look at how the AI landscape  
has exploded with new tools. Now your team  will need to spend time researching the newest  
platform, figuring out if it’s actually worth your  time, learning how to optimize your strategies  
with it, and then implementing those changes. That’s a lot of time and effort you could put  
towards higher-impact projects and strategies. So, how can outsourcing your digital marketing  
efforts help you stay ahead of the curve? At an  agency like WebFX, we have hundreds of experts  
in all different areas of marketing who continue  to expand their knowledge in their chosen subject  
areas. If you have a question, there’s a good  chance our experts have an answer for you. 
We’ll continue growing our industry  knowledge, analyzing your competitors,  
and planning your next steps to stay ahead. Plus, your account manager is always on  
hand to keep you informed, answer any  questions that may pop up, and talk through  
your strategies any time you need. That means you can sit back, relax,  
and focus on your other business tasks with peace  of mind while you watch the revenue roll in. 
Deciding how you want to implement your marketing  strategy is a really important decision. While  
in-house marketing does come with its own range  of benefits, outsourcing your efforts to an  
experienced digital marketing agency could make  more sense for your company’s budget and goals. 
If you want to learn more about the  digital marketing services at WebFX and how  
our team can help you drive more revenue,  don’t hesitate to get in touch with us! 
Well, that’s it for this video. Thanks  for watching and see you next time!