The age-old question, should I hire an agency or build up my team in-house? I’ve already shared some of my thoughts on if hiring an agency is worth it. Now I plan to share some of the benefits of hiring an agency vs. taking the time to build up and invest in your own team. There are benefits to both, but mostly will depend on where you’re at as an organization and your goals.
Benefits of Hiring an SEO Agency
Extension of your team
- An SEO agency will act as a true extension of your team, giving you the opportunity to leverage your own internal team in addition to the agency team when divvying up goals & responsibilities
- You can deploy your internal team and agency team to the same efforts to run quickly, or you can opt to have one lead more strategically while the other focuses on execution
Access to a full agency with experience across the funnel
- One of the biggest advantages to working with an agency will be the access to not only your immediate account team but the entire agency. Often, agencies don’t specialize in just one area, like SEO, but also offer services in Creative, Paid Media and Analytics - allowing you to access marketers with experience all across the funnel
Investments in testing and innovation
- Certain agencies, including Seer, invest specifically in R&D and innovation. This includes a full team who are creating hypotheses, testing and building out new technologies to service clients better and more quickly. Without an agency partner, you’d need to invest in these areas within your own organization, adding up costs and likely resulting in seeking outsourced help
Costs
- Choosing to partner with an agency will save you costs in the long run. Hiring in-house will result in not only labor costs, but benefits, overhead and tool costs. An agency assumes these costs and you’ll likely see more of a fixed fee for a set period of time
Benefits of Hiring SEO’s In-House
Build up your internal team
- If your company is just starting out, it’s wise to invest in your internal team to at least include an SEO, a Developer and a Writer to start. This team will allow you to focus across strategy, technical fixes and also content creation. Partnering with an agency without internal resources will make implementing and showing results a challenge
If your Leadership isn’t bought in on SEO yet
- Maybe your Leadership team is more focused on traditional marketing efforts, and isn’t fully bought in on the idea of investing in digital marketing or SEO yet. This will make it challenging to get SEO work prioritized among the several other internal priorities. This is a good time to start small with your internal team, and put some SEO wins on the board before partnering with an agency team
Limited budget
- Although I noted costs above as a factor to invest in an agency, if your budget is so limited that you won’t be able to see the full value of the partnership, it may be better to invest in-house in a good SEO or with an independent consultant. Once you get some wins on the board and show the ROI, it may be easier to make the case internally for a larger SEO budget.
- However, never let budget be the factor that holds you back from engaging with an agency like Seer. There may be options like a 3 month proof of concept sprint to make the case for a larger SEO budget internally
Is hiring an agency or investing in-house the best option?
It’s all going to depend on your organization’s goals. You may be ready to partner with an agency now, or you may still be looking to build up your internal team. Whatever stage you’re at, Seer is here to help you make that decision.
By partnering with an SEO agency, you'll have access to a full team of experts with experience across the funnel, investments in testing and innovation, and cost savings in the long run. On the other hand, building up your internal team allows you to focus on strategy, technical fixes, and content creation while getting SEO wins on the board. Whatever stage you're at, Seer is here to help you make the right decision.
