Internal vs. Freelance vs. Agency

THE PROS AND CONS

Internal Marketing Department

PRO

  • They are focused entirely on your business. There is no other clients competing for the employee’s time

  • You get to dictate how quickly things get done

  • You have transparency 100% of the time

CON

  • It is nearly impossible to bring on that “unicorn” who possesses all the skills required to execute a marketing strategy

  • Salary for a single hire is around $50,000/year and an entire team is around $325,000/year (not including benefits and software requirements)

  • You are now responsible for having employees which include a list of requirements including various paperwork, supplies, employee issues, time off, etc.

  • It takes time to find and hire the right people and it becomes increasingly difficult to make necessary personnel and logistic changes.

Freelance/Contractor

PRO

  • Hired for expertise or experience (wealth of knowledge)

  • Consultative relationship and personal level of service

  • May participate in strategic business decisions

  • Ability to fully execute

  • Easy to terminate the agreement if necessary

CON

  • Limited in the full service offering, sometimes requiring multiple freelancers/contractors

  • Limited on their capacity and other client load

  • Depending on the contract, the time spent with the hourly rate may end up being more than an agency or full-time salary

Marketing Agency

PRO

  • Good at managing capacities and expectations

  • Generally able to provide a full portfolio of service offerings along with an experienced staff

  • Ability to offer a blended rate

CON

  • Contract negotiations are more difficult to navigate

  • Still requires an appointed person at the company to ensure goal and strategic alignment

  • Oven slow to respond and complete work

Where does Bixler Consulting fall?

We are a fusion of all three!

 

Contracts and Agreements
Our contracts are built one of two ways:

  1. Phases. We scope the work that gets you up and running and generating leads first. This also allows us to learn more and apply that knowledge to future phases of marketing work.

  2. 6- or 12-month retainers. Much of digital marketing like SEO and PPC takes time to have an impact on key metrics like increased website traffic. We ask that you give us 6 or 12 months to show you real results. Both options remain flexible to adapt with any shifts that take place from your business perspective.

Strategy at the forefront
While you may only need one of our services, we like to get to the heart of your business and visualize where you are going. We want to make sure we are delivering a solution that is flexible and scalable, so you aren’t using precious budget to overhaul the project a year from now.

Partnership approach
We take the time to get to know you and truly understand your business and goals. We ask LOTS of questions and sometimes pose challenging thoughts. The last thing we want to be is order takers. Without this mutual partnership, the success or our marketing deliverables decline.

Response time
Having spent decades on the client side, we’ve seen firsthand how long it can take for marketing vendors to respond and implement requests. Additionally, the bill that comes with often simple requests. We are transparent with you upon receipt of the request and the estimate of time and investment we believe it will take. You get the final green light before we proceed to ensure you aren’t caught off guard by any bills.

Expertise
No matter what marketing service we are delivering, you will always have one “point-person”. This ensures there is nothing lost in knowledge transfer or time to deliver. Each one of our team members focuses on one specific piece of the puzzle. Your point person acts as the middleman and ensures consistency across the board.