Agency, freelancer or in-house: which one fits your business

If you need one skill done well, a freelancer is often the simplest choice. If marketing is daily work and you have someone to manage it, hire in-house. If you need several channels working together and no one to run them, an agency usually fits. Here is how we would think it through, including when we are the wrong choice.

	Freelancer	In-house hire	Agency
What you pay for	The hours or the project	A salary, plus tools and training	A monthly fee for the work; ad spend separate
Range of skills	Usually one craft	What one person, or your team, can cover	Several crafts under one plan
Getting started	Fast for a clear, defined task	Hiring takes time	Starts once the plan is agreed
Your time	You brief and coordinate each piece	You manage them day to day	You review results; they coordinate
When someone leaves	The work stops until you find another	You rehire and retrain	The team covers it
Who owns the accounts	Should be you	Should be you	Should be you. Ask before you sign.

When a freelancer is the better choice

You need one thing done well, like a logo, a set of photos or one landing page, and you have time to brief and check the work yourself.

When to hire in-house

Marketing is part of your product every day, you have enough work to keep someone busy full-time, and someone on your team can manage them.

When an agency fits

You need ads, social, search and a website pulling in the same direction, and nobody inside the business has the time to run them.

Where Deep Sea Media fits

We are a small family business. You deal with the two of us, and for single crafts we bring in specialists and stand behind their work. Your ad accounts, data and creative stay yours, so whichever way you go later, nothing is locked behind us.

Pick a time

Questions to ask whoever you hire

Who owns the ad accounts and the data?
Will I see the same numbers you see?
What does the fee cover, in writing?
What happens at day 90?