What are the differences between working at an agency vs. in-house marketing?

What are the differences between working at an agency vs. in-house marketing?

Hi, I’m Janet Granger, answering the question: “What’s it like, to work for an agency versus in-house marketing?” 

In-house marketing means you work for a company and you’re on the team – or you’re the person doing the marketing for that company. 

I’ve done both, and they’re very different experiences. Sometimes it’s good to have both experiences, to see which one you like better – because your personality will blend better with one versus another. It’s not a yes/no, good/bad question. It’s more ‘what works best for you’ in terms of what you want out of a job. 

I’m going to give you some of the differences between the two of them. 

When you’re in-house – and the majority of my experience has been doing in-house marketing – you become an expert: at your company, or your product, or whatever you’re in charge of. You really understand the product, its benefits, the target market (who your customers are – or your best clients). 

It puts you in an ideal situation, creating the marketing for the company, because you’re the expert. 

If you’re working for a very small company – where you’re “it” when it comes to marketing, or there are very few of you, it can be exhausting because you’re doing everything. A lot of times people don’t necessarily understand what goes into marketing. 

The bad thing there is, because you’re doing a lot of things, you can be a “jack of all trades and master of none.” But it is also good, in a way, if you’re early in your career, because it exposes you to a lot of different areas and pushes you. 

I’ve also worked at much larger firms. When you get to a larger firm, typically, you have a very specific skill set that they’ve hired you for. You’re an SEO person, or you’re a digital account manager, or you do emails, or you have a much more honed skill set (website design, etc). You’re in the position of knowing your customers really well, understanding how the product or service is great for them, and what your contribution is. 

If you’re working in an organization where there’s a budget, and there’s a lot of work, you can hire an agency. I was also in that position – where we hired agencies – to work with us. I worked with quite a few agencies – big agencies and small agencies. The good news is: you’re in control. And if you understand the product and  you give an agency good direction, oftentimes they can work magic, and create great things for you. And then you look good, because the agency has done its job and you’ve delivered on the work. 

The downside is that, sometimes, the budget isn’t available; sometimes you feel overwhelmed; sometimes you’re having to learn all new tactics and channels on your own. And it’s basically you, doing a lot of juggling. Typically, you’re fairly well paid and your job never ends; it’s an ongoing cycle of campaigns. That’s what it’s like to do in-house marketing. 

When you’re at an agency, it’s the exact opposite. You’re not going very deep into a product or service,  you have lots of different clients with lots of different products and services. And they may even be in lots of different industries. 

In a way, you’re at a disadvantage because you don’t have the depth and breadth that an in-house marketing person does – understanding the industry and the product (or services) and the target market. So you’re very dependent on them (the internal marketing person or team) to give you all that information, and to help you understand (as an agency) how you can craft the message and create marketing – how you use various different tactics – to be successful for that target market. 

You may get very good – and have a lot of background – in doing one specific task. That’s good – you get that practice. But you have much less time to understand the market. So, typically, you’re “on the go” all the time, doing what you can with what you’ve been given (by your client). You rely on your client – on their input – and, as the client, they decide what they want and what they don’t want. 

The good part about working with an agency is: you’re often with lots of other creative people and it’s very exciting. It’s fun, you’re part of a team, and you all get to work together and get the job done. It can be fun and an inclusive team experience. There’s a lot of joy in creating a campaign or a specific asset for example. 

The downside is that the hours can be excruciating because you’re at the mercy of the client – and how well they meet their deadlines, when it comes to reviewing the work. It can be tough, from the perspective of dealing with client feedback and input. You’re kind of at their mercy. And for that reason, typically (but not always), the hours are much longer and the deadlines are much tighter. It can be exhausting.

The other thing that can be a little distressing is, everything’s up to the client. They can do with (the work)  what they want: they can like it or not like it, make you do changes (that you don’t think are really the right thing). You’re not your own boss and you need to please the client. That’s the reality of working for an agency. 

I can’t say that one is any better than the other – they are very different experiences. 

Being a marketer, you get to decide what is right for you. One thing I will say is that, once you’re doing in-house marketing, and you’ve got some expertise in an industry, you know you can go work at another company or an agency (with that expertise).

It’s harder, as an agency person, to be pulled in-house, if you don’t know a lot about a particular industry.  

If you’re in an agency that specializes in one industry, like travel, then you might get hired by a travel company. But going back-and-forth, between working in-house vs. an agency, is easier early in your career. It gets harder, later on. 

For me, I ended up doing much more work in-house, which suited my personality better. And I enjoyed hiring agencies to help me do the work. 

I’m Janet Granger, answering the question, “What’s it like to work in an agency versus doing in-house marketing?”