Hiring a Marketing Agency vs. Full-Time Marketing Manager

When it comes to scaling a business, marketing is non-negotiable. 

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Sporadic marketing efforts may seem sufficient at first, but they aren’t sustainable in the long run.

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Early-stage startup begins with founders juggling multiple roles no matter what their designation is. They are the finance team, the HR department, and even the marketing gurus alongside product development, tech roles and fundraising. Donning multiple hats isn’t easy.

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In time, they might bring in a versatile and committed generalist (in the CEO’s office :P) – someone who can tackle everything from social media posts to product messaging. This generalist is always invaluable for taking on the varied and ever-changing needs of a growing company.

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But soon enough, the workload becomes overwhelming. The generalist is managing everything under the sun but may struggle to dive deep into specialized marketing tactics/strategies. 

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At this point, a question looms: do they bring in a full-time marketing resource, or is a specialized marketing agency the better choice?

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Both options have their advantages and drawbacks, and depending on the business stage, one may be a more strategic fit than the other.

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Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to weigh the options across different stages of growth.

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1. Early Stage | Pre-PMF | Pre-Seed to Seed: Laying the foundation

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In the early stages, startups are often experimenting with content and A/B testing with their brand and audience, figuring out what resonates and where their growth potential lies. Here, founders and generalists focus on low-cost, high-flexibility, and high-impact marketing activities.

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We all know how Boldcare’s low-effort, high-impact idea got the founder a lot of traction on social media. You can read more about it in our previous blog on Growth Hacking vs. Growth Marketing.

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Challenge: Finding the balance between keeping costs in check and experimenting with different marketing strategies, and keeping up with the algorithms. 🙂

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Pros & Cons:

• Marketing agency: Agencies offer specialized skills across various platforms without the commitment of a full-time hire. They make it easier to experiment with different strategies and pivot quickly. However, costs can be higher.

• Full-time employee: An in-house marketer can be more flexible, and responsive, and help save on costs, but may lack the expertise across multiple channels that an agency can provide.

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Recommendation: An agency can be ideal for startups in the early stages, especially for short-term, low-budget experimentation. This approach allows for access to multiple skill sets without overextending financial resources, if the agency agrees to limited scope and budget. You can go with a hybrid approach of a junior full-time resource + freelancers for short-term projects with the Founder spending more time with freelancers to ensure they are on the right path.

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Here’s a detailed guide on how to approach early-stage growth. Check it out.

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2. Product-Market Fit (PMF) | Seed to Series A: Building consistency

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At this stage, the startup has gained traction, validating the product’s value to its market. 

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Consistent brand messaging becomes critical as the company grows its customer base and invests in customer acquisition. 

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Challenge: Establishing a clear, consistent marketing strategy that builds brand awareness and attracts new customers within a limited budget. 

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Pros & Cons:

• Marketing agency: Agencies can provide structured campaigns and access to outside-in perspectives and industry-standard tools. However, many agencies struggle to keep up with the brand’s evolving identity, especially in a niche market.

• Full-time employee: A dedicated senior marketer can cultivate a cohesive brand voice and align marketing closely with the product vision, though they may need support in specialized areas (e.g., SEO, paid ads, CRM) by hiring more team members or specialized agencies.

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Recommendation: For faster time-to-market and industry best practices consider hiring an experienced marketing agency. It will help you execute faster and reduce budget wastage on unnecessary experiments.

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You can also hire a senior full-time marketing manager to bring continuity and authenticity to the brand. Supplement short-term needs or specialized campaigns with agency support that complements the in-house marketer’s efforts.

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We at Curio Revelio specialize in helping organizations scale in their PMF stage by combining an agency's structured campaigns and industry expertise with an in-house marketer's cohesive, adaptable brand alignment. This ensures seamless integration and consistent growth and delivers the best of both worlds—all pros, no cons!

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Feel free to book a call with us here.

3. Growth Stage | Series A+: Scaling up

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With a stable product-market fit, the startup now focuses on optimizing operations and scaling up marketing efforts to increase market penetration.

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Challenge: Scaling marketing efforts to drive growth without compromising brand consistency, brand identity as well as customer experience.

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Pros & Cons:

• Marketing agency: Agencies typically have experience in scaling strategies, analytics, and performance optimization. They bring specialized knowledge that can drive high-impact results and often have access to advanced tools for data-driven decision-making.

• Full-time employee: As the overall org expands an experienced marketing leader is critical for internal alignment across verticals. Look for a leader with broad expertise for more sophisticated marketing tactics and long-term growth strategy. The leader will definitely require a strong execution team by hiring mid-level marketing executives with specific channel expertise or smaller agencies to drive execution.

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Recommendation: A hybrid approach works well at this stage. An in-house marketing leader can handle daily brand and customer alignment, while a specialized agency can manage high-impact, large-scale campaigns that require deeper expertise and provide strategic inputs for long-term strategy. This will help them lay the groundwork for the next stage, however, a senior marketing leader would ideally want a team to work with - adding further to the costs.

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4. Expansion Stage: Sustained growth across markets

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At the expansion stage, the business might be entering new geographical markets or scaling operations globally. This brings the need for localized strategies that cater to diverse audiences.

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Challenge: Coordinating brand messaging across multiple markets and adapting to local preferences, languages, and consumer behaviors.

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Pros & Cons:

• Marketing agency: Regional agencies bring the advantage of local market knowledge and cultural nuances, which is crucial for effective localization. Channel-specific agencies work well depending on the preferences of the Marketing Head.

• Full-time employee:  This is the ideal stage for having an internal marketing team led by an experienced VP of Marketing /Growth Head. Founders should give the marketing head time to build a strong team while leveraging external agencies as per the team's strengths.

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Recommendation: Leaning on regional or specialized agencies can provide an advantage when expanding into new markets. At this stage, a Growth Head/Marketing VP is a must to ensure internal and external teams work in alignment across markets and there is a long-term strategy in place.

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Key takeaways

• Align with business/growth stage: The decision between a marketing agency and a full-time hire should align with the startup’s growth stage, from experimentation in early stages to consistency during PMF, and optimization in growth stages.

• Budget and resource allocation: Early-stage startups benefit from agency flexibility, while later stages may justify the investment in full-time, specialized marketing talent.

• Consider hybrid models: For many startups, a hybrid approach provides the best of both worlds—leveraging an in-house marketer for day-to-day brand consistency while using agency expertise for campaigns that require specific skills.

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The choice between a marketing agency and a full-time marketing manager isn’t a one-size-fits-all decision. 

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You see, each option brings unique strengths and should be weighed against the startup’s specific needs, growth phase, and resources. With the right marketing support, startups can scale efficiently, ensuring that every dollar spent on marketing contributes meaningfully to their growth journey.

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Curio Revelio empowers brands to scale precisely by merging strategic insights with agile, tailor-made marketing solutions. We bridge the gap between external expertise and internal alignment, ensuring every campaign resonates and delivers impactful results. Learn more about what we do here.