Outsourcing digital marketing: what it costs and when it pays off

Outsourcing digital marketing pays off when there is more to do than there is time or skill for, and when the value of one new customer clearly exceeds the monthly cost. It does not pay off if you expect to buy results without any input of your own: even the best partner does not know about your business what you know.

In this guide I go through when outsourcing makes sense, what it costs, how to choose a partner and what the warning signs are that should make you walk away.

Do it yourself, hire, or outsource

Option	Cost	Suits when
Doing it yourself	your own time	The budget is small and time exists. Works for the basics.
Your own employee	salary with overheads, typically over €4,000/month	There is full-time work and the need is continuous.
A freelancer	hourly rate or project	One defined area, advertising only or copy only, for instance.
An agency	typically €500–3,000/month	Several skill areas are needed and none justifies a full-time hire.

One person rarely knows search engine optimisation, advertising, content, analytics and technology all at once. That is exactly the advantage of an agency: you get several skill areas without several salaries. The drawback is that you are not the only client.

What outsourcing costs

A continuous marketing partnership for a small business typically costs €500–3,000 a month for the work, with the media budget (the ad money) on top. Separate projects such as a website or a campaign build are priced as one-offs.

Always insist that the cost of the work and the media budget are itemised separately. If an agency invoices one sum and decides the split itself, you do not know what you are paying for. Also establish whether reporting and meetings are included in the price or invoiced separately.

Assessing whether it is worth it is straightforward: work out the margin a customer brings and how many new customers you need to cover the monthly cost. If the number is one or two, the risk is small. If it is ten, think again.

Six questions worth asking

• Who actually does the work? The salesperson is rarely the doer. Ask to meet whoever will run your account.
• What does the price include? Hours, content, reporting, meetings. Ask for an itemised quote.
• Who owns the accounts and the data? The Google Ads account, the analytics and the site have to be in your name. This is the single most important question.
• What is the contract and notice period? A three-month start-up period is understandable; a binding year with no way out is not.
• How are results reported? Insist on metrics that say something about the business: enquiries and their cost, not impressions.
• Is there experience of your industry? Not essential, but it speeds up the start. What matters more is that the partner understands how deals get done in your business.

Warning signs

A guarantee of a top spot in Google. Nobody can guarantee search result positions. The promise is either ignorance or misdirection, and it often concerns a search term nobody uses.

Accounts in the agency’s name. If the collaboration ends, you lose the historical data and have to start over. This is the most common way to tie a client in.

Reports with no business metrics. Ten pages of charts about impressions with not a single figure on enquiries means results are not meant to be looked at.

No questions about your business. A partner who does not ask about margins, customer value and the sales process cannot target marketing correctly.

Every channel at once. A proposal to start on six channels simultaneously with a small budget reflects a sales target, not a strategy.

What you have to do yourself

Outsourcing does not mean you can forget about marketing. Three things always stay with you:

Knowledge of the business. Margin, customer value, seasonality, the sales process and what a good customer looks like. Without these the partner optimises the wrong thing.

Feedback on lead quality. Say which enquiries led to a sale and which were wasted. This is the most valuable information you can give, and it steers advertising in the right direction fastest.

Speed of response. Even the best marketing does not help if enquiries are answered three days later. A lead’s value drops steeply within hours.

How to start the collaboration

Start narrow. A three-month period on one or two channels tells you whether the collaboration works, without tying yourself in for a year. Agree at the outset what will be measured and what the criterion for success is: “more visibility” is not a goal, “20 enquiries a month at under €80 each” is.

Agree the rhythm of contact too: a monthly meeting going through the numbers and deciding the next actions is enough for most. Our way of working is described on our service pages.

Agency, freelancer or both

Many small businesses end up with a combination, and it is often the most sensible answer. The agency handles the whole and the channels, a freelancer does an individual part needing specialist skill, and some things are done in house.

A freelancer is typically cheaper per hour and more flexible, but one person’s capacity and skill range are limited, and a holiday or illness stops the work. An agency has cover and broader skills, but the price is higher and you are not the only client.

The practical question is: do you need top expertise in one thing, or management of the whole? A freelancer for the former, an agency for the latter.

The most important points in the contract

Four things are worth checking in the contract before signing.

Notice period. A month or two is normal. A long binding fixed term with no way out is a risk if the collaboration does not work.

Ownership rights. Who owns the content, images, ad materials and website code produced, once the collaboration ends?

Accounts and access. All advertising and analytics accounts in your name, with access granted to the partner. This is worth writing into the contract.

What the price includes. The number of hours or the scope of work, reporting, meetings and what is invoiced separately.

How to tell whether the collaboration is working

After three months you should be able to answer these: do you know what has been done, do you know what it produced, and is the direction right? If you answer yes three times, continue.

A good partner also tells you when something is not working, proposes stopping a channel that does not produce and asks about your business more than they talk about their own. A bad partner reports only good news and always proposes more budget as the answer.

Remember too that three months is a short time for search engine optimisation and content. Judge each channel on a timescale that is realistic for it.

Frequently asked questions

What does outsourcing digital marketing cost?

A continuous partnership for a small business typically costs €500–3,000 a month for the work, with the ad budget separate on top. The price depends on the number of channels, the share of content production and the scope of the work.

Is it better to hire a marketer or outsource?

Your own employee is worth it when there is full-time work and the need is permanent. An agency makes more sense when several different skill areas are needed and none justifies a full working day.

Who owns the ad accounts when outsourcing?

The accounts have to be in your company’s name and control, with access granted to the partner. That way the historical data stays with you even if the collaboration ends.

How quickly does outsourcing produce results?

Search advertising can produce enquiries in the first week. Search engine optimisation and content take effect with a delay of months. A realistic evaluation period for the whole collaboration is three months.

What do I have to do myself if I outsource marketing?

Provide the business numbers and goals, give feedback on lead quality and answer enquiries quickly. Those three decide the outcome more than the choice of partner does.