In-house marketer, freelancer or agency: who should run your marketing?

List the work before you choose who does it

Most owners frame this as a hiring question: do we get a marketer, a freelancer or an agency? It's easier to answer once you've written down the work itself. Marketing for a service business usually includes deciding the offer and priorities, running ads, keeping the website and service pages current, local search and SEO, content and creative, tracking and reporting, and making sure every enquiry gets followed up.

Split that list into three kinds of work. Some of it is ongoing and needs someone who knows the business well, like approving claims, feeding back on lead quality and keeping offers current. Some of it is specialist work that's hard for one generalist to do well, like ad account management, technical SEO or a website build. And some of it is a project with a clear end, like a new site or a tracking setup.

That split usually points to the answer. Ongoing, business-specific work suits someone inside the business. Specialist work suits a specialist. Projects suit a defined scope with a finish line. Many businesses end up with a mix, and that's fine as long as each piece has a named owner.

Hiring a marketer: count the full cost and the management time

An in-house marketer learns your customers, your team and your offers in a way an outsider rarely does. They're there when a job finishes and a good photo or review is waiting, and they can chase the follow-up that slips between calls. For a business with steady, varied marketing work, that closeness is worth a lot.

The wage is only part of the cost. The Australian Government's guide to hiring employees lists what to check before you hire: the award or minimum wage and the National Employment Standards, which include leave entitlements; super guarantee of 12% of the employee's qualifying earnings, paid on top of their wages; payroll tax if your total wages pass your state's threshold; and workers compensation insurance, which you must have. Since 1 July 2026, the ATO says employers pay super to the employee's fund for each payday, rather than quarterly.

Add the tools, the ad spend and the time it takes to manage them. The same guide says someone will need to manage the new employee and their performance: "Make sure you have the time and ability to do this properly." A single hire also rarely covers every skill. A good all-rounder may write well and run social media but struggle with ad account structure or technical SEO, so plan for outside help on the specialist parts.

Keep readingDecide between training your team and outside management

Using a freelancer: great for defined jobs, careful with ongoing roles

A freelancer suits a clear piece of work: a website refresh, a set of service pages, a tracking setup or a few months of ad management with an agreed scope. You get a specialist without a permanent role, and you pay for the job rather than a salary.

The care point is classification. Business.gov.au says you're responsible for classifying a worker correctly for tax and super purposes, and "it's not as simple as whether they have an ABN or send invoices." The Fair Work Ombudsman lists the factors that matter, including how much control you have over how the work is done, who carries the financial risk, who supplies the tools, whether the worker can delegate, how hours are set and whether the work is expected to continue indefinitely.

For many companies, the Fair Work Act's definition of employment that started on 26 August 2024 looks at the "real substance, practical reality and true nature of the relationship", including how the contract works in practice, not just what it says. So a freelancer who works your set hours, under your direction, with no end date, starts to look like an employee. The Fair Work Ombudsman can't decide this for you and suggests legal advice if you need certainty.

Two other points are easy to miss. The ATO says independent contractors paid mainly for their labour are eligible for super guarantee on the labour part of their invoice, "even if they quote an Australian business number (ABN)". And telling someone they're a contractor when they're really an employee can be sham contracting, which is illegal unless the business reasonably believed they were a contractor. A defined scope, an end date and the freelancer's own way of working keep the arrangement clear.

Using an agency: breadth and cover, with your input still needed

An agency gives you several skills under one arrangement, such as strategy, ads, search, design and reporting, and the work doesn't stop when one person goes on leave. A good one also brings a process: a regular review, a plan for what to test next and someone accountable for the account.

The trade-offs are real. An agency knows less about your business at the start, you're one of several clients, and the person you meet in the pitch may not be the person doing the work. Fees, minimum terms and who owns the accounts all sit in the contract, so read it before you sign.

Outsourcing the work doesn't outsource the decisions. Someone in your business still needs to approve offers and claims, answer questions quickly and tell the agency which enquiries became good customers. Without that feedback, an agency can only optimise for clicks and form fills.

Keep readingCheck an agency contract before you sign

Compare the three on the questions that matter

Put the options side by side on the same questions rather than on headline price alone. A lower monthly figure isn't a like-for-like comparison if the ad spend, tools, on-costs or your own management time sit outside it.

Whichever you choose, keep the ad accounts, website, domain, analytics and Google Business Profile in your business's name, and give access rather than ownership to whoever does the work.

Ask of each option:

• Skills: does it cover the specialist work on your list, or only part of it?
• Business knowledge: how quickly will they understand your customers, offers and capacity?
• Cover: what happens when someone is sick, on leave or leaves?
• Full cost: wages and on-costs, project fees or a retainer, plus ad spend, tools and your own time.
• Management: who in your business will brief, approve and review the work each week?
• Exit: how easily can you change course, and do you keep every account and file if you do?

Keep readingKeep your ad accounts and assets in your name

Worked example: a plumbing business splits the work

This is a hypothetical example, not a client story. A Geelong plumbing business with a small office team gets most of its work from Google and repeat customers. The owner has been doing the marketing at night, and enquiries have slowed since the website went stale.

Listing the work shows three distinct needs. The website is a one-off project, so the owner hires a freelance web developer on a fixed scope with a finish date, with the domain and hosting staying in the business's name. Google Ads and local search need ongoing specialist attention, so an agency takes them on under a contract with a clear notice period. The office manager, who already answers the phones, takes ownership of approving offers, sending job photos and marking which enquiries became booked jobs.

Hiring a full-time marketer was the owner's first idea. Once they priced the wage, super, workers compensation and their own time to manage the role, they decided to revisit it in a year if the volume of ongoing work grows. The decision wasn't about which option is best in general, but which fits this workload now.

Decide, then review it every quarter

There's no permanent answer. Many businesses start with outside help, then bring work in house once there's enough of it to fill a role, or keep a small in-house owner working alongside an agency. Others train a staff member to handle routine work and use specialists for the rest.

Whatever you choose, write down who owns each piece of work, what a good month looks like and when you'll review it. Judge the arrangement on qualified enquiries and the time it takes from you, not on activity reports.

Demandify offers lead generation, Meta ads management, websites, SEO and practical Meta training, and an engagement can begin with a single service. Training can suit a business that wants an in-house person to take on more over time.

Before you decide, answer these:

• What work is ongoing, what's specialist and what's a one-off project?
• Who inside the business will approve work and report lead quality?
• What's the full monthly cost of each option, including your own time?
• Does any contractor arrangement look like employment in practice?
• Are every account, domain and file in your business's name?

Keep readingJudge the work on results, not activity