Agency vs In-House: Who Should Run Your Ads?

Your marketing needs to get serious. Revenue is growing, but it could grow faster with real marketing muscle behind it. So you're weighing the options: hire someone in-house, or bring on an agency?

We're an agency, so you might expect us to pitch ourselves here. Instead, let's break down when each option actually makes sense — including the scenarios where you shouldn't hire us.

The real cost of an in-house marketer

Let's do the math most founders skip. According to Glassdoor's 2026 salary data, a mid-level marketing manager in Europe costs roughly:

• Base salary: €48,000–€77,000 (varies by country — Germany and Netherlands on the higher end, Southern Europe lower)
• Benefits, taxes, insurance: typically 20–30% on top depending on country
• Tools and subscriptions: €3,000–€8,000/year (ad platforms, analytics, CRM, design tools)
• Training and conferences: €2,000–€5,000/year
• Management time (yours): hard to quantify, but real

Fully loaded, you're looking at €65,000–€100,000 per year for one person. That person will be good at 1-2 things and okay at the rest. They can't be an expert in PPC and content and automation and strategy. Nobody is.

What an agency actually costs

Agency pricing varies wildly. Based on industry surveys from Clutch and Digital Agency Network, startups working with specialized (not big-brand) agencies can expect:

• Focused service (PPC only or content only): €2,000–€4,000/month
• Multi-channel management: €4,000–€8,000/month
• Full-service (strategy + execution): €6,000–€15,000/month

At €4,000/month (€48,000/year), you get a team of specialists — not a single generalist. Someone who manages Google Ads all day is going to run better campaigns than someone who touches ads for 5 hours a week between writing blog posts and updating social media. (Not sure what a reasonable ad budget looks like? See our guide on how much startups should spend on Google Ads.)

When an agency is the better choice

An agency makes more sense when:

• Your revenue is between $1M–$10M and you can't afford specialist hires for each channel
• You need results across multiple marketing channels (PPC + content + email + automation)
• You want senior expertise without paying senior salaries
• You need to move fast — agencies have systems and playbooks already built
• Your marketing needs fluctuate (seasonal business, launch cycles, funding rounds)

When hiring in-house is the better choice

An in-house marketer wins when:

• You need someone embedded in your product and talking to customers daily
• Your revenue supports specialist roles (a PPC person AND a content person AND a strategist)
• Brand voice and company culture integration are critical to your marketing
• You have enough volume on a single channel to justify a full-time person managing it
• You're above $10M revenue and can build a proper marketing team

The hybrid model (often the best answer)

Here's what we see working best for growth-stage startups: hire one strong marketing person in-house to own strategy, brand, and coordination. Then use an agency for specialist execution — the PPC campaigns, the content production, the automation builds.

Your in-house person knows the product deeply and sets direction. The agency brings specialist skills and bandwidth. You get the best of both without the overhead of a full marketing department.

The question isn't agency or in-house. It's what combination gives you the most marketing horsepower per euro at your current stage.

Red flags when evaluating agencies

Since we're being honest, here's what should make you walk away from an agency:

1. They won't tell you who'll actually work on your account (junior account manager incoming)
2. They lock you into 12-month contracts before proving results
3. They can't show you specific metrics from similar clients
4. They pitch "awareness" and "brand building" when you need leads and revenue
5. Their reporting is a PDF that arrives monthly instead of a live dashboard you can check anytime

The bottom line

If you're a startup between $1M–$10M in revenue, an agency probably gives you more marketing firepower per dollar than a single in-house hire. Once you're past $10M, start building the in-house team and use agencies for specialist overflow.

Whatever you choose, the worst option is doing nothing while you deliberate. Pick a path, set a 90-day evaluation window, and measure ruthlessly. If you go the agency route, here's what your first 90 days should look like.