In-house or an agency?
Compare them on total cost per customer and on the hours you can actually give it. An agency is worth it when your spend is large enough that a few percent of improvement outweighs the fee, or when nobody internally has the time. Doing it yourself is worth it when the spend is modest, the account is simple, and you would rather keep the control and the knowledge.
Compare the real cost, not the fee
An agency fee is easy to see and your own hours are easy to ignore, which makes most comparisons unfair in the same direction. Put both in the same column.
| In-house | Agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Ad spend | Same | Same |
| Fee | None | Retainer or a share of spend |
| Your time | Roughly an hour a week | An hour a month, on reports |
| Tools | Whatever you choose | Usually theirs |
| Learning curve | Real, and yours to keep | Theirs, and it leaves with them |
Then divide the lot by customers won. That single figure settles most of the argument.
When doing it yourself makes sense
- Modest spend, where a fee would be a large share of the total.
- A simple offer — a handful of services, one or two locations.
- Somebody willing to give it an hour a week, consistently.
- You want the knowledge to stay in the business.
When an agency earns its fee
- Spend large enough that a small percentage improvement is worth more than the fee.
- Complex accounts — shopping feeds, many locations, several countries.
- Nobody internally has the hours, and pretending otherwise means it gets neglected.
- You need something specific built quickly: a feed, tracking, a migration.
If you do hire, insist on owning the ad account and the data. Agencies come and go; the account and its history should stay with you.
The arrangement most people end up with
A middle path works well: a specialist sets the account up properly and you run it day to day, bringing them back a couple of times a year for a review. You get the structure right without paying a retainer for weekly work that takes ten minutes.
Questions worth asking an agency
- 01Do I own the ad account and keep it if we part ways?
- 02What is the fee, and does it rise with my spend?
- 03Who actually works on it, and how many accounts do they hold?
- 04What will you report on, and how often?
- 05What would you change in the first month, and why?
An answer that avoids naming numbers is an answer.
Common questions
- What do agencies charge in Australia?
- Commonly a monthly retainer or a share of ad spend. Rates vary widely, so ask for the figure in dollars at your spend level rather than a percentage.
- How many hours a week does it take to run it myself?
- About an hour once the account is built: ten minutes on search terms, the rest on responding to what the figures show.
- Can I move an account away from an agency?
- Yes, if the account is in your own name and you have admin access. Check that before you sign anything.
- Will software replace an agency?
- It replaces the reporting and much of the routine work. It does not replace judgement on a complex account.