Aug 05 2023
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Should I Use An Agency Or A Freelancer? An Honest Opinion
It’s a question that I’m sure you’ve pondered in the past and maybe now if you’re reading this post.
I’ve worked with numerous digital agencies over the years and still do in my full-time role, although I’m in the process of moving most aspects in-house. I’ve found that I can save a huge amount of money by doing some of this work myself or through our internal team.
Agencies can be good. Really good. It would be wrong of me to say that you should use someone like myself instead of an agency without looking at the bigger picture.
What I will say is that in my experience, they have their advantages as well as their drawbacks. To make the right decision, you have to look at the pro’s and con’s of using an agency vs using a freelancer.
Advantages of Digital Agencies
- They can have large pools of staff who can usually find the answer to something between them if one person doesn’t immediately know
- They usually have access to specialists at the likes of Google or Facebook to get issues resolved when necessary
- Their internal hierarchy usually makes people accountable
- Takes the pressure off having to recruit internally for specialised positions
- Regular meetings to discuss progress
- Monitoring and disaster recovery can be very advantageous
- Projects like re-platforming a large, established website should have staff from numerous departments such as SEO, Front-end, Back-end all working harmoniously
- Often they have access to the best industry tools available
The clear benefit for me in the past has been when you can make use of the agencies resource pool. Their diverse range of skills can be very beneficial to tap into but you are certainly charged a premium for it.
With web development / server agencies in particular, having that peace of mind to know that if your ecommerce site goes down or becomes non-transactional that they’ll be alerted and act immediately is a nice feeling.
If you’re a small business, it may also mean that you don’t need to recruit for a digital marketer for example if you outsource if for the year to an agency, although your retainer can make it just as costly. The benefit though is if you’re not savvy enough to understand what the digital marketer internally should doing and whether you’re getting the value, the agency should relieve this doubt.
Disadvantages of Digital Agencies
- Very costly. Most decent agencies cost around £100 per hour and work on minimum cost monthly retainers which can start in the thousands.
- Investigative quotes are sometimes very speculative. I’ve had quotes for work of £400 that I’ve been able to do in half an hour.
- Escalating issues can be problematic if they deem your issue not as high priority as other clients. This is very frustrating especially when you have stakeholders to report to.
- High turnaround in staff which can make you feel like you’re not getting a consistent person to understand your needs
- Can sometimes feel like you’re getting the very minimum output for the money you’re putting in
I have to clarify that not every piece of work an agency has quoted for, I’ve been able to do myself in a fraction of the time. Sometimes, you need specialist knowledge from a backend developer for example.
However there are times when you can ask for a small design change like changing the colour of a button and get quoted 3 hours work. Their argument could be that it has to be put in front of someone to get quoted, do the work, get it through QA and then be put through their Git Repository before going through a scheduled release.
The reality is though, if you know how to, that change might be literally writing less than 5 lines of CSS code and typing it into a miscellaneous scripts section on your website. Again this is where it’s a case of, what you need on an ongoing basis and whether the agency option is right for you. For most startups it is an expensive approach.
Advantages Of Using A Freelancer
- Usually a lot cheaper than using an agency depending on the work
- You can use them on an ad-hoc basis, employing them when you need work done
- Good freelancers will go above and beyond to ensure their reputation grows
- Usually don’t have large backlogs of work meaning you’re not waiting weeks for your work to get actioned
- One point of contact and one person is held accountable making communication easier
- You can choose whether you want a freelancer to work in-house with you for a set period of time
- You can establish early on whether what you’re asking for is achievable for the budget you have
Disadvantages of Using A Freelancer
- Finding a reputable, knowledgeable individual can be difficult
- A lot of freelancers specialise in one area, potentially increasing costs if you have to hire multiple
- Can be risky supplying user access credentials to someone you’ve never met
- You may never get to meet the individual in person
Starting with the main negative, finding a good freelancer or consultant can be a real pain. In the growing age of AI, you don’t actually know if the person is as good as they claim or if they’re digitally ‘catfishing’ you. Asking the right questions and doing your research initially will give you a good feel for whether the individual is genuine.
I can almost guarantee that anyone making bold claims like they ‘can you get you to the top of Google in a month’ is a complete waste of time unless it’s for a very low quality keyword. Nothing with SEO especially is ever guaranteed so I’d be very suspicious of any such claims.
A good freelance contractor will want more work and will want to deliver above-and-beyond in their piece of work. They may add additional nuggets of information that you might find beneficial in the short-term future which makes you think of them if they turn out to be useful.
Advantages are plentiful but with a growing cost of living crisis around the world, price is always at the forefront of everyones mind. The right freelancer should almost certainly provide you with good value for money. Finding a freelancer with a multi-dimensional skill set can be a gold-mine. Once you’ve got that trust factor established you can keep going back to the same person time and time again for various facets of work rather than having to look for a new one each time.
Final Thoughts On Choosing An Agency or Freelancer
In my experience, the companies that benefit most from Digital Marketing agencies are either those with very little knowledge, or larger companies with huge monetary resources. These larger companies will be used as the agencies ‘flagship’ portfolio pieces, along with injecting higher amounts of cash in to the agency. Therefore they will sometimes (not always) get the better internal resource.
Likewise, someone who has just set up their first ecommerce website mightn’t have much technical knowledge and just need the peace of mind that an agency will take care of everything to get them kickstarted.
Not all startups and small businesses can afford that agency fee and you may be surprised at what kind of resource you can actually draw down from the right freelancer. Starting off with a digital consultant may be the first step, to get their opinion on what should be the step by step approach to get the website off the ground.
Thinking Of Using A Freelance Ecommerce Consultant?
Check out my available services and drop me a message on my contact page to see if there’s something I can help with. If it’s not something I can personally help with, someone in my network might be able to.