What to Choose: Marketing-as-a-Service vs Building In-house Marketing Team

Grappling with a lean staff, limited skills, and tight budgets but need to scale your marketing efforts? For many businesses, this worry is all too common. With almost all industries becoming highly competitive, managing marketing initiatives on top of core business operations can be a real challenge.

Fortunately, businesses also have several options on how to shape their marketing efforts—two of which are to build an in-house marketing team or to get Marketing-as-a-Service (MaaS). The question is, which one is ideal for your business?

That’s what we help you figure out in this article. Here, we’ll dissect the advantages and disadvantages of both options and make a point-by-point comparison to determine which one would work best for you.

 

Building an In-House Marketing Team

According to the 2023 Deloitte Global Marketing Trends, 22% of chief marketing officers are prioritizing developing, acquiring, and retaining talent. This indicates that some businesses still recognize the importance of building and maintaining an internal marketing team with a skilled workforce.

Having an in-house team puts you at the helm of your entire marketing process. You can launch new campaigns or make quick changes to existing ones whenever you deem them necessary. However, this also puts a lot on your plate.

So, let’s weigh the pros and cons of building your own marketing team.

Advantages of In-House Teams

If you’re laser-focused on your business goals and want to be completely hands-on, an in-house team might be what you need to drive growth. 

1. Full Control Over Marketing Efforts

Having your own team means you get full control over every aspect of your marketing strategy and execution. You’d be able to apply a hands-on approach and direct all activities to ensure that all efforts are aligned with your business goals and overall business strategy. With this cohesive approach, every campaign supports business objectives. 

2. Deep Integration with Company Culture

An in-house team would have a deep understanding of your company’s culture. This understanding leads to marketing strategies that truly reflect your brand.

Since they are part of your daily operations, they know firsthand what your brand stands for, the standards you uphold, and the values you espouse. They are able to develop and refine processes and campaigns so they fit your company’s unique culture and target audience.

3. Immediate Availability

You have direct and continuous access to your in-house team. There’s no need for intermediary communication and long wait times for them to get back to you and address your concerns. This minimizes delays often associated with remote or outsourced teams.

With your team under your helm and immediately available, you can quickly address any issues or make changes in strategy to rapidly adapt to market conditions. Their availability ensures clear communication, close collaboration, and seamless feedback loops.

4. Tailored Skill Sets

When you build your own team, you get to choose the individuals with the exact skill sets you need. You can also provide them with the right training to further refine and expand their skills to meet the unique demands of your business.

Disadvantages of In-House Teams

Building an in-house marketing team has its perks, but it’s not without its challenges. If you have a limited budget and resources, you may want to consider other alternatives, such as getting Marketing-as-a-Service.

1. High Recruitment and Training Costs

Finding skilled and experienced talents is costly. Recruitment costs run an average of $4,683 per hire. The numbers are even much higher for hiring executives, costing businesses an average of $28,329. Add to these other related costs, such as those for training and development. Take note that in 2022, companies spent $826 to $1,689 per learner on training-related expenditures.

2. Limited Flexibility and Scalability

Scaling your marketing efforts up or down to match project needs can be a significant challenge with an in-house team. You’re constrained by the resources you have and may struggle to keep up with the latest technologies. Quickly hiring or training new staff to meet demand isn’t always feasible as well. Moreover, internal bureaucratic processes can slow down adaptability.

The lack of flexibility and scalability makes it hard to pivot quickly in response to market changes. It also hinders innovation and efficiency.

3. Potential Gaps in Skills and Expertise

While in-house teams can be tailored to include those who have focused skills or deep knowledge in specific areas, companies may be limited in budget and capabilities to build such specialized teams. This creates skills gaps and a dearth of diverse expertise. 

Often, this gap leaves businesses no other recourse but to augment their staff through third-party agencies. In fact, about 48.7% of marketers cite a lack of skills in-house as one of the reasons marketing had to be outsourced.

For example, lacking skills in-house is the most popular reason for outsourcing in the UK

4. Maintenance and Overhead Expenses

When you run an in-house team, you need to prepare yourself for maintenance costs and overhead. Office space, equipment, software licenses, and other essentials that keep your team functioning—these expenses add up quickly. 

No wonder, 14.4% of marketers choose to outsource as a cost-saving measure. Outsourcing can reduce these overheads and provide access to specialized skills without the associated infrastructure costs.

Marketing-as-a-Service

When funds are tight, the marketing budget often suffers the most cuts. We’ve seen this post-pandemic when company boards demanded an 8%, on average, reduction in marketing expenditures. Some even cut marketing budgets by 10 to 20 percent. However, marketing is crucial for business growth, and companies cannot do without it.

Marketing-as-a-Service presents a cost-efficient alternative to traditional in-house teams and outsourced marketing agencies. Typically subscription-based, MaaS offers tailored solutions that fit your budget while supporting your marketing functions. It provides on-demand access to a diverse team of experts and to a suite of marketing technologies.

Advantages of Marketing-as-a-Service

MaaS provides flexibility, expertise, scalability, quick implementation, and integrated service offerings. For the 38% of chief marketing officers prioritizing the move to new digital technologies and platforms, MaaS offers an integrative and cost-effective solution. In Ninja Promo, we seamlessly integrate these advantages into our client strategies as part of our comprehensive marketing services.

1. Cost-Effective and Flexible

MaaS gives you the flexibility to tailor marketing services to fit your budget and needs. Moreover, MaaS experts follow standardized processes to ensure optimal outcomes. Their streamlined operations mean you’re paying for results, not overhead.

By doing away with expensive agency fees, you can save an average of $100K annually. Compared to having an in-house team, it reduces operating costs as you do not incur recruitment fees, monthly salaries, training costs, and other employee-related expenses.

MaaS is usually offered on flexible subscription models. At Ninja Promo, we give you the utmost flexibility through subscription packages that can availed of on a quarterly, semiannual, or annual basis. You may also request custom subscription plans to fit your exact needs.

2. Access to a Wide Range of Expertise

MaaS provides on-demand access to a broad range of skills across various marketing disciplines. You gain access to a diverse team of marketing strategists, web developers, and executives without the hassle of hiring and managing them yourself. This widens your breadth of marketing capabilities.

The Ninja Promo MaaS team, for instance, has successfully worked with clients from different sectors including B2C, B2B, Real Estate, Healthcare, and Technology. Regardless of the industry you are in, there is a Ninja Promo expert who can deliver the results you need.

3. Scalability

MaaS is designed to scale with you. As your business grows and market conditions evolve, your marketing strategies must change too. MaaS gives you the capability to expand your marketing efforts without the proportional increase in budget and resources.

With the flexibility to adjust service levels, you can ramp up initiatives for big campaigns or scale down efforts during lean sales periods. This keeps your marketing strategies aligned with market conditions and your business goals.

4. Quick Implementation

Streamlined processes, specialized teams, and advanced marketing technology enable MaaS providers to deliver fast and effective results. They can develop new campaigns or iterate existing ones and rapidly implement them to keep you ahead of the competition. This speed of execution is crucial for reaching your audience, especially if you are in a highly competitive industry.

5. Integrated Service Offerings

By offering a comprehensive suite of marketing services, MaaS providers are able to craft a cohesive marketing strategy that maintains consistency across all channels and touchpoints. Integrated service offerings often include end-to-end marketing activities such as SEO, content marketing, web development, social media management, and analytics—exactly the suite of services we offer at Ninja Promo.

These services are managed by a team of specialized experts who understand how to leverage each of them effectively.

Disadvantages of Marketing-as-a-Service

Indeed, MaaS offers great flexibility, scalability, and affordability. However, it may not always be the right choice for some businesses. Before deciding, understand the potential drawbacks of getting the services.

1. Lack of Control Compared to In-House Teams

As with any outsourced service, the overall direction and control of projects are mainly in the hands of the service provider while primary goals and final approvals are set by the client. This often lengthens the turnaround time as you go back and forth until the strategy aligns precisely with your values and objectives. While experienced service providers work hard to fulfill their client’s vision, nuances can sometimes be missed.

For businesses that thrive on direct control and immediate feedback loops, this can be a significant drawback. However, choosing a reputable MaaS provider like Ninja Promo, which prioritizes client collaboration, can mitigate many of these concerns.

2. Restrictive Contracts or Rigid Subscriptions

One potential downside of MaaS is its subscription model. While this gives you the flexibility to choose only the services you need, some subscriptions may come with locked-in contracts that keep you tethered to the service provider.

Fortunately, there are many MaaS providers that do not have restrictive contracts and allow you to stop the service subscription at any time. Make sure to read the fine print before you sign up for MaaS.

At Ninja Promo, we don’t lock you in rigid contracts. You have the flexibility to pick the subscription plan that suits your needs, upgrade or downgrade it, or end your subscription if need be.

While these disadvantages exist, many businesses find that the benefits of MaaS, such as cost savings, scalability, and access to a wide range of expertise, outweigh these challenges. However, it’s essential to weigh both the pros and cons carefully to determine if MaaS is the right fit for your company’s needs.

Comparing MaaS and In-House Teams

Both Marketing-as-a-Service (MaaS) and an in-house marketing team offer distinct advantages and challenges. Each approach impacts scalability, process efficiency, adaptability, and other factors crucial to success.

To make it easier for you to decide which is better for your business, here’s a detailed point-by-point comparison of the two marketing solutions.

 

	In-House Team	MaaS
Scalability	Limited (depends on internal resources)	Highly scalable, flexible
Skill Set Range	Narrow (specialized but limited by team size)	Broad (specialized and with a wide range of expertise)
Established Processes	Tailored to company culture	Standardized according to universal standards
Quality and Consistency of Work	Consistent with internal standards	Consistent with industry best practices
Communication and Collaboration	Direct and immediate	Efficient, but can be less personal
Adaptability to Market Needs	Potentially Slow (may be hindered by internal adjustments)	Quick (able to adapt quickly to evolving needs)
Marketing Strategy Execution Speed	Potentially Slow (may be hampered by internal bottlenecks)	Fast (streamlined processes enhance the speed of execution)
Access to Marketing Technology	Limited (dependent on budget and expertise)	Full (access to advanced tools and technology)

 

Conclusion: Finding the Best Fit for Your Business

It’s clear that both building an in-house marketing team and using Marketing-as-a-Service have pros and cons. An in-house team offers deep integration with your company culture and direct control over marketing efforts, but it also comes with significant costs and limitations in scalability.

On the other hand, MaaS provides cost-effective, scalable, and flexible marketing solutions with access to a wide range of expertise and advanced technologies. However, you need to practice due diligence in choosing a reliable service provider lest you fall victim to false promises and dubious contracts.

Ultimately, the choice between the two should be grounded on your business goals and available resources. As you go over the nuances we have mentioned in this guide, you may obtain a clearer view of the option that’s ideal for your business. 

Should you find that MaaS meets your needs better, consider partnering with Ninja Promo to leverage the full benefits of Marketing-as-a-Service. We do our utmost to ensure that your marketing efforts are both efficient and effective. Book a call now so we can start crafting a marketing strategy that works for you.