What Does the Best Marketing Team Look Like For Your Business?

Is your business ready for more marketing horsepower, but you’re not sure whether to hire in-house or partner with an agency? In today’s conversation, we’re exploring the pros and cons of outsourcing, when a hybrid model makes sense, and how the right fit can level up your brand, boost ROI, and even strengthen your community impact. From uncovering hidden gaps to asking the right questions before you hire, we’re breaking down what it really takes to find a marketing partner that works for your business. Let’s jump in.

James: Hey, welcome everyone. James from Twin Creek Media, and joining us today are Teresa and Kristina, and we are talking about the pros and cons of outsourcing marketing.

Teresa: So, James, as a business owner, what do you think the advantages would be rather than trying to build a team internally? If you had to build a marketing team internally for Business A, B, or C.

James: It's expensive, slow, and risky. So, versus a plug-and-play department, like we said before, it’s cheaper, faster, and less risky because it’s proven. So, those in a nutshell answers that, and that's what we see all the time. It often makes more sense to outsource at least part of the marketing to an agency.

The ROI Advantage of a Full Agency Team

James: The question is, how does working with a team like Twin Creek provide better ROI than hiring one or two in-house marketers? That goes to the affordability or the value you get with an agency. If you add up two full-timers' salaries—let's use an average of $70,000 a year—that's $140,000 for labour before we've spent any money on advertising itself. Advertising costs are often another $50,000 or $100,000 a year. So, even if you made a million dollars in sales, you've perhaps spent $250,000.

James: Your ROI is only 4x. Four times isn't actually that bad, but it's not amazing. Five would be kind of the minimum you want to see, but our team aims for 10 times return on average. Because the costs are distributed across a team, you're paying people basically part-time, and you have a 10-person team who's better than the two people you try to hire—those unicorns you were talking about—but they're never going to be as good as 10.

Teresa: And even if you get those two, let's say you are fortunate enough to get four strong skills, you're still likely going to have to outsource a staffing cost, whether that be a contractor or per-job basis, etc. There are still additional costs of hiring more resources or else forfeiting and not doing those.

James: Yep, that's right.

That's why the ROI is just better. I would say nine out of 10 times we see a stronger ROI than a company previously had with internal people only.

It's all those reasons—efficiency, which leads to ROI, but also the know-how. It's not just cost efficiency or getting good bang for your buck, but also the know-how of putting a 10-person team in place that is good at so many different things.

It raises the level of the company's branding, marketing, advertising, lead generation, website traffic, professionalism, events, and how they’re seen in the world. The whole game is levelled up, and the results are compounded. It's not just one thing—it's multiple things. That's why, at the end of the day, the ROI is so effective.

Finding the Right Marketing Team Fit

Teresa: One of the points that was interesting that you were saying is this idea of ROI—two-person versus 10. Honestly, when you’re looking externally for marketing help, you can actually go and hire a "marketing department," which is just another one or two people sitting at their desk at home who position themselves as having all these skills and resources. You have to watch for that.

You don't necessarily need to hire someone with 50 different types of resources and skills. You need to understand your business, where you're at, and the resources you need in terms of marketing, then find a team that fits.

James: The fit is super important. That's why we work almost exclusively with mid-size companies. Like we said, we work in little silos or on special projects or R&D or innovative things for supersized companies. We've had some clients that are hundreds of millions or billion-dollar companies—we're not doing their marketing. We're working with a department or division, and it’s almost like that division under this department is the company we're working with. Then they become the size of organization we're used to working with.

The mid-sized companies with 10 to 50 employees—even though some of our clients have hundreds or thousands of employees—we’re working with a division. It just needs to be the right fit. We fit with a certain size, and that means getting to know the company's capabilities. The companies we work with usually need a whole bunch of stuff, and that's why we have a whole bunch of people that fit, because that’s what we've gone after.

How Agencies Provide Honest, Objective Feedback

James: All right, let's talk about objectivity. How does having a third party help cut through internal bias or decision gridlock?

There's one big thing I've really noticed. The reason an agency can either crash through a barrier or shortcut things is because of the lack of consequences for being super brutally honest.

James: If we were an employee inside the company, everything’s at stake—your relationship with coworkers, ultimately your job if you really laid down the law or drew a line in the sand. Could you get fired over that? That's extreme, but possible. An agency—we’re not in the company. We're not going to bump into the person while making coffee. We don't have to deal with the aftermath of a potentially offensive comment or opinion. There's less fear, and because there's less fear, there's more honesty.

Our role is to be a mirror. If we hold up the mirror and reflect back what we're hearing, what the goals are, and what’s happened in the past, there’s nothing for us to lose except losing the client, which is the equivalent of us getting fired.

James: If we were the team working with you, and we said something you didn’t like, you could fire us, but we wouldn’t lose our jobs. We work for the marketing agency, which has lots of clients. So the consequences are fewer. Even though it would be awful to lose a client, it doesn’t end our careers or put us out of work. No one’s worried about their paycheck. Because that fear is removed, there’s a level of honesty where you can just say your thing. If you were an employee in that meeting, would you drop a bomb like that? Only if you’re a bomb-dropper—not everyone is confrontational.

Kristina: I’ve been in that situation. I was asked to design something very controversial, and I spoke up very quietly. It didn’t go well, and I never said anything again. But in this case, I would just tell James I don’t want to do it.

Teresa: All your points are very valid, James, and I agree with them. It's not that an agency won’t care and will therefore say anything, not at all. From the other side of the table, I’ve seen clients’ reactions when we’ve had to be brutally honest about something, whether it’s an approach or other issues. When we’ve held up that mirror and been honest strongly and smartly, it’s often a relief for them. They’ll say, “Now we know what the real problem is,” or “Now we know how we can change or fix something.” It’s not always a knee-jerk reaction. A lot of times, they needed to hear it and were happy to hear it.

When Outsourcing Isn’t the Right Choice

James: So, what types of companies or situations is outsourcing not a good idea for?

Kristina: Well, if you already do a little bit of marketing in your company, perhaps it's not the time to completely outsource it. If you've been slowly building a marketing team, maybe you should continue building that team instead of bringing on a whole new one.

Teresa: I would say, if you are a partnership or a sole proprietorship—and I don’t want to say the “mom and pop” shop, you can be anybody—but you’ve got that kind of niche product or niche service and your clientele, and you can only do so much. Meaning, you can’t grow or scale because what you offer is unique. Hiring a big marketing department to get a whole bunch of people through your door, when you can’t sell product to or service them because of capacity, just doesn’t make sense.

James: So, too small or too early stage? We see that a lot. The person calls or emails us saying, “I need this, this, and this.” They actually need not just five different things, but a hundred different things, and it requires very ongoing and rapid communication. If you’re going to be on the phone all day giving instructions and reacting because your business is in that urgent, reactionary stage, an in-house person will be faster because they’re right there with you.

They can pick up the phone, check your email, forward things, or meet a client. In that early stage, you need a boots-on-the-ground person. Outsourcing doesn’t fulfill that role—it becomes too much administration and coordination, plus some marketing. That’s when we say, “We can do all of these things, but you really need an internal person to manage X, Y, and Z.” Trying to outsource that to a team isn’t going to be fast enough or cost-effective. It’s almost the opposite of the earlier advantages. There is definitely a reason to have people inside your company.

Teresa: One of the things I often hear from potential clients is, “You don’t know my business. You don’t know us. You have to understand who we are.” That’s a valid concern, and I appreciate it. But our job is to learn the business, learn the culture, learn that brand promise, and then, on top of that, to know the potential audience and how to reach them. An owner or business might fear that an agency won’t understand the business, but we will—while also understanding who you should be talking to.

James: Our company is 20 years old. We’ve worked for hundreds of companies and managed thousands of projects. You start to see patterns. I’d say marketing is 60 to 70% the same globally across all industries and companies because the principles of marketing are fundamentally the same. But 30% is custom, and that’s where we dig in. We usually have related industries we can draw from, even if we haven’t worked with that exact type.

And don’t forget—you’re always the expert in your company. We’re working for you doing marketing, but you are the subject matter expert in your products and services, and you always will be. Our job is to draw out your knowledge and story, show the world, and explain it to your customers in a way they’ll respond to. In that sense, we are a mediator.

Teresa: Another fear, on the other end of the spectrum, is that there won’t be enough communication, or that an owner or marketing manager will feel removed or out of the loop. That’s why it’s important that the agency you work with has a good communication process, good project management, and direct lines of communication.

Our clients are often pleasantly surprised. They think we’re going to take everything, run away, and come back later—no, it’s still a collaboration. We ask the important questions at the right time, rather than the unimportant questions all the time. You’re only involved when you’re needed as that key stakeholder, and then we take everything else off your plate.

The Hybrid Model: Blending In-House and Agency Strengths

James: Yep. So, let’s move on to hybrid.

The hybrid model is when people have both internal staff and an agency. The most common situation we find ourselves in is working half the time directly with the owner or owners, and half the time reporting to a marketing person. In cases where we work directly with ownership, Twin Creek Media takes on the role of fractional CMO—Chief Marketing Officer. That’s a marketing leadership role our team takes on.

There’s a subset of our agency that forms their leadership, offering the vision, strategy, direction, research, and analysis—really doing much of what a VP of Marketing, Director of Marketing, or CMO would do.

James: In a company—and that's something we've been getting into more and more. We've probably been doing it for five years, and it's becoming very common these days. What's another example? That’s my perspective on a hybrid agency, which would be one of the biggest ones. But some of the companies we work with have larger marketing teams. How do we fit in with those clients?

Teresa: I think of one of my clients who has three or four people on the marketing/sales side. That crossover—marketing and sales working together—sometimes is used interchangeably, sometimes it’s very separate. As an agency, we can go in and help the marketing/sales department not only with promotions, but also by working with the sales team to understand what they need to do their job better. That’s another way we can do hybrid—they’re more on the street, and we’re more behind the scenes, making sure they have everything they need to do their job. We’re also setting expectations for the audience about what they’ll get when they connect with that company.

James: Yeah, and that goes beyond the regular outsourcer. An outsourcer is often thought of like a McDonald’s in the business world—you put your order in, drive up to the window, get your thing, and go home. But if you had internal marketing employees, they’d be right there to help out the sales department. Even if HR needed something, or finance needed numbers, your marketing people would be a resource for others in your company. The best outsourcers understand that.

It’s really only dawned on us in the last five years. We used to be good at staying in our marketing lane, but then we realized—if we’re helping the company grow overall, we have to look at the big picture. If we stay in our lane, especially when we’re not physically in the office, there will be gaps. Meeting with clients month after month, year after year, we’ve seen gaps we can help fill—volunteering ourselves to help other departments thrive.

James: Communications, tools, software, AI integrations, automations—there’s a lot a marketing team can do to support others so they end up having a better work experience.

Promoting Community Involvement and Social Good

James: The question is—you’ve worked on passion projects too. How does outsourcing help companies move the needle on non-financial goals like social good, awareness, and community impact?

Teresa: From my experience—and we never want it to be this way—community outreach, social good, awareness initiatives are the things that drop off first. When it comes down to making a big sale or supporting a local cause, you tend to lean toward the sale. Over time, those initiatives drop off to the point you don’t even notice, and then a year later, a staff member says, “Hey, didn’t we used to do this?” or “Why haven’t we been doing this anymore?” If your marketing department is making sure those things are planned across the year or quarter, they’re less likely to get forgotten.

It’s great for morale and company culture. Seeing your team or business actively supporting the community—not just financially, but by being involved—makes people proud to work there. It boosts morale and corporate culture. Having someone make sure those boxes are ticked is really valuable.

James: Yep, that’s right. Anything to add?

Kristina: Yes. As much as we love doing community events for good reasons, they also provide a great opportunity to get content—wear your swag, be present in your community, and make sure people know who you are. We do it for good reasons, but we’re a marketing company, so we always have that in mind.

James: That’s another advantage of being outside your company—we’re not embarrassed to toot horns because it’s not our horn. We’re tooting your horn. People often have trouble promoting themselves out of humility, but when it’s someone else, you want to promote them and drive the message home. When we start working with companies, we often discover they’re doing amazing things—and nobody knows.

Kristina: They might mention it somewhere on their website, but they should be posting on social media and sending newsletters.

Teresa: Half the time, even other employees don’t know what’s happening.

James: Exactly—and that’s tragic. There’s no reason to hide under a rock, unless you want to make an anonymous donation. But for regular community involvement—if you support an event, sponsor something—share it.

That goes a long way, as you said, for morale, but also for other businesses to see that you are involved and care about the community you operate in. There are so many reasons—but also, humans are humans. We want human stories. You’re not just a machine; it needs to be relatable. The question is: what’s the one question every business owner should ask before hiring a marketing partner, outsourced or not?

The One Question (or 5) to Ask Before Hiring a Marketing Partner

Teresa: I think this goes beyond just hiring a marketing partner. The one question you should both ask each other is: how do we know we’re successful? Making sure that the definition of success is the same ensures the right fit. How are we going to know this is successful? It can mean different things to different people—money, communication, longevity.

Kristina: Yeah.

Teresa: And if a marketing agency says—

"You’ll never hear from us for 12 months because we do all the work,” but you want to be involved and hands-on because this is your business, that’s not the right fit. That’s why I’d ask: how do we know? I’d make sure there’s alignment.

Kristina: I think you have to know the shape of your own puzzle piece before you can find the piece that fits it.

James: Marriage counsellor, Kristina. Yeah—what’s your love language? I don’t know. So, what’s the one question? I have way too many; it’s hard to boil it down to one.

Teresa: I believe in the five whys. I was talking to you about this the other day. So, what’s one question you should ask before hiring a marketing partner? “Why do I want to hire a marketing partner?” Answer that, then ask yourself why again.

Teresa: Let’s do this, James—why are you hiring a marketing partner?

James: I think I need one for a new website. Why? That’s what everyone’s doing. I don’t know. This is actually a common conversation—I’ll ask, “Why do you need a new website?” and they’ll say, “I don’t know.” Asking why, why, why…

Teresa: …and getting down to the actual reason will help you know if you’re making the right decision.

James: Sometimes you have a preconceived idea of what needs to be fixed, but the thing you think needs fixing is fine—it’s something else. When we’ve done the five whys, people often say, “I need a new…” and fill in the blank. What they actually want is 10 new sales worth half a million dollars, and they think the new thing will get them that. But then we find the real issue—maybe their website is fine, but it has no visitors. The problem is traffic, not the website. People just assume something is broken in the funnel. Anyway, we’re off track from the one question, but really it’s “why” to the power of five.

Kristina: So the answer is: Why to the power of five.

James: I like that. That’s my answer—my one question. If you borrow good ideas from smart people, are you really stealing, or just…

Teresa: …calling me smart?

James: The power of five was also—anyway.

Teresa: Alright, so if someone’s listened to all of this and thinks they might be ready, what do they do, James?

James: Start the conversation. Let’s talk about why. The five-second rule—have you heard of it? Mel Robbins wrote a book.

The five-second rule in human psychology is that you have a huge amount of power in the five seconds after a thought occurs to act on it. After five seconds, it’s like a spark that burns out and goes cold.

I haven’t read the book yet—but the five-second rule applies here. If, in the last five to 25 seconds, you’ve thought, “Yeah, I think this makes sense, I should do it,” then do it. Reach out to us. Take action. There’s nothing to lose—we don’t charge for initial consultations. Let’s have a discussion and see what we can do to help each other grow your business or organization.

Kristina: Maybe wear your unicorn!

Thanks for joining us! Whether you’re ready to outsource, go hybrid, or just explore your options, the first step is starting the conversation.

“Between Two Creeks” is Twin Creek Media’s weekly podcast series. You can find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Spotify. If you enjoy listening to the latest and wonkiest in marketing every week, don’t forget to hit that subscribe button! If you want us to amp up your website or marketing strategy, contact us and let’s chat!

Check out our previous podcast episode: Is It Time to Bring in a Marketing Agency? Here's What You Need to Know.