In-house Marketing vs. Agency: Recruitment, ROI and Ramp-up Time Explained | What Makes It GEL

Comparing the cost of an in-house marketing hire with a marketing agency is about far more than salary, and in this video GEL Studios, a B Corp creative agency in Swindon, Wiltshire, breaks down what the decision really costs. When most businesses weigh up hiring in-house against partnering with an agency, they put a salary next to a retainer and stop there. Our Head of Growth, David Golding, thinks that misses most of the picture. Picking up from our last video with COO Stacey Wilson, host Sophie Harflett, who works in GEL's delivery team, sits down with David to look at the practical side of the decision. David's role spans sales, client success and GEL's own growth, so he has this conversation with organisations across Swindon, Wiltshire and the South West all the time, from charities such as the RSPCA through to large organisations like Toshiba TEC and plenty of smaller local businesses. He starts with the question that should come before any cost comparison: what do you actually want, and what return on investment are you likely to get? It is why GEL works to outcomes rather than outputs, and why return on investment is part of the conversation from the contract stage. Then come the costs that rarely make it into the spreadsheet. Writing and managing the job advert, recruitment agency fees, paid listings on LinkedIn and Indeed, hours spent sifting CVs and interviewing, IT setup, onboarding and ramp-up time. As Sophie points out, it can be three or four months before someone is even hired, and longer again before they are fully up to speed. David is just as honest about the case for having someone internal. Plenty of organisations run a hybrid model, with an in-house brand champion working alongside an agency, and he explains why that so often works well. The second half looks at how quickly an agency partnership can get going, why every GEL retainer starts with a goal-setting workshop, the questions that workshop raises that often haven't been asked internally at all, and how a team of 17 in Swindon can dial individual specialisms up and down from month to month as a client's needs change. If you are trying to put a real number on in-house versus agency, this is 14 minutes well spent. Chapters 00:00 Introduction - picking up the in-house vs agency conversation 01:10 What a Head of Growth does, and who GEL is the right fit for 04:33 Weighing up the cost: ROI and outcomes, not outputs 06:55 The hidden costs of hiring in-house 08:24 Why many businesses choose a hybrid model 09:39 How quickly can an agency partnership get started? 12:02 Flexing expertise up and down month by month 13:50 Wrap-up Work with GEL Studios Marketing strategy, SEO, paid advertising, social media, branding and web design in Swindon, Wiltshire and beyond. Website: https://www.gelstudios.co.uk/what-mak... Marketing services: https://www.gelstudios.co.uk/creative... Goal-setting workshop: https://www.gelstudios.co.uk/creative... Email: hello@gelstudios.co.uk Phone: 01793 677150 Studio: Unit 2, 3 Lancaster Place, South Marston Park, Swindon, SN3 4UQ Subscribe for more What Makes It GEL, with a new video every month.