When You Need a Marketing Partner vs. an In-House Hire
At a certain point, most organizations face the same question: Do we hire internally, or do we bring in outside support? The answer isn’t about loyalty, budget alone, or growth stage. It’s about what kind of problem you’re actually trying to solve.
Research in marketing and organizational strategy shows that misalignment between goals, capabilities, and structure is a common contributor to underperforming initiatives (Kounkel & Deloitte’s CMO Program, 2023). The real decision isn’t who to hire. It’s what capability you need right now.
When an In-House Hire Makes Sense
An in-house hire is often the right choice when marketing needs are steady, predictable, and operational.
Organizations tend to benefit from internal hires when they need:
Daily execution across established channels
Deep institutional knowledge
Long-term ownership of ongoing programs
Close collaboration with internal teams
Research published in Harvard Business Review shows that teams with clear focus and supportive systems, where performance and learning objectives are explicitly prioritized, outperform teams with misaligned or unclear expectations (Harvey & Sohn, 2025). This finding helps explain why internal teams tend to perform best when strategy, priorities, and systems are already well defined.
If your organization already has a clear strategy and needs consistent hands-on support to maintain momentum, an in-house role may be an efficient solution.
When a Marketing Partner Is the Better Fit
A marketing partner is most valuable when clarity, structure, or direction is missing.
Organizations often seek external partners when they:
Are launching something new
Are growing faster than internal capacity allows
Have inconsistent messaging or results
Need senior-level strategy without a full-time hire
Need cross-disciplinary expertise (strategy, content, digital, campaigns)
Research from McKinsey on organizational transformation indicates that companies navigating rapid change perform better when they adopt integrated approaches that build clarity, alignment, and adaptable systems (McKinsey & Company, 2023). These conditions are often supported by external expertise and help organizations make more effective decisions during periods of disruption.
In addition, Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2024 report finds that organizations navigating change perform more effectively when they engage external expertise alongside internal teams, improving alignment and accelerating decision-making during periods of transformation (Deloitte Insights, 2024).
In these moments, the value isn’t labor. It’s perspective, pattern recognition, and speed.
Cost Isn’t the Only Variable
Research from the Society for Human Resource Management shows that the true cost of an internal hire often exceeds salary alone when recruiting, onboarding, benefits, and turnover are included in the calculation (Society for Human Resource Management, 2023).
This is supported by data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which shows that employers pay significantly more than base wages alone. In June 2025, benefits such as paid leave, insurance, retirement, and other legally required costs accounted for roughly 30 percent of total compensation, illustrating that the true cost of an internal hire extends well beyond salary alone (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025).
A marketing partner provides access to senior expertise without long-term overhead. For many organizations, this allows them to address complex challenges first and determine later whether a permanent role is necessary.
Strategy First, Staffing Second
One of the most common mistakes organizations make is hiring before defining what success actually looks like.
Research from the Project Management Institute shows that business acumen, which includes alignment of goals and clarity of objectives, is a key differentiator in successful project outcomes (Project Management Institute, 2025). This supports the idea that clear strategic alignment and shared understanding improve performance, while a lack of clarity tends to reduce success rates. Without a clear strategy, even strong hires may struggle to deliver results.
In many cases, organizations benefit from working with a marketing partner to:
Define systems and workflows
Establish priorities and metrics
Once that foundation is in place, hiring internally becomes easier and more effective.
The Hybrid Approach
Increasingly, organizations are choosing a hybrid model that combines a small internal team with strategic partners. This approach offers flexibility, access to specialized expertise, and scalability without locking teams into rigid structures ((Kounkel & Deloitte’s CMO Program, 2023)).
For healthcare organizations, professional education providers, nonprofits, and small businesses, this model often provides a practical balance of continuity and adaptability.
The Right Question to Ask
Instead of asking “Should we hire or outsource?” a better question is: What do we need to be clearer, stronger, or more consistent right now?
The answer to that question usually points clearly to the right solution.
If you are weighing whether to hire internally or bring in outside support, clarity around your goals and priorities matters more than the structure itself. Strategic marketing support can help define what success looks like, align efforts across channels, and determine the right next step.
Thoughtful planning now makes any future investment more effective.
References:
Kounkel, S., & Deloitte’s CMO Program. (2023). 2023 Global Marketing Trends. Deloitte Insights. https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-zone2/cz-sk/cs/docs/services/consulting/2023-global-marketing-trends.pdf
Harvey, J. F., & Sohn, W. (2025, September 12). Teams That Prioritize Either Learning or Performance Perform Better. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2025/09/teams-that-prioritize-either-learning-or-performance-perform-better
McKinsey & Company. (2023, April 26). The State of Organizations 2023: Ten Shifts Transforming Organizations. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-state-of-organizations-2023
Deloitte. (2024). Global Human Capital Trends 2024: Building Change-Ready Organizations. Deloitte Insights. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends.html
Project Management Institute. (2025). Pulse of the Profession 2025: Boosting Business Acumen. https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/pulse_of_the_profession_2025-1.pdf
Society for Human Resource Management. (2023). SHRM Human Capital Benchmarking Report: Total Cost of Hiring and Turnover. https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/research-and-surveys/pages/shrm-human-capital-benchmarking.aspx
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025, September 12). Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — June 2025. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.htm
