Should you hire a marketing consultant or a marketing agency?
A marketing consultant usually advises: reviews what you have, sets a plan and checks progress, while you or your staff do the work. An agency usually does the work itself, often across several skills. A consultant tends to suit an owner with time or staff to carry out a plan; an agency tends to suit an owner who wants the work done. Either way, keep every account in the business's name and judge the result by jobs won from each source.
Advice or the work itself
Titles vary, so ask what you are buying: some consultants also do the work, and some agencies sell advice alone. The related answer on hiring a freelancer or an agency compares one person who does the work with a team.
| Consultant | Agency | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Advice, a plan and reviews of progress | The work itself, usually ongoing |
| Who does the work | You, your staff or someone you hire | The agency's team |
| Usually suits | An owner with time or staff to carry out a plan | An owner who wants the work off their plate |
| Common gap | A plan that sits unused when nobody has time | Less say in how each piece gets done |
When a consultant often fits
- You or someone on staff can do the posting, the replies and the website edits, but you want a plan and a second pair of eyes.
- You want an outside view before you hire anyone else.
- The work is a one-off decision, such as which channels to keep.
When an agency often fits
- Nobody in the business has the hours to carry out a plan.
- The work spans several skills at once, such as the website, search and lead handling.
- You want one party accountable for doing the work and reporting on it.
What Google says about outside help
Google's guide "Do you need an SEO?" says "Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners", and lists services that include reviewing a site's content or structure, content development and optimizing for generative AI. It also tells small local businesses "you can probably do much of the work yourself". As general advice, that is where a consultant's plan can pay off: when the owner will do much of the work anyway.
Either way
Keep the domain, website, ad accounts and lead records in the business's name, with each helper added as a user. Measure the result by inquiries tagged with their source and followed to won, lost or still open. The related answer on hiring a marketing employee, a fractional lead or an agency covers the in-house options, and the related answer on how much marketing to do yourself helps draw the line. Ascent Vision is an agency, so read this with that in mind.
Sources
Related answers
- Should you hire a freelancer or an agency for SEO and marketing?
- Should you hire a marketing employee, a fractional marketing lead or an agency?
- How much of your marketing should you do yourself?
SEO for service businesses
Get found on Google by the people already looking for what you sell, in the places you serve, and see which searches turned into inquiries.