I was an early employee at a direct response advertising agency that spent $100m+ per year on behalf of clients, and after that I led an in-house team for a retail brand with a $20m marketing/advertising budget.
Based on that experience I think the right agencies can fill the marketing need quite well for startups. I think the main concern is that the knowledge isn’t completely outsourced so there is a core of competence in the company. In my experience it’s much easier to find solid expertise across the multitude of marketing channels with agencies, even though it’s likely more expensive.
I like the idea of getting individual contributors first to kick things off, but then I’d look for agencies as a next step. This could coincide with a CMO hire because many marketers have worked with agencies in the past so they will help in the search for the right partners.
Based on that experience I think the right agencies can fill the marketing need quite well for startups. I think the main concern is that the knowledge isn’t completely outsourced so there is a core of competence in the company. In my experience it’s much easier to find solid expertise across the multitude of marketing channels with agencies, even though it’s likely more expensive.
I like the idea of getting individual contributors first to kick things off, but then I’d look for agencies as a next step. This could coincide with a CMO hire because many marketers have worked with agencies in the past so they will help in the search for the right partners.