DIY Marketing vs Hiring an Agency: What Gets Better Results?

Should you DIY your marketing or hire a marketing agency?

If you’re asking whether it’s better to DIY your marketing or hire a marketing agency, the short answer is: it depends on your goals, time, and expertise. DIY marketing can work in the short term, but it often lacks the strategic depth and consistency needed to drive real business growth. In this blog, we’ll break down the pros and cons of each approach and help you decide what makes sense for your business.

DIY vs hire a marketing agency: the real difference

When you’re running a small business, every dollar counts. It’s tempting to take on your own marketing whether that’s managing social media, writing your own blogs, or experimenting with DIY SEO marketing tools. But time and budget aside, the real question is this: Are you getting the results you need?

While DIY efforts might get you started, they rarely scale. On the flip side, when you hire a marketing agency, you’re tapping into specialised skills, strategy, and execution, all working together to grow your brand and bottom line.

When DIY marketing makes sense

There are situations where handling your own marketing might be the right call:

• You’re in the early startup phase with no budget
• You’re testing the market or validating a product
• You’re experienced in digital marketing yourself
• You enjoy and have time for it
  

DIY gives you full control and costs less upfront. It also helps you better understand the channels and tools your business will eventually scale with. But as you grow, so do the demands, and marketing quickly becomes more than a side task.

The hidden costs of doing it yourself

Marketing might look simple from the outside, a few posts, some boosted ads, maybe a newsletter. But doing it properly means:

• Learning how to write copy that converts
• Creating and editing visuals or videos
• Running ads across multiple platforms
• Tracking analytics, conversions, and attribution
• Keeping up with algorithm updates and trends
  

That’s a full-time job. And here’s where most DIY marketing fails: it eats up valuable time, pulls you away from your core business, and often leads to inconsistent, unmeasurable results.

This article from Entrepreneur explains why handling your own marketing could be hurting more than helping, especially when it takes your attention away from high-value tasks like sales, operations, or growth.

What happens when you hire a marketing agency

When you hire a marketing agency, you’re not just paying for someone to “post on social media.” You’re investing in a team that:

• Builds a custom strategy aligned to your goals
• Tracks and reports on performance
• Creates content designed to convert
• Brings multi-channel expertise (SEO, ads, email, social media)
• Stays up to date with the latest tools, trends and data
  

Agencies like Marketing Together give you structure, consistency, and expert support, while freeing up your time to run the business. Whether it’s outsourced marketing services or a full digital strategy, working with a team ensures that your efforts are always aligned and always improving.

Freelancers vs agencies: what’s the difference?

Some business owners opt to work with a freelance digital marketer instead of hiring an agency. This can work well for project-based needs or smaller campaigns, but freelancers often specialise in just one area (e.g. SEO or ads). If you’re looking for integrated, full-funnel marketing, an agency offers:

• Strategic oversight across all channels
• Creative + technical skill sets
• Broader accountability
• Scalability as your business grows
  

That’s the value you get when you outsource marketing to a team like Marketing Together, you’re not managing five different freelancers; you’ve got one team with one strategy.

When it’s time to outsource marketing

Still unsure if it’s time to stop DIY-ing it?

Here are a few signs that it’s time to hire a marketing agency:

• You don’t have time to market consistently
• You’re not seeing results from your current efforts
• You’re guessing instead of using data
• You’ve outgrown the “do-it-all-yourself” phase
• You want to scale but aren’t sure how
  

Whether you’re running Facebook ads, launching email campaigns, or trying to improve SEO, a digital marketing agency can help you focus on what actually moves the needle.

Final thoughts: You don’t have to do it alone

DIY marketing can help you start, but it’s rarely enough to grow. If you’re spending hours trying to learn platforms, create content, and troubleshoot results, it’s time to shift gears. When you hire a marketing agency like Marketing Together, you get a partner who understands your business, builds the right strategy, and drives real results. No fluff. No guesswork. Just expert execution that actually delivers.

Ready to stop DIY-ing and start growing?

If you’re stuck doing your own marketing or juggling freelancers with no real strategy, we can help. Marketing Together works with small businesses across Australia to deliver clear, measurable marketing strategies that scale. Whether you need help with SEO, ads, content, or social media, we’ll build a plan that works for your goals and your budget.

👉 Book a free strategy consult today and let’s build your next stage of growth – together.