Agency, freelancer or in-house? And how to spot a good provider
The decision does not depend on company size but on how central PPC is to your business. Here is the cost and risk comparison — plus a set of questions that reveal a good provider in ten minutes.
- What decides is how much of your business rests on PPC, not the size of your company or your budget.
- Compare total cost: fee plus media budget plus your own time managing the provider.
- You spot a good provider by them asking about margin before offering a solution.
The “agency or in-house” debate gets argued as a question of price. It is really a question of how much attention your account needs and how much knowledge has to stay inside the company. We write this as an agency, so factor in where we are speaking from — we have tried to give an honest analysis, including the situations where you do not need us.
Three models and when they fit
| Freelancer | Agency | In-house | |
|---|---|---|---|
| When | Smaller budgets, one channel, a clearly bounded brief | Several channels, measurement, feeds, need for cover | PPC is core to the business, large budget, specialised field |
| Strengths | Price, direct communication, flexibility | Breadth of skills, process, cover during absence | Product knowledge, instant response, knowledge stays home |
| Risks | Illness and holidays, a single perspective, limited scope | The account may land with a junior; an interest in higher spend | One person without peers stagnates; expensive until it pays back |
| Hidden costs | Your time coordinating everything else | Your time managing the agency | Recruitment, onboarding, tools, turnover |
The most common working combination we see: one person internally who understands the business and owns the data, plus external capacity for the things they do rarely — measurement, feeds, technical work, a new channel.
How to compare costs honestly
Comparing “agency £800 vs. employee £2,600” is misleading. Count the whole thing:
- Direct fee. A fixed amount, a percentage of spend, or salary including employer costs.
- Tools. In-house you pay for them yourself; an agency has them.
- Your time. Managing the provider, meetings, checking. Underestimated in both options.
- Cost of error. Higher with one person and no second pair of eyes.
- Risk of departure. In-house, the knowledge leaves with the person unless it is written down.
One hard rule holds without exception: if the management fee approaches the media budget, the economics do not work, however flawless the campaigns. At a budget of £600 and a fee of £500, advertising has to pay for both, so the real ceiling on cost per conversion is far lower than the figure from a calculator counting media alone.
At a budget of a few hundred a month, ongoing management rarely pays for anyone. It is more sensible to pay for a one-off setup and audit, learn to operate the account, and return to a specialist once a quarter. A good provider will tell you this themselves.
Ten questions to ask a provider
The order is not accidental — the first three tell you the most.
- What is our gross margin and how will you reflect it in the targets? If they do not ask about margin themselves before proposing a solution, that is a bad sign.
- How will we know it is working? The right answer talks about orders or deals, not click-through rate and reach.
- How will you verify conversions match our orders? “We have GA4 connected” is not enough.
- How will you separate brand queries? Anyone without an answer will be reporting flattering numbers.
- Whose account will it be? Always yours, with your billing. You grant the agency access.
- Where are changes logged? You want to see what happened in the account, even a year back.
- Who will actually work on the account? A senior comes to the pitch, a junior gets the account. Ask by name.
- What happens if you recommend cutting the budget? With a percentage-of-spend model, this is a question about conflict of interest.
- What is the notice period and what do we get on exit? Access, data, documentation.
- Tell us about a time you advised a client not to do PPC. Anyone without such a case is either new or not telling you much.
Warning signs
- A guaranteed result. Nobody guarantees an auction they do not control.
- A proposal without knowing your numbers. A management price can be quoted immediately; a plan cannot.
- The account in the agency’s name. On exit you lose history that has value.
- A report with no brand split. Either they cannot do it or they are doing it deliberately.
- Only platform metrics. A report containing not one number from your own system says nothing.
- Refusing tests. Anyone unwilling to verify incrementality is protecting their numbers, not your money.
What to keep in-house regardless
Whatever the model, this should stay with the company:
- Ownership of the advertising and analytics accounts, and the billing.
- Knowledge of your own margin and close rate.
- Your own customer data and its connection to advertising.
- The ability to read a report and ask the right question.
A company with those can change provider within a month. A company without them is dependent regardless of the contract.
What to take away
The right answer is not in the model but in how much attention your account needs and what has to stay inside. At small budgets a one-off setup with occasional review most often makes sense; at medium ones a combination of an internal person and external capacity; at large ones an in-house team with an outside view for audits. And the mark of a good provider is unchanged: they ask about margin before they talk about campaigns.
Common questions
Is a PPC agency or an in-house hire better?
It depends on how much of your business rests on PPC, not on the size of the company. An in-house person makes sense where advertising is core to the business, the budget is large and the field is specialised. An agency or freelancer makes sense where you need breadth of skills — measurement, feeds, several channels — and cannot fill a full-time role with it. The most common working combination is one internal person who understands the business and owns the data, plus external capacity for the work done rarely.
How do I recognise a good PPC agency?
By what they ask before they start proposing. A good provider asks about gross margin, about what share of enquiries turn into deals, and about how you will know advertising is working — and expects the answer in orders, not clicks. Other good signs are the account being owned by you, a logged change history, a named person who will actually work on it, and the ability to describe a case where they advised a client not to do PPC.
How much should PPC management cost?
Most commonly either a fixed monthly fee or a percentage of the media budget, typically around eight to fifteen per cent. The actual figure varies by an order of magnitude depending on what is included, so compare scope rather than rate. One hard rule applies: if the management fee approaches the media budget, the overall economics do not work however flawless the campaigns. At very small budgets ongoing management pays for nobody, and a one-off setup with occasional review is more sensible.