The Age-Old Debate: Agency or In-House?

Whether you’re looking to make a career move or simply craving personal insight…this blog is for you.

Despite how many blogs I’ve read, I’ve concluded that they all typically lack personal perspective on what communication and marketing professionals like about being in an agency or in-house setting. To bridge this gap, I did a little research on my own and the below are perspectives from our very own RPRS board members:

To note: The following “full responses” section reflects time in our board member’s current roles. To view their full background, simply click on their hyperlinked name to go to their LinkedIn pages. Names noted directly below have had both agency and in-house experience.

AGENCY TOP TAKEAWAYS:

• Pros:
  • Every day is different! – Gina
  • Constantly learning something new by working with clients in diverse industries. – Kelly
• Cons:
  • It can be a whirlwind…[so] you must be organized while staying flexible [for client and priority shifts]. – Gina
  • [Practitioners] can heavily influence communications strategy but must rely on clients to subscribe to or carry recommendations forward. – Kelly
• Biggest piece of advice:
  • If you’re able to, try out both [agency and in-house]. – Gina
  • Working with clients rather than being the client forces you get to think from a different perspective, which I think is an essential party of being able to successfully execute results-driven campaigns. – Jenna

IN-HOUSE TOP TAKEAWAYS:

• Pros:
  • I am in charge of everything! – Carolin
  • The Cisco network is HUGE – meaning that there are so many available resources and colleagues that I can learn and grow from. – Hope
  • More time to focus on projects, more people to work on projects, and more budget to work with than I had at a smaller agency. – Jessica
• Cons:
  • I am the ONLY in-house marketing/PR/comm person so there’s just a lot of stuff to do. I wish I had someone else though to help me brainstorm/give feedback. – Carolin
  • It takes much longer to get things live because with more people come more needs for approvals and more opinions. – Jessica
• Biggest piece of advice:
  • If in-house is your end goal, I’d highly recommend starting in an agency setting, to figure out what you do and don’t like. Doing so will help you more easily identify your strengths, skillset, worth and passions. – Hope
  • Start with an agency first so you can get more of a variety of experience and learn what you like working on. Then you can focus on those specific areas at an in-house position if you choose to switch. – Jessica
  • There are many in-house positions that prefer prior agency experience, so it can be helpful to start in that space, become of a jack-of-all-trades, and then bring those skills to one specific company. – Olivia

BUSINESS OWNERS TOP TAKEAWAYS:

• Pros:
  • It’s been the biggest, most exciting adventure I’ve ever encountered. – Lindsay
  • Ability to set my own goals, agenda, and culture – Lisa
• Cons:
  • I do a lot of the grunt work that I probably wouldn’t be doing in house or at an agency. It’s SO worth it though! – Lindsay
  • No one pays you to do the “business running” activities like cleaning the toilets and running payroll. You either have to outsource it (money out) or DIY (higher-margin business). – Lisa
• Biggest piece of advice:
  • I think culture fit is much more important than in-house vs. agency at this point in your career. Who are your people and where do you work best? You’re going to spend 30-60 hours/week in that setting and it needs to be a healthy one! – Lisa

 

FULL RESPONSES

AGENCY

Gina Fergione, Senior Account Executive, Largemouth Communications

• Length of time in position: 1 year 5 months (is this just my position at Largemouth? I’ve been in agency full time for over 3 ½ years).
• What are the pros and cons you see working within your setting (doesn’t have to be specific to your company)?
  • Pros: Every day is different! In a single day I may be supporting a press release announcing a product launch for a B2B tech client, then coordinating media interviews with a national reporter on food trends in restaurants, then wrap up my day brainstorming booth activations for an upcoming tradeshow for a manufacturing client. As I dive into a wide range of tasks, I’ve been able to learn about so many different industries and verticals while also expanding and honing my communications and public relations skills.
  • Cons: It can be a whirlwind. Because every day is different, you must be organized while staying flexible. As always, priorities will shift and client needs change (between the client itself and the different clients you’re juggling).
• What’s your biggest piece of advice to someone who’s trying to decide between in house vs. agency? If you’re able to, try out both. I interned both in-house and at an agency throughout college, so I was able to get a feel for the environment. While no agency and company is exactly the same, you’ll know if you’re drawn to one over the other. Regardless of where you end up (in house or agency), find a culture that you love while doing work that you love!

 

Jenna Gilgore, Account Executive, Gelia

• Length of time in position: 2 months
• What are the pros and cons you see working within your setting (doesn’t have to be specific to your company)?
  • Pros: Working for an agency is a great experience because you have a whole team of people with different skill sets and specialties behind you. The culture fosters an environment in which you’re constantly learning, and there’s always room for growth and new opportunities.
  • Cons: You have to learn to be flexible and work within tight client deadlines, but this is likely true for any in-house position as well!
• What’s your biggest piece of advice to someone who’s trying to decide between in house vs. agency? Having only worked in an agency setting, I think it’s an important experience for everyone in the industry to have at some point in their career. It’s helps lay a critical foundation of the business. Working with clients rather than being the client forces you get to think from a different perspective, which I think is an essential party of being able to successfully execute results-driven campaigns.

 

Kelly Propst, Vice President, Largemouth Communications

• Length of time in position: 13 years
• What are the pros and cons you see working within your setting (doesn’t have to be specific to your company)?
  • Pros: Working with a team of fellow practitioners who value and understand PR, constantly learning something new by working with clients in diverse industries, interacting with brilliant marketing minds from different organizations
  • Cons: Can heavily influence communications strategy, but must rely on clients to subscribe to or carry recommendations forward

 

IN HOUSE

Carolin Lehmann, Events & Communications Coordinator, ASSIST (NC State University)

• Length of time in position: since March (before that, I was also in-house for 1.5 years)
• What are the pros and cons you see working within your setting (doesn’t have to be specific to your company)?
• Pros: I am in charge of everything!
• Cons: I am the ONLY in-house marketing/PR/comm person so there’s just a lot of stuff to do. I wish I had someone else though to help me brainstorm/give feedback.

Hope Torruella, Content Marketing Manager, Cisco Customer Experience at Harte Hanks

• Length of time in position: Going on four months (before that, I was at two different agencies for four collective years)
• What are the pros and cons you see working within your setting (doesn’t have to be specific to your company)?

• • Pros: The Cisco network is HUGE – meaning that there are so many available resources and colleagues that I can learn and grow from. With the ability to focus on one company’s overall mission in addition to technology and software constantly evolving, there’s always something new and innovative around the corner – which is something I’m extremely excited to be a part of.
  • Cons: With such a huge network, there’s a lot of learning what each team is responsible for and who the correct point-of-contacts for certain questions are. There’s also a lot of acronyms to learn, but that’s where being on an awesome team comes into play – I have so many amazing colleagues who have and continue to help me navigate the org.

• Have you had experience working in the alternative setting? (i.e. if you’re currently in house, have you had agency experience? And vice versa)
  • Collective time in prior setting: I have a little over four collective years of agency experience.
  • Pros: I’m glad to have started my career in an agency because I learned at a rapid pace, was thrown into fast-turnaround situations and exposed to so many different clients in vastly different industries. I worked so many events and trade shows that provided great emersion into clients/brands and perspective of what in-house was like through many different marketing managers.
  • Cons: Being evaluated based on media wins with an ever-growing “paid media replacing earned media” landscape.
• What’s your biggest piece of advice to someone who’s trying to decide between in house vs. agency? If in-house is your end goal, I’d highly recommend starting in an agency setting, to figure out what you do and don’t like. Doing so will help you more easily identify your strengths, skillset, worth and passions.

 

Jessica Pope, Digital Channels Lead, Cisco

• Length of time in position: 4 years
• What are the pros and cons you see working within your setting (doesn’t have to be specific to your company)?
  • Pros: More time to focus on projects, more people to work on projects, and more budget to work with than I had at a smaller agency.
  • Cons: It takes much longer to get things live because with more people come more needs for approvals and more opinions.
• Have you had experience working in the alternative setting? (i.e. if you’re currently in house, have you had agency experience? And vice versa)
  • Collective time in prior setting: 1 year in an agency setting.
  • Pros: Much more agile and more flexibility with projects.
  • Cons: Things change very quickly, and you must be ready to shift your priorities and plans immediately. There is also less help and resources, so you have to be a little scrappier (which can be fun too).
• What’s your biggest piece of advice to someone who’s trying to decide between in house vs. agency? Start with an agency first so you can get more of a variety of experience and learn what you like working on. Then you can focus on those specific areas at an in-house position if you choose to switch.

 

Olivia Easly, Marketing Manager, Orthus Health

• Length of time in position: Previously, I was the Marketing Manager at WellAir for three years. I just recently started with Orthus Health as their Marketing Manager.
• What are the pros and cons you see working within your setting (doesn’t have to be specific to your company)?

• • Pros: Currently, I am the only marketing person on staff at Orthus Health. To me, that is a HUGE pro because it means I get to wear so many different hats, have direct communication with the management team, and I get to steer the brand in the direction I’d like to see it go.
  • Cons: It is a ton of work, but I wouldn’t trade a thing.

• Have you had experience working in the alternative setting? (i.e. if you’re currently in house, have you had agency experience? And vice versa)
  • Collective time in prior setting: I have a little over a year of agency experience.
  • Pros: I enjoyed the agency setting because I worked on projects for clients in several different industries. Every day was something new, and the environment was always changing.
  • Cons: I prefer to manage one brand and one voice, so balancing so many different clients wasn’t as fun for me because I wanted to focus all my attention on one.
• What’s your biggest piece of advice to someone who’s trying to decide between in house vs. agency? Both are incredibly valuable experiences. There are many in-house positions that prefer prior agency experience, so it can be helpful to start in that space, become of a jack-of-all-trades, and then bring those skills to one specific company.

 

BUSINESS OWNER

Lindsay Priester, Owner + President, Green Light Communications

• Are you currently in an in house or agency position? I own a boutique strategic communications firm but have worked both in-house and at agencies previously.
• Length of time in position: Green Light launched Feb. 1, 2019!
• What are the pros and cons you see working within your setting (doesn’t have to be specific to your company)?
  • Pros: The flexibility, having the creative freedom to run with your ideas (as long as the client’s on board, of course), the excitement that comes with knowing you’re running a business and you can shape it into what you want
  • Cons: Not having a big team to bounce ideas off of (although my RPRS peeps are great for this), feeling the weight and responsibility of owning a business (even though it’s a huge blessing!)
• Have you had experience working in the alternative setting? (i.e. if you’re currently in house, have you had agency experience? And vice versa)
  • Collective time in prior setting: 1.5 years in house, 9 years in agency
  • Pros: In house was much more relaxed (not as much pressure on placements and results), but I learned 100 times more in an agency setting.
  • Cons: I do miss the camaraderie that can come with working on a team (either in house or at an agency)
• If you own your own business, what made you want to start your own business?
  • Pros: It’s been a dream of mine since I graduated school. I made a vision board (I’m a little vision board obsessed) with a business card declaring me owner of a PR agency! I’m new to this (we’ll hit six months soon – woohoo!), but it’s been the biggest, most exciting adventure I’ve ever encountered. It’s also the scariest. Knowing at the end of the day it all comes down to me can be overwhelming. Fortunately, I have amazing clients that I’ve worked with for years (I worked with several of them at previous jobs!) and we have incredible relationships. At the end of the day, you just have to push the fear out of the way and do the dang thing!
  • Cons: While owning a business seems glamorous, you’re also doing ALL THE THINGS (especially if you’re a small shop like Green Light). I do a lot of the grunt work that I probably wouldn’t be doing in house or at an agency. It’s SO worth it though! I feel blessed every day to get to do what I love AND to get the opportunity to shape a business!
• What’s your biggest piece of advice to someone who’s trying to decide between in house vs. agency? I get this question a lot, especially from interns or new grads. I ALWAYS say try both. If you can, I’d go agency first and really build up your expertise. At an agency, things are often going a million miles a minute and you’re working on multiple clients at a time. That experience is SO valuable. Once you’ve got that knowledge, you can put it all to work in house somewhere and get fabulous results!

 

Lisa Jeffries, Founder · Principal, Raleighwood Media Group + Raleighwood Event Group

• Are you currently in an in house or agency position? Agency
• Length of time in position: 11 years
• What are the pros and cons you see working within your setting (doesn’t have to be specific to your company)?
  • Pros: Small team environment, relationships, nimble/easier to proceed with change and development
  • Cons: Intense workload since it’s not distributed across various departments
• Have you had experience working in the alternative setting? (i.e. if you’re currently in house, have you had agency experience? And vice versa)
  • Yes, was in-house at Shoeboxed.com and CBC New Media/WRAL.com
  • Collective time in prior setting: Five+ years
  • Pros: Exposure to cross-divisional departments, other types of work
  • Cons: Projects tend to move slower, more traditional “work life” culture (ie: not as flexible on in-office hours, etc.), office politics/drama 😉
• If you own your own business, what made you want to start your own business?
  • Pros: Ability to set my own goals, agenda, and culture
  • Cons: No one pays you to do the “business running” activities like cleaning the toilets and running payroll. You either have to outsource it (money out) or DIY (higher-margin business).
• What’s your biggest piece of advice to someone who’s trying to decide between in house vs. agency? Consider working in both at some point during your career. It really makes for a more experienced professional and will allow you to find your natural best fit.
• Anything else you’d like to add? I think culture fit is much more important than in-house vs. agency at this point in your career. Who are your people and where do you work best? You’re going to spend 30-60 hours/week in that setting and it needs to be a healthy one!