PPC Agency vs In-House: Which Is Right for Your Business?

The Decision Framework

This isn't a simple choice. Both approaches have genuine advantages, and the right answer depends on your specific situation: budget, company size, internal capabilities, and strategic priorities.

The Case for an Agency

Advantages

• Immediate expertise: Access to experienced specialists from day one
• Cross-industry knowledge: Insights from managing multiple accounts
• No recruitment/training costs: Skip the 3-6 months to find and onboard
• Coverage: No gaps for holidays, sickness, or turnover
• Tool access: Enterprise tools spread across multiple clients
• Scalability: Easy to increase/decrease investment

Disadvantages

• Less immersion: Not embedded in your business daily
• Competing priorities: Attention divided across clients
• Communication overhead: Meetings, briefs, approvals
• Potential conflicts: May work with competitors

The Case for In-House

Advantages

• Deep business knowledge: Full understanding of products, customers, strategy
• Faster execution: No external approval processes
• Dedicated focus: 100% attention on your business
• Integrated marketing: Better coordination with other channels
• Data ownership: All learnings stay in-house

Disadvantages

• Recruitment challenges: Good PPC talent is hard to find
• Higher fixed costs: Salary, benefits, training, tools
• Knowledge gaps: Limited exposure to other industries
• Single point of failure: Risk if the person leaves
• Career path: Hard to offer growth in a small team

The True Cost Comparison

In-House PPC Manager (UK)

• Salary: £40,000-£60,000
• Employer costs (+30%): £12,000-£18,000
• Tools (SEMrush, SpyFu, etc.): £3,000-£10,000
• Training and development: £2,000-£5,000
• Management overhead: Variable
• Total: £57,000-£93,000/year

Agency (Typical Range)

• Retainer: £1,500-£5,000/month = £18,000-£60,000/year
• No additional costs for tools, training, or coverage
• Total: £18,000-£60,000/year

When Each Makes Sense

Choose an Agency If:

• Ad spend is under £500k/year
• PPC is one channel among many, not the core business
• You need to get started quickly
• You want to test PPC viability before committing
• Your industry requires specialists you can't easily hire

Choose In-House If:

• PPC is a strategic core competency
• Ad spend exceeds £1M/year
• You have complex products requiring deep knowledge
• Fast-moving business requiring real-time optimisation
• You can offer competitive salaries and career development

The Hybrid Model

Many businesses find success with a hybrid approach: an in-house coordinator who handles day-to-day and strategic alignment, working with an agency that provides specialist execution and coverage.

This captures the benefits of both: deep business knowledge from in-house, specialist expertise and scalability from the agency.