It’s a common assumption that agencies are more expensive than hiring in-house talent to manage your Facebook marketing programs. But working with an agency could be more affordable than bringing all of your operations in-house.
Where as a salaried campaign manager/analyst hybrid is a single person, the same amount of money can get you a full team of optimizers, specialists and analysts who spend their hours monitoring, managing, optimizing, analyzing and prioritizing your campaigns. As you increase headcount internally, your costs go up. With an agency, you’ve already got a built-in multiple-person team with that one person’s salary. Depending on the agency’s managed services fee, that price point could even tilt in your favor.
After all, if you found one superstar who can kick ass at all the managing, all the smart bid optimization, all the creative execution, all the audience research, all the performance analyzing, all the adjustments and tweaking, and all the monitoring, that one person won’t come cheap.
And that one person would somehow have way more than 24 hours in their day. Sidenote: if you do find that superstar, give them our number, ok?
Let’s take a look at some of the day-to-day tasks your one-or-two-person Facebook ads team must complete:
Ad copy for hundreds of variations
Ad design/image selection for hundreds of variations
Audience research from curated Facebook data sets, 3rd party data, internal customer data
Compilation of other audiences - custom lookalikes, website visitors, prospects, other constituencies
Segmentation
Assign targeting for hundreds of ad variations
Place pixels
App tracking
A/B testing
Optimize bids
Monitor & adjust bids
Analyze & interpret performance results
Apply test outcomes to new cohorts
Refresh ad creative
Refresh ad copy
Stay up-to-date on Facebook ad platform changes and software updates
Troubleshoot platform bugs
Maintain domain expertise in Facebook advertising channel
Stay up-to-date on industry-specific marketing best practices
Meetings and/or calls with key stakeholders, analysts, marketing peers, sales teams, and others
Needless to say, time is a huge factor in the cost of running Facebook ads. Ad automation software certainly helps with some of this, but as you scale, the amount of work to maintain and learn from your campaigns multiplies as well.
What’s more, an agency is innately focused on providing superior performance.
In-house employees are not necessarily focused on justifying their salaries directly in relation to the performance of their Facebook ad campaigns.
Agencies, on the other hand, know that you have many options when it comes to deciding on an advertising partner. Killer results are the one true deliverable.
We know there’s a lot to consider when entertaining the idea of bringing your marketing in-house or handing some of your most important processes to a third party. Cost shouldn’t be one of
2. 2
It’s a common assumption that
agencies are more expensive
than hiring in-house talent to
manage your Facebook marketing
programs.
3. 3
It’s a common assumption that
agencies are more expensive
than hiring in-house talent to
manage your Facebook marketing
programs.
Let’s do some easy napkin math.
8. 8
Noticeably absent in this wildly incomplete analysis,
are several benefits of working with an agency
specializing in Facebook ad management:
9. 9
Noticeably absent in this wildly incomplete analysis,
are several benefits of working with an agency
specializing in Facebook ad management:
1. Diversity of client portfolio.
2. No learning curve for software.
3. A varied skill set, with ongoing training at
Facebook.
4. Agility to quickly respond to the rapidly changing
ad ecosystem.
5. Willingness to take intelligent risks.
6. Ability to score some quick wins early on in the
partnership.
7. Agency turnover does not affect your campaigns.
10. 10
Working with an agency could be
more affordable than bringing all
of your operations in-house.
13. Day-to-Day Tasks for Your One-or-Two-Person Facebook ads Team
LET’S LOOK AT SOME OF THE
13
• ‘‘• Ad copy for hundreds of
variations
• Ad design/image selection for
hundreds of variations
• Audience research from
curated Facebook data sets,
3rd party data, internal
customer data
• Compilation of other
audiences – custom
lookalikes, website visitors,
prospects, other
constituencies
• Segmentation
• Assign targeting for hundreds
of ad variations
• Place pixels
• App tracking
• A/B testing
• Optimize bids
• Monitor & adjust bids
• Analyze & interpret
performance results
• Apply test outcomes to new
cohorts
• Refresh ad creative
• Refresh ad copy
• Stay up-to-date on Facebook
ad platform changes and
software updates
• Troubleshoot platform bugs
• Maintain domain expertise in
Facebook advertising channel
• Stay up-to-date on industry-
specific marketing best
practices
• Meetings and/or calls with key
stakeholders, analysts,
marketing peers, sales teams,
and others
14. 14
If you found one superstar who can kick
ass at:
• all the managing
• all the smart bid optimization
• all the creative execution
• all the audience research
• all the performance analyzing
• all the adjustments and tweaking
• and all the monitoring
15. 15
If you found one superstar who can kick
ass at:
• all the managing
• all the smart bid optimization
• all the creative execution
• all the audience research
• all the performance analyzing
• all the adjustments and tweaking
• and all the monitoring
that one person won’t come cheap.
16. 16
And he or she would somehow
have way more than 24 hours in
their day.
17. 17
And he or she would somehow
have way more than 24 hours in
their day.
SIDENOTE: if you do find that
superstar, give them our number,
ok?
18. 18
Time is a huge factor in the cost
of running Facebook ads.
Ad automation software helps, but
as you scale, the amount of work
to maintain and learn from your
campaigns multiplies as well.
21. 21
Agency In-House
Annual Facebook ad budget $2,000,000 $2,000,000
Avg managed services fee (for us,
that’s usually 15%)
$300,000 $0
Salary of Campaign Manager Built in $100,000
Salary of Designer Built in $100,000
Salary of Data Analyst Built in $120,000
Salary of Senior Strategist Built in $120,000
Annual Software Subscription Built in $100,000
Annual Media Buy Spend for
Actual Ad Placement
$1,700,000 $1,460,000
Let’s take a look at some hard numbers:
22. 22
Even if you require a $100,000
salary for someone to manage the
relationship with your agency,
you’re still working with $140,000
more in your Facebook ad budget
than if you took operations in-
house.
23. 23
What’s more, your agency is
innately focused on providing
superior performance.
24. 24
Are your in-house employees
focused on justifying their salaries
directly in relation to the
performance of their Facebook ad
campaigns?
25. 25
Are your in-house employees
focused on justifying their salaries
directly in relation to the
performance of their Facebook ad
campaigns?
Didn’t think so.
30. 30
If you want specific facts and figures
that help you weigh the costs of
working with OrionCKB vs. building
an in-house advertising operation,
give us a call.
We’ll be happy to put the numbers to
work for you.