The short answer
A freelancer is often the best value for a single-channel account with a modest budget, as long as they're experienced and you can live with one person's availability. An agency makes more sense once you run several channels, need tracking and landing page work too, or can't afford the account going quiet when one person is on holiday or ill.
Agency vs freelancer compared
| Freelancer | Agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | $500-$2,000/month | $1,000-$5,000+/month |
| Who does the work | The person you hired | Depends: ask |
| Skill range | One person's strengths | Several specialists |
| Cover for holidays and illness | Usually none | Built in |
| Tracking, CRO, creative | Sometimes, or outsourced | Usually in-house |
| Process and reporting | Varies a lot | Usually more structured |
| Communication | Direct, personal | Via an account lead, ideally senior |
When a freelancer is the better choice
If you run one channel (usually Google Search) with a budget of a few thousand a month, an experienced freelancer can do an excellent job for less than most agencies. You speak to the person doing the work, and good freelancers often care a lot about each client.
The risks are capacity and coverage. Freelancers who are good get busy. When they're on holiday, ill or overloaded, your account can go untouched for weeks. And one person rarely covers search, social, tracking and landing pages equally well.
When an agency is the better choice
Once you're spending more, running several platforms or relying on paid media for most of your leads, an agency's depth starts to matter. Specialists in tracking, creative and each platform, backup when someone's away, and processes that don't depend on one person's memory.
The risk with agencies is the bait and switch: senior people in the sales meeting, juniors on the account. We keep things small and senior on purpose. Our founder, Janis Brix, still works directly on client accounts, and you'll always know who's running yours.
Questions to ask either one
Who will manage my account day to day?
Their name, experience and how many other accounts they handle.
Will the ad accounts be in my name?
They should be. If you part ways, you keep the history and data.
What will you do in the first 30 days?
A clear plan beats a vague promise of "optimisation".
How will you measure success?
Leads, sales, pipeline or revenue, not clicks and impressions.