Agency or freelancer: which suits your business?

If you choose a freelancer, you work with one person who gets to know your business well, often for a lower monthly amount and with a lot of flexibility. If you choose an agency, you buy continuity, several specialisms and a fixed way of working, at a higher price and sometimes with a little more distance. Neither is better by definition; the right choice depends on how much you want to depend on one person, how many channels you want to serve and how important it is that the work continues when someone is ill or on holiday.

What a freelancer offers you

For many small businesses, a good freelance social media specialist is an excellent choice. You have direct contact with the person doing the work, there is no account manager in between, and arrangements are often flexible: a bit more one month, a bit less the next, an extra job alongside.

The advantages in a row:

• Personal. After a few months the freelancer knows your business, your clients and the way you talk. You notice that in the content.
• Flexible. Want to do less for a while, or add an extra campaign? That is usually a matter of one message.
• Often cheaper. A self-employed person has less overhead. In practice freelancers work with an hourly rate, a half-day rate or a fixed monthly amount; always ask for a concrete description of what is included, because the differences are large.
• Short lines. No consultation with a team, no waiting for a planning slot.

Where a freelancer can pinch

The strength of a freelancer, that everything rests with one person, is also the risk.

• Continuity. A holiday, illness or another busy client means your channels fall silent or that you have to take over for a while. Ask in advance how that is arranged.
• Breadth. Few people are strong at the same time in strategy, copy, design, video and advertising. A freelancer who does everything is usually really good at a few parts and adequate at the rest.
• Capacity. If your ambition grows from two to four channels, or you want advertising alongside it, a self-employed person quickly reaches the limit of what fits in a month.
• Dependence. If the freelancer stops, you start from scratch with briefing someone. Make sure accounts, passwords and files are always in your name and not in the freelancer's.
• Assessment. A portfolio says something, but not everything. Ask for businesses that resemble yours and call one of them.

What an agency offers you

An agency is essentially a team with a way of working. With us that means a fixed point of contact, a content calendar you approve in advance, reporting in a client portal and colleagues who cover for each other. Our packages have a fixed price, excluding 21% VAT: Zichtbaar € 349 per month for 2 channels and 8 original posts, Groei € 599 per month for 3 channels and 12 posts including a monthly strategy call, Impact € 899 per month for 4 channels and 16 posts, and Agency+ from € 1,250 per month for tailored work. The one-off onboarding costs € 199.

The advantages:

• Continuity. The work continues during holidays or illness, because more people know your file.
• Specialisms. Strategy, copy, visuals, video and advertising management sit with people who are good at them.
• Process. A fixed monthly cycle of planning, approving, publishing and reporting prevents the work from being left undone.
• Scalable. Going from two channels to four, or adding advertising management, is a matter of switching packages instead of finding someone new.
• Fixed arrangements. You remain the owner of your accounts, all content is approved by you first and the advertising budget is paid directly to the platform.

Where an agency can pinch

Honesty fits here too, because an agency has disadvantages a freelancer does not.

• Price. An agency costs more than most freelancers. You pay for the team and the process, including in a month when you use little of it.
• Distance. At larger agencies you speak to an account manager and not to the person making the content. So always ask who does the work and whether you speak to that person.
• Term. Agencies work with a minimum term; with us three months, after which you can cancel monthly with one month's notice. That gives calm during the build-up, but it is less flexible than a freelancer.
• Standardisation. A fixed way of working is efficient, but it can also feel like a mould. A good agency makes room within that process for what makes your business different; ask how they do that.
• Start-up. Several people get to know your business. That takes slightly more coordination at the start than with one person.

The third option: an employee

For completeness: you can also take someone on, part-time or otherwise. That gives the most closeness and the most control, but also the highest fixed costs, responsibility for guidance and development, and the same continuity risk as with a freelancer. For most SMEs that only makes sense once marketing has become a full-time role. What your own employee costs compared with outsourcing can be read in what does a social media manager cost.

Which choice suits which business?

Questions you should ask both

Whether you are talking to a freelancer or an agency, these questions belong on the table:

1. Who does the work and do I speak to that person?
2. What happens during holidays, illness or departure?
3. How many posts, channels and revisions are included in the monthly amount?
4. In whose name are the accounts, the ad accounts and the files?
5. What does the reporting look like and how often do I get it?
6. What is the term and the notice period?
7. Is AI used, and does a person check the result before it reaches me?

Anyone who gives a clear answer to all seven is a serious party. How we answer those questions ourselves is on our page about social media management.

Conclusion

A freelancer suits a small business that values personal contact and flexibility more than continuity, and that wants to keep control itself. An agency suits a business that wants to serve several channels, measure results and be sure the work continues even if someone drops out. Look beyond the monthly price: the difference in cost is usually smaller than the difference in what you get back and in the risk you run.