What’s the difference between a marketing consultant and an agency?

A client came to me a while back after spending time talking to a couple of agencies. He liked what they offered - slick presentations, big portfolios, lots of energy - but something didn’t quite fit. He’d be dealing with a new account manager every year or two. He’d be briefing creative teams who’d never worked in his sector. And his retainer would be covering a fair amount of overhead that had nothing to do with his business.

What he actually wanted was someone who’d get under the skin of the business, understand it properly, and just get on with it. Without needing a full written brief every time he wanted something done.

That’s not a dig at agencies - they’re exactly the right fit for plenty of businesses. But the two things are quite different, and it’s worth understanding that before you decide.

What an agency gives you

Agencies come with scale. You get a team - designers, copywriters, strategists, paid media specialists - usually under one roof, with a process wrapped around them. There’s structure, account management, and often a recognisable name you can point to when someone asks who handles your marketing.

That works well when you need a high volume of creative output, when you’re running big campaigns across multiple channels, or when brand identity and creative production are the main thing.

The trade-offs are real though. Your retainer covers their team, their office, their systems - not just the hours on your account. You may deal with a senior person at pitch stage who will then hand off your account to a more junior team. And building genuine knowledge of your business takes time - time that tends to reset when someone moves on, which in agencies, happens fairly often.

What a consultant gives you

A marketing consultant works differently. You’re not buying a team. You’re buying expertise, embedded directly in your business.

I work as an outsourced marketing manager. I’m not lobbing ideas over the fence from a distance - I’m inside the business, learning how it works, what the customers care about, and building marketing around that.

Crucially, I’m not a design-led creative who needs a tight brief to get started. I’m a marketing manager first — which means I can look at a business, work out what it needs, and get on with it. No spoonfeeding required. The person you have the initial conversation with is the same person doing the work, which sounds obvious but is rarer than you’d think.

So what’s the best solution for you?

An agency is probably the better fit if:

•       You need a high volume of creative output - campaigns, videos, brand work - at pace

•       You have the budget for a full team and want that infrastructure around you

•       Your main requirement is brand and creative production rather than ongoing marketing management

A consultant is probably the better fit if:

•       You want consistency - someone who knows your business and stays in it

•       You need marketing management as much as marketing execution

•       You’d rather not spend half your time briefing someone who should already understand your sector

•       You want full-service capability - including design, photography and video when you need it - without the full-service overhead

Full-service without the full team

There’s just me - one point of contact, one person responsible for your marketing. But I work with a trusted network of specialists - designers, photographers, videographers - who I bring in when a project needs them.

So you can get everything from strategy and copywriting through to a full brand campaign, without paying for a team you don't need between projects.

It’s a model that tends to work particularly well for businesses that have outgrown doing their own marketing but aren’t quite at the point of building an in-house team - and for businesses that have tried the agency route and found it a slightly awkward fit.

Not sure which you need?

Start with a conversation. I’m always happy to talk through what a business actually needs - and if an agency genuinely would serve you better, I’ll say so. I’d rather point you in the right direction than take on work that isn’t the right fit.

But if you’re looking for someone who’ll roll up their sleeves, get to know your business properly, and get on with it - that’s exactly what I do.