First of all, you need to understand what is In-house? What is In-house marketing job? Why is it often less talked about and less chosen by marketers in the marketing industry. What is in-house marketing? In fact, this is also a relatively interesting area in the marketing environment and can offer as much learning opportunities as clients and agencies. In the article below, we will reveal to you what In-house is and what In-house marketing is!
Table of Contents
What is in-house marketing?
In-house marketing means that all marketing activities of an enterprise are carried out by the marketing department of that business, from the stage of ideation and planning to implementation and evaluation of effectiveness without, or very little, hiring. agency partner. In order to operate effectively and not depend on the outside, the in-house marketing department needs to take care of many different areas of marketing, from technical issues such as setting up & tracking online ads, optimizing Search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing, website administration… to market research, content creation, press relations…
The business model also affects the operations of the in-house marketing department. Multinational corporations and businesses often operate with a strict process, all procedures and proposals need to go through approval steps, while in-house marketing at start-ups and businesses SMEs often have a more flexible way of working, so ideas and plans can be implemented quickly.

In-house is different from agency and client?
As a marketer in the in-house department, you will take full responsibility for nurturing and maintaining the brand of the business for a long time, as long as you are still working at the company. In contrast, the agency is usually only responsible for meeting client requirements (usually measured by pre-agreed KPIs) for each specific project or campaign and has no obligation to “burden” the list. reputation, sales or future development direction of the client. As for client companies, which may or may not have their own marketing department, it is usually only the duty of an overall plan or set of requirements for the agency to execute. Because there is not enough time to focus on the detailed implementation of each campaign, client companies often depend a lot on external marketing resources, the ability to be proactive will be lower than in-house and can The risk of falling into the hands of agencies with low expertise if not chosen carefully.
It is quite difficult to establish a professional in-house marketing team in all fields, so one person often takes on many different tasks to be able to meet marketing and business goals without fail. set by the enterprise. On the contrary, although working with many clients, agencies are often quite specialized, so there are many different types of agencies (eg: Digital agency, branding agency, research agency…). Depending on expertise and career development orientation, marketers will choose to work at any specialized agency.
Advantages of doing in-house marketing
Insights into the industry
In many cases, working in an in-house marketing department, you will only serve the parent company operating in a specific sector, such as apparel, food, travel, and more. Therefore, it is your responsibility to understand the company’s business situation, industry characteristics, competitors, industry market dynamics, etc. Working process will help you accumulate a lot of knowledge. Knowledge, experience and a comprehensive, thorough view help improve the effectiveness of marketing activities in that industry. If you are a person who likes to cultivate or try in many different fields and do not specialize in one area, working at an agency will be a more suitable choice.
Fixed and enthusiastic staff
In addition to a number of reasons why the company often changes personnel or the staff is not stable, there is a high chance that you will work with a fixed team of colleagues. These are the people who will be “on the same line” with you, sharing the same goals, advantages and disadvantages during working at the company. When members are familiar with each other’s personalities and working styles, it will be easier for members to discuss related topics and resolve disagreements that arise. The process of exchanging information is also made faster because there are no restrictions on geographical distance or procedures. At the same time, the level of dedication of each member also tends to be higher because they are part of the company and have a responsibility to help the company grow.

Disadvantages of doing in-house marketing
Focus on only one area
This is the advantage and also the disadvantage when doing marketing in the in-house segment. You will have little time and opportunity to explore other areas outside the parent company’s industry and it will not be good if you are not interested in that industry. If you don’t want to stick around or haven’t found your niche, try your hand at an agency and then you can go back to working in-house in the later years of your career.
Limit creativity
As a marketing, wherever you are, the ability to be creative is still an indispensable requirement. However, working for a long time in an in-house environment will sometimes hinder you from developing new perspectives because of the lack of diversity in the work nature compared to the agency environment. Deep industry knowledge can help you come up with effective and practical solutions, but experience in multiple fields gives the agency unique approaches you never thought possible.
Lack of highly specialized human resources
Expertise has always been one of the problems faced by in-house marketing departments because assembling a team of marketers that can handle all aspects of marketing can be extremely difficult. Therefore, there is always a situation where a content writer has to be in charge of the design or the coder and also run the ad, which makes it difficult to find solutions to problems that require expertise and extensive experience in a business. specific areas.
Should you do in house marketing or agency?
First of all, to be able to survive in the media industry, no matter whether you are working in-house or an agency, you must be a creative person and always love new things. Otherwise, you seem to have lost from the moment you set foot in the profession.
1. Should do in house marketing if
-
You want to become a communication specialist in a specific field such as education, technology, or health, FMCG… then choose businesses in those fields to work. It also means building a network of good industry relationships, for example with press, media, partners, or KOLs who are interested in your field of communication.
-
You are the type of person who likes stability, works with a clear plan in 5-year, 1-year, quarterly, monthly, and weekly intervals and does not like disturbance.
-
You want to be promoted according to the right career path.
-
Your skills need to be even, at least have visual thinking, or be able to copywriting…
2. Should be an agency if
-
You love to work and at the same time collide with many different professions.
-
You have the ability to withstand high pressure from “four sides”: customers, bosses, colleagues and… again customers.
-
You are willing to work overtime and can accept your time manager as your client.
-
You want to be able to acquire a lot of general knowledge about the market, about the industry, want to gain experience as quickly as possible or the ability to consult, create brand strategy, budget, and evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign. .
-
You want your network to be more diverse and broader: from event organizers to printing units, MCs, journalists, event venue systems, or hot bloggers, vloggers , or will be big channels, other booking agencies…

3. What is the best path for personal development?
The truth is, no one is completely born to work in-house or as an agency. You should ask when should I work as an agency, when should I work in-house?
Reality has proven, the ideal working route of a media person is to work as an agency, then to PR in-house: First, you should work in an agency environment, then choose a career that you love. like and feel good in that field to move to an in-house environment. Because, when you just graduated from school, you have a lot of time to learn, collide, even make mistakes, then learn from experience, accumulate basic relationships with suppliers, media units… Not to mention that you have not been bound by too many other personal obligations, so you can devote yourself fully to your work, using your youth to develop yourself in all aspects of work. When you’re young, don’t think about balance in life, just try to put work first in this period, and then later on, you will also be “immortalized”.
Later, when you have found a profession you love and feel secure, you should work in-house. Many people believe that working in-house is choosing a leisurely, peaceful path, but that is not because of the environment but because of your goals. The lower your career goal is, the higher the level of “leisure” and vice versa.
So when you work in-house, what will you get? You will belong to an organization that is closely linked and professional in human resource structure, not merely project-based leadership. Instead of making short-term plans and campaigns, you have to look far away to plan and orientate the long-term reputation of the organization and business. Therefore, the problem is also broader, including profit, loss, revenue and expenditure, etc. The lesson you get from in-house is also a lesson in human resource management, how to evaluate work efficiency, personnel, and culture. business… And of course, your relationship will also develop at a deeper level and focus on the area you are doing communication.
Everyone has a different passion. There are people who just love working in the marketing environment at the agency so that they can always change the media industry, and can discover more new products and services, which they will be the first to know about. producer. For others, they find their goals and personal development path in an enterprise where the lessons on management and organization are no less than the lessons on the profession.
Working as an agency or in-house is a personal choice. But the most important are career goals and interests.
Key word:
- What is in-house marketing?
- In-house and agency
- What is in-house?
- What is an in-house agency?
- In-house company
- in-house meaning
- What is in-house production?
- What is an in-house team?
Related content: