Over the past 18 months, I’ve noticed a clear shift in how businesses approach digital marketing. Where the default used to be outsourcing to agencies, more founders and hiring managers are now building dedicated in-house teams.

This isn’t just a hiring trend. It reflects a broader change in how organisations view marketing: not as a service to outsource, but as a core function that directly drives growth.

For years, agencies played a crucial role in helping companies navigate digital channels like SEO, paid media, and content marketing. But as digital has become central to growth strategies, many businesses are recognising the value of having that expertise sitting internally.

Why Companies Are Moving Away from Agency-First Models

There are a few consistent reasons I hear when speaking to founders and marketing leaders who are bringing digital capabilities in-house.

Cost efficiency over time
Agencies can make sense early on, but as marketing activity scales, retainer fees and project costs can quickly add up. Hiring internally often becomes more cost-effective in the long term.

Brand intimacy
Even the best agencies work across multiple clients. In-house marketers are embedded in the business, working closely with sales teams, product teams, and customers. That proximity leads to deeper insight and stronger messaging.

Speed and agility
Campaign changes, new ideas, and performance optimisations can happen far more quickly when the team sits internally. There’s no briefing process or waiting for external timelines.

Data ownership
Keeping marketing data and performance insights within the business allows companies to build long-term strategic knowledge rather than relying on external interpretation.

What Modern In-House Marketing Teams Look Like

As companies bring more capability in-house, the structure of marketing teams is also evolving. Instead of broad generalist roles, many businesses are building smaller teams of specialists who directly influence growth.

Some of the most common hires I’m seeing include:

• Performance Marketing Managers managing paid social and PPC budgets
• SEO and Content Specialists driving organic visibility
• Marketing Automation Experts building email and CRM journeys
• Data Analysts measuring campaign performance and ROI

This reflects a broader shift toward data-led, performance-driven marketing teams.

The Rise of the Hybrid Model

Interestingly, most businesses aren’t abandoning agencies altogether.

Instead, they’re adopting a hybrid approach: bringing strategy and day-to-day execution in-house while continuing to partner with agencies for specialist projects, creative campaigns, or additional capacity.

This gives companies greater control over their marketing function while still allowing them to access external expertise when needed.

The Real Benefits of Building In-House

When companies successfully transition to in-house marketing teams, several advantages tend to emerge.

Deeper customer understanding
In-house teams have direct exposure to customer feedback, sales conversations, and product development. This often leads to marketing that resonates more authentically with the target audience.

Consistent brand voice
When the same team creates content week after week, a clearer and more recognisable brand voice naturally develops.

Faster learning cycles
Internal teams can monitor performance daily, run experiments quickly, and adjust strategies without waiting on external reporting cycles.

Stronger talent ownership
Talented marketers often want to build something meaningful rather than simply service multiple client accounts. Offering ownership over a brand’s growth can attract and retain ambitious professionals.

Building an In-House Marketing Team: Where to Start

For businesses considering this transition, the most successful approach is often to start by identifying the biggest gap in their current marketing setup.

Some practical starting points include:

• Hiring around your biggest marketing pain point first
• Prioritising potential and adaptability over perfect experience
• Investing in the right tools and platforms from the start
• Defining clear performance metrics for new hires

Building a strong in-house team takes time, but when done well, it can become one of the most valuable growth drivers within the organisation.

Final Thoughts

Not every business needs a full internal marketing team. For some organisations, agency partnerships will always play an important role.

However, for companies where digital marketing sits at the centre of their growth strategy, bringing those capabilities in-house is becoming an increasingly attractive option.

The businesses I see thriving are those treating digital marketing not as a service to outsource, but as a core competency to build and develop internally.

The customer success manager position I recruit for today looks remarkably different from the role I was filling just two years ago. AI has fundamentally changed what companies expect from their CS teams, and if you’re working in this space or hiring for it, this shift affects you directly.

Performance Reporting Has Changed Forever

One of the most significant transformations I’ve witnessed is in how customer success managers handle reporting. Traditionally, CSMs spent considerable time pulling data, creating spreadsheets, and building performance reports for clients. That work consumed hours each week.

Now? AI handles it.

Modern customer success platforms generate accurate insight reports automatically. The data is more dynamic, updating in real-time rather than sitting in static monthly summaries. AI tools can:

• Identify at-risk accounts before a human spots the warning signs
• Predict churn probability with impressive accuracy
• Surface upsell opportunities based on usage patterns
• Create customised client reports in minutes rather than hours

This isn’t a small change. It’s a complete overhaul of how the operational side of customer success functions.

The Shift Toward a Commercial Focus

Here’s what fascinates me about this evolution: as AI takes over the analytical and reporting functions, the customer success role is becoming increasingly commercial.

The CSMs I place in roles today are expected to:

• Drive revenue growth through strategic account expansion
• Build genuine relationships that technology simply cannot replicate
• Identify commercial opportunities and act on them confidently
• Collaborate closely with sales rather than operate as a separate function

Companies want customer success managers who understand business growth, not just client satisfaction metrics. The soft skills matter more than ever because the hard skills around data analysis are being handled elsewhere.

What This Means for Your Career

If you’re a customer success professional, ignoring AI isn’t an option. The managers I speak with are actively looking for candidates who understand how these tools work and can use them strategically.

This doesn’t mean you need to become a technical expert. It means you should understand:

• Which AI tools are common in your sector
• How to interpret and act on AI-generated insights
• Where human judgement adds value that automation cannot

Interview Questions You Should Prepare For

When preparing for interviews, hiring managers want to assess your awareness of AI and adaptability to it.

Expect questions like:

• “How have you used AI tools to improve customer outcomes?”
• “What role do you see AI playing in customer success over the next three years?”
• “Tell me about a time you identified an insight from data that an automated system missed”
• “How do you balance automation with personal client relationships?”

Having thoughtful, specific answers ready will set you apart from candidates who haven’t considered this shift.

For Hiring Managers: Testing AI Knowledge

If you’re recruiting customer success talent, I’d encourage you to build AI awareness into your interview process. Ask candidates about their experience with customer success platforms, their views on automation in client relationships, and how they see the role evolving. Strong candidates will demonstrate that they see AI as a tool that frees them up to do more meaningful work, not as a threat to their position.

The customer success landscape is changing quickly, and the professionals who thrive will be those who adapt their skill set accordingly. Whether you’re actively job searching or simply want to stay ahead of market trends, understanding this shift is essential.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how AI is affecting your customer success work. If you’re exploring new opportunities in this space or looking to hire CS talent who understands this evolving landscape, get in touch. I’m always happy to share what I’m seeing in the market and discuss how I might help.

We have this conversation regularly – the Founder or CMO starts with, ‘we need to take performance marketing in-house…..’

why?

It’s a regular conversation and not just a passing trend; it is a strategic move to gain greater control over data, budgets, and brand voice. If you’re a hiring manager or a performance marketer, understanding this shift is vital when considering your next steps.

Own your results – key to success
In my conversations with CMOs / Heads of Digital and business owners, a common theme emerges: ownership. When a company uses an agency, they often feel one step removed from the day-to-day activity. By bringing the function in-house, businesses gain full control over their accounts and real-time data.

Companies are now looking for hands-on talent who live and breathe the brand every day. They want specialists who are not splitting their time across multiple clients, but instead are focused entirely on one set of goals. This leads to faster decision-making and a deeper understanding of the customer journey.

Building an in-house performance marketing function – here’s how:
If you are a business owner or hiring manager looking to make this transition, the first question is usually, ‘where do I start?’ Based on the successful placements I have made, I typically see three main approaches:

• The junior hire – a cost-effective way to begin. You hire a junior specialist to execute campaigns and manage daily tasks, while retaining an agency on a smaller retainer for high-level strategic support.
• The mid-level manager – a popular choice for SMEs. You hire someone who can execute campaigns immediately, but who also has the potential to grow into a strategic leader as the business scales.
• The senior leader – for larger D2C / Consumer lead businesses, hiring a Performance Marketing or Acquisition lead is often the first step. This person sets the strategy from day one and then builds a specialised team beneath them but the focus here is to engage the audience and build from there.

What businesses need to consider
Moving your marketing in-house is a significant commitment. Before you begin interviewing, I recommend reviewing a few key areas:
1. Technology and tools – do you have the right tech stack to support an internal team? You will need ownership of your tracking, attribution, and reporting tools.
2. Data ownership – make sure you have full access to your historical data from your current agency, so your new hire can hit the ground running.
3. Culture and support – performance marketers thrive when they can collaborate closely with creative and data teams. Ensure your internal structure allows for this.

Hiring advice!
For performance marketers, this shift is great news. Moving in-house often allows you to see the long-term impact of your work. You can track how campaigns affect the bottom line over months and years, rather than focusing solely on weekly reports.

It also offers the opportunity to build something from the ground up and grow alongside a brand but agency side performance / growth marketing talent need to be mindful – showcasing you pay attention, care and consider the end result of campaigns you run are key to securing that move client side!

At Vertical Advantage, we’ve been hiring digital talent for consumer brands and agencies for over a decade, and in that time, the landscape has evolved dramatically.

We’ve helped numerous brands build digital, marketplace, and eCommerce teams from scratch as they bring capabilities in-house. But timing this transition isn’t always straightforward.

On one hand, the benefits of an internal team are clear -greater ownership, (potentially) lower costs, increased digital expertise, and the ability to move faster.

However, digital skills evolve rapidly, and agency support remains essential. In fact, between 32-39% of UK employees believe their skillset will be obsolete within five years – a sign of just how quickly the space is shifting. Agencies, by nature, keep pace with these changes, especially as AI reshapes the industry.

So, what should businesses consider when deciding whether to build an internal digital team or continue leveraging agency support?

Key Considerations

1. Assessing Your Current Digital Capability

Bringing in junior talent without an experienced leader to guide them often sets them up for failure. We frequently hear candidates frustrated that they report to someone with less expertise than them, which drives them to look elsewhere. Hiring a senior leader – ideally someone with experience on both the agency and brand side – is crucial to building a successful team.

2. Training & Development

According to Capgemini, 55% of digital professionals say learning & development is their biggest motivator for a job change. Without strong leadership and access to ongoing training, retention becomes a challenge. Ensuring your team has opportunities to grow- both internally and through external training- should be a priority.

3. Strategy & Leadership Buy-in

Your decision to expand your in-house digital team should be driven by your broader business strategy.

• If D2C is still in a “test & learn” phase for your brand, agency support may be the better option.
• If your Amazon/marketplace presence is growing, an agency with dedicated expertise in logistics, SEO, content, paid media, and technology integrations might be more cost effective than hiring multiple specialists internally.

At Vertical Advantage, we take a consultative approach, helping brands assess whether a permanent hire is the right move or if agency support would be more effective at their current stage.

We also have a network of trusted agency partners, so if an external team is the best fit for now, we’re happy to connect you with the right experts.

And if you need a permanent hire later down the line? We’re here when you need us.

At the beginning of 2019, Crabtree & Evelyn—known for luxury body, fragrance, and home care products — announced they were shuttering their bricks-and-mortar stores around the world. Moving forward, they’ll be operating as an (almost) digital-only company, serving customers in just one lonely London ‘concept’ branch, according to reports.

But while some outlets have questioned “what went wrong” for Crabtree & Evelyn, is it possible that this is actually a savvy business move? (We hesitate to call it a ‘business decision’, given that industry insiders had been chalking up Crabtree & Evelyn’s bankruptcies and store closures for months.)

After all, we are living in the digital age, when beauty brands are able to hold their own online, and Crabtree & Evelyn is a big-name brand with an internationally recognised concept.

But can Crabtree & Evelyn thrive (almost) online-only?
It’s key to consider that Crabtree & Evelyn’s customers mainly consist of Gen X and Baby Boomer consumers. Can they rely on their name-brand, luxury legacy alone, if they abruptly shift focus from the high street?

It’s possible, but considering their target markets skews older and more affluent, they may find their profits taking a hit. After all, while some studies show that Baby Boomers spend more online than Millennials, it’s generally understood that online shopping is a young person’s game.

However, from my experience in this market, it can be done, especially in a world where direct-to-consumer sales are dominating, and other companies have successfully made the move online. Take Lego — a brand selling an ostensibly physical, tangible product—which suffered a steady decline through the 90s, before reinventing itself in the early 2000s via films, games, and applications.

Even so, looking at the FMCG sphere, in particular, we must recognise that many newer companies launch with eCommerce factored into their business plans from Day 1. This makes it particularly hard for established retailers (like Crabtree & Evelyn) to shift their focus to eCommerce and thrive–there’s just too much-established competition. Not only is a huge investment needed, but there’s also a ton of risk involved too. It’s not just as simple as adding an online shopping option to your current set-up.

(Related: See what exciting eCom and Digital opportunities we have at Vertical Advantage now)

Debenhams and House of Fraser know this only too well. Despite both being big-name department stores, their lack of eCommerce strategy has proved to be a real Achilles Heel. The result? Store closures left, right, and centre across the country.

On the other hand, Ugly Drink is an especially good example of a company that hit the ground running with eCommerce built-in and they’re now branching out into subscription services which is great for offices. However, imagine if Coke tried to make such a move! They might have (metaphorical) money to burn, but even so, it would be a risky decision to suddenly shift focus to eCommerce.

Yet Unilever is (sort of) doing just that, aiming to double their direct-to-consumer sales which currently account for just 5% of revenue. And they’re taking inspiration from existing, established subscription models to do so. Time will tell whether their move pays off, but it certainly has for both Dove and Maille, two big companies that have successfully segued into the eCommerce market. Maille, in particular, has taken the whole ‘sell the experience’ aspect of eCommerce to heart, leading with gifting ideas and recipe suggestions for the curious consumer.

But for a flagging Crabtree & Evelyn to survive and thrive in the digital sphere, specialising may be the way to go. Some have suggested they should follow the L’Occitane business model, hyping up product provenance, while data indicates they might need to hone in on beauty or skincare, rather than trying to do it all (who buys fragrance online, anyway?). Most of all, they’ll need to shift focus onto Millennials and Gen Z consumers, who tend to shop online more than their older counterparts.

They’ll also have to ensure their logistics are seamless. In a world where Amazon dominates, uh, pretty much every market, Prime delivery and next-day postage options which cost almost nothing, customers are no longer willing to wait 3-5 working days for their deliveries. (Customers have already complained about Crabtree & Evelyn’s poor online delivery logistics.)

In short: Crabtree & Evelyn need to rebrand and reposition themselves as a brand for Generation Z and Millennial consumers alike, steering away from their Baby Boomer past.

Could concept stores help bridge the physical-digital gap?
Crabtree & Evelyn’s decision to forge ahead with a concept store in Islington, London could be the silver lining of this entire debacle though.

And they’re not the only ones to go big or go home about the concept of, well… concept stores in recent months. Big-name British drugstore Boots has also announced plans for a London concept store, which will include Instagram zones and YouTube studios.

By allowing customers to interact with products in person, in a new and revitalised way, concept stores could prove the gap-bridger that retailers, especially a brand like Crabtree & Evelyn, need as they migrate their business online-only. The saviours of bricks-and-mortar retail?

So is digital-only retail the future?
Signs point to possibly, but only if you’re selling something customers have bought before and are familiar with (a.k.a. repeat purchases). However, hooking the customer with your brand still depends on a high street presence. So, for companies looking to rid themselves of high street overheads, a combination of physical concept stores and a strong online presence may be the way forward. Only time will tell.