Should you outsource your demand generation program to an agency, or keep it in-house? It’s a question we hear all the time from B2B marketers under pressure to deliver results, fast. And trust me, I get it. You need leads, you need pipeline, and agencies promise to deliver both. But here’s the thing… handing over demand generation to an external team too early can lead to more problems than it solves.
We’ve seen it happen time and time again: agencies come in, make big promises, but can’t hit the mark. Not because they don’t have the skills—no, they’re great at scaling. But they just don’t have the deep customer insights that you do. They don’t understand your business like you do. Without those insights, you’re wasting budget and time on campaigns that won’t convert.
That’s why we’re diving into this topic today. By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly when to keep demand generation in-house, and when it’s time to bring in external help.
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Why Timing Matters for Outsourcing Demand Generation
Too many marketers jump the gun when it comes to outsourcing demand generation. I get it—you’re swamped with tasks, and leadership is breathing down your neck for more pipeline. So, what’s the first thing most marketers do? They call in an agency to solve the problem.
But here’s the truth: outsourcing too early can actually set you back.
We see two types of companies falling into this trap all the time. First, you’ve got the early-stage companies with a founder who’s spent all their energy on product and suddenly needs to get results fast. They think an agency is the magic bullet to bring in leads and get sales flowing. And then there’s the in-house marketer on that dreaded activity hamster wheel, doing all the right things but not seeing the right results. Leadership starts asking, “Where’s the pipeline?” and they rush to bring in an agency to save the day.
The thing is, agencies aren’t miracle workers. They can’t deliver real results if they don’t have a deep understanding of your customers and your business.
“When the in-house marketer typically looks to an external agency to lean on their expertise… it might not be the ideal time to go and partner with an agency from the beginning”
George Coudounaris – The B2B Playbook
Agencies promise results, but without a deep understanding of your business and customers, they’re often starting from scratch. They don’t have the critical insights that come from being embedded in the company. Things like:
- Who your best customers are
- Why they chose you over the competition
- What the buying committee looks like
- What their buying journey looks like
- Where they hang out online/offline
- If your business is positioned as a ‘no brainer’ in the minds of your best customers
This lack of alignment between your organisation and the work the agency does often leads to surface-level solutions and low-quality leads that fail to convert.
In most cases, companies turn to agencies when they haven’t yet figured out their own demand generation process. Instead of outsourcing too early, companies should first focus on understanding their market, refining their messaging, and testing their strategies in-house.
Start In-House: Building a Strong Demand Generation Foundation
My advice is normally that demand generation should start in-house. This is because no one understands your business, customers, and market better than your own team. When you’re building demand generation from the ground up, the early stages require a level of customer insight and internal alignment that agencies simply can’t provide. Your team already has access to the data, context, and expertise necessary to craft the right messaging and identify the most effective strategies.
“Once you have a process down and you know what works and what doesn’t… then you can potentially look to partner with an agency on specific parts”
George Coudounaris – The B2B Playbook
By building your demand generation strategy internally, you also gain control over your marketing efforts. You can pivot quickly, adjust messaging, and respond to feedback in real-time. Once you’ve proven your process and achieved early wins, then it makes sense to bring in an agency to help scale those efforts. But without doing the groundwork in-house first, outsourcing too early can result in wasted resources and missed opportunities.
What You Need In Place Prior to Working with an Agency
Demand Generation really only works if you know your customers inside out. And no, I’m not talking about assumptions or gut feelings. You need real insights. Their pain points, their motivations, what really resonates with them. This requires customer interviews in your research process.
Most companies think they know their ideal customers, but when we dig deeper, we find they’re just going off assumptions. I’ve seen this happen so many times. Businesses are confident they know what their customers want, only to realize they’ve been targeting the wrong pain points or messaging all along.
These are the steps we recommend a business takes internally just to understand their customers and help them find their product/market and message/market fit.
- Conduct 80/20 analysis
- Interview Dream Customers
- Document Ideal Customer Profiles (ICP)
- Update your Positioning and Messaging
- Map the Buying Journey
- Create your Dream 100 sources of influence
An agency isn’t going to do this for you. Imagine how much they would have to charge to gather these insights, and then to pull together marketing, sales, customer success, and leadership to align all those insights. That’s the role for an experienced, full-time person (at least), and that’s not what agencies will charge for. So they can’t possibly deliver that and run an efficient business of their own.
What To Watch Out For
Some B2B agencies will guarantee you X, Y, Z leads for a certain estimated CPL… but anyone who’s been through that process knows that’s not how B2B buying works.
They use generic tactics like gated content or outbound emails that scorch the earth, trying to find the needle in the haystack. But more often than not, the below ends up happening.
The marketer (or agency) creates an eBook, gets it in front of your ICP, hands it to them in exchange for the details – and this is then defined as a ‘lead’ or MQL. This is then passed onto Sales, who try to contact the prospect with very little success. Sales end up frustrated, and the relationship between sales and marketing breaks down.
Remember – demand generation is about building trust and understanding your customer’s specific pain points. It’s not about collecting contact details of people who don’t want to talk to you.
Agencies Excel at Amplifying, Not Creating
Agencies are great at amplifying, but not at building your demand generation from scratch. They have the technical expertise and know all the right channels to push your message out there.
They can help run ads, repurpose content, and get your message in front of more eyeballs. They also have the benefit of seeing what’s working amongst other clients in different industries. But you need to have the right product/market and message/market fit first.
There are agencies out there that will work with you as an external party until you’ve reached a stage where you want to take that function in-house. Then they train you up how to do that. I think that’s a great win-win model.
This is something that we do when we run LinkedIn Ads for clients. We help with the strategy, do the technical setup, and run the ads. Once the account is humming and they’re at a stage of growth where they’d like to take that function in-house, we then train up the internal team to manage LinkedIn Ads on their own.
Next Steps & Action Points For You
So, should you outsource your demand generation to an agency or keep it in-house? The answer isn’t black and white—it’s about timing. If you jump to outsourcing too early, you’re setting yourself up for frustration, wasted budget, and missed opportunities.
You need to understand your customers deeply, build a solid strategy, and prove what works. Only then, once you’ve nailed down your message and know who you’re targeting, should you consider bringing in an agency. Agencies are amazing at scaling and amplifying, but they need the right foundation to succeed.
Don’t skip these fundamental steps. Build something sustainable that you can scale.
And hey, if you need a little help figuring out how to build that demand generation machine from the ground up, that’s what The B2B Incubator is for. We’ll guide you step by step so you can get this stuff right and set your business up for long-term growth.
Now go get started!
