Brighton: PPC Agency vs In-House? [Founder's Guide]

So, you're a founder in Brighton, things are going well, and you're staring at the classic problem: how do you pour some proper fuel on the fire with paid ads? The question that always comes up is whether to hire someone to sit in your office (or their flat somewhere in Hove) or to bring in a specialist PPC agency. Most people frame this as a simple cost question, but tbh that's the wrong way to look at it. It's not about which is cheaper on paper. It's about what stage your business is at, what you actually need, and how fast you need to see a return.

The truth is, making the wrong choice here can set you back six months and tens of thousands of pounds. I've seen it happen loads of times. A promising 'Silicon Beach' startup hires a junior PPC exec because it feels like the 'right thing to do', only to find they spend three months learning on the job, burn through the ad budget with basic mistakes, and then leave for a 10 grand pay rise. On the other hand, a business might sign a hefty retainer with a flashy agency down in The Lanes, only to be handed off to an account manager who's juggling 20 other clients and just going through the motions.

This isn't a simple choice between two options. It's a strategic decision about expertise, speed, cost, and control. Let's break down the reality of it, specifically for a business trying to make it work here in Brighton.

What's the real cost of hiring an in-house PPC team in Brighton?

The first mistake founders make is looking at a salary on a job site and thinking that's the total cost. A £40,000 PPC Manager in Brighton is not a £40,000 cost to your business. Not even close. You're in for a shock if that's your budget. Let's get brutally honest about the numbers.

First, there's the salary itself. The talent pool in Brighton is decent, thanks to the unis, but it's also shallow and competitive. You're not just competing with other local startups; you're competing with London agencies that are happy for people to commute twice a week. A good, experienced PPC manager who can actually build a strategy, not just tweak keywords, will command £45,000 - £60,000. Anyone cheaper is likely learning on your dime.

But that's just the start. Let's layer on the 'hidden' costs:

-> Recruitment Fees: If you use a recruiter to find this person (and for specialist roles, you often have to), you're looking at 15-20% of the first year's salary. For a £50k hire, that's an immediate £7,500 - £10,000 bill.

-> Employer's National Insurance: This is a hefty 13.8% on top of their salary (above a certain threshold). For that £50k manager, you're paying an extra £5,760 a year.

-> Pension Contributions: The legal minimum is 3%. So that's another £1,500 gone.

-> Software & Tools: This is a big one people forget. Your PPC person can't work in a vacuum. They need professional tools. A decent keyword research tool like SEMrush or Ahrefs is £200/month. A landing page builder like Unbounce could be £150/month. Call tracking software? Another £50/month. That's easily £4,800 a year, and we're just scratching the surface.

-> Hardware, Office Space & Benefits: A new laptop, a desk in your co-working space, private health insurance, the Friday beer fridge... it all adds up. Let's be conservative and say £2,000 a year.

-> Training & Development: The world of PPC changes weekly. If you want your hire to stay sharp, you need to pay for courses, conferences, and certifications. Budget at least £1,500 a year for this.

Let's see what that looks like in reality. Use the calculator below to see the true annual cost of an in-house hire. You might be suprised.

Suddenly, that £45k hire is a £70k hole in your finances for the first year. And that's before you've even spent a single penny on ad spend. The bigger problem, though, isn't the money. It's the risk. You're putting all your eggs in one basket. What if they're not as good as their CV suggests? What if they get sick, or go on holiday, or just decide to quit? Your entire lead generation engine grinds to a halt. This 'single point of failure' is a massive, often overlooked, risk for a growing business.

So what are you actually paying for with a Brighton agency?

When you look at an agency's monthly retainer, say £3,000 to £5,000, it can seem expensive compared to a junior salary. But as we've seen, it's often cheaper than a senior in-house hire's *real* cost. More importantly, you're not buying one person's time. You're buying access to an entire system, a team of specialists who live and breathe this stuff.

A good agency doesn't just give you an account manager. You get the benefit of a whole team's brainpower:

-> The Strategist: This is usually a senior person who has seen dozens of accounts like yours. They set the high-level direction, decide which platforms to use, and figure out the core messaging. Your single in-house hire is expected to do this while also doing everything else.

-> The Account Manager: Your day-to-day contact. They do the implementation, the bidding, the optimisations. They are the ones in the weeds, making sure everything is running smoothly.

-> The Copywriter: Ad copy is not something you just dash off. A specialist copywriter can be the difference between an ad that gets ignored and one that compels a click. Most in-house PPC people are not expert copywriters.

-> The Analyst/Data Person: Someone who can dig into the data, set up proper tracking, and tell you what's actually working, not just what the ad platform's dashboard says.

You're not just hiring a person; you're plugging your business into a machine built for one purpose: getting results from paid ads. They already have the expensive software. They already have proven processes. They've made the costly mistakes on someone else's budget and learned from them. You recieve the benefit of all that collective experience from day one.

So when does hiring in-house actually make sense for a Brighton business?

Despite everything I've just said, there is definately a time and a place for an in-house team. But it's probably much later than you think. Hiring in-house makes sense when you've moved past the 'figuring it out' stage and into the 'scaling what works' stage.

Here are the signs you might be ready:

1. You have a massive ad spend: If you're spending £50k+ a month on ads, the agency retainer starts to look small, and the cost of an in-house team becomes easier to justify. At this scale, you need someone living and breathing your numbers every single day.

2. You have product-market fit and a proven funnel: You know who your customer is, you know what message resonates, and you have a landing page and sales process that reliably converts. You're not experimenting anymore; you're just trying to get more of the same. The job becomes about optimisation and scale, not invention. This is a crucial distinction and our guide on the founder's decision framework for in-house vs agency goes into more detail on this.

3. Your business requires deep, specialist product knowledge: If you're selling something highly technical, like complex B2B software or scientific equipment, it can be hard for an external agency to get up to speed. Having someone in-house who can talk to the engineers and understand the nuances can be a massive advantage.

4. You have a marketing manager to lead them: You cannot hire a junior PPC person and expect them to report to the CEO. They need a marketing leader who can set goals, guide strategy, and manage their development. If you don't have this, you're setting them up to fail.

If you don't tick at least three of these boxes, you're almost certainly better off with an agency. You need strategists and builders first. Once the machine is built and running smoothly, then you can hire an operator to keep it humming.

The tipping point: When should you switch from in-house to an agency?

It can also go the other way. Many businesses start with an in-house person and then hit a wall. Their first hire got them so far, but now growth has stalled. This is a super common scenario. The in-house generalist has reached the limit of their knowledge.

Signs you've outgrown your in-house setup and need agency expertise:

-> Your CPA is creeping up: The easy wins are gone, and your cost per acquisition is slowly rising. You need fresh ideas and more advanced strategies to bring it back down. I remember one medical job matching SaaS client who came to us with a £100 CPA; we managed to reduce it to £7 by restructuring their entire account and testing new audiences they hadn't considered.

-> You want to expand to new platforms: Your in-house person is a wizard on Google Ads, but you want to try LinkedIn or Pinterest. They have no experience there. A good agency will have specialists across multiple platforms and can get you up and running fast. We worked with an environmental controls company that was only on Meta; we introduced LinkedIn Ads and reduced their overall cost per lead by 84% by finding a better B2B audience there.

-> You're stuck in a rut: You're using the same ad creative and the same audiences you were using six months ago. An agency brings an outside perspective and is constantly testing new things with other clients, which they can then apply to your account.

-> Your PPC manager leaves: This is the most common trigger. Your one person walks out the door, and your entire marketing channel is now unmanaged. This is a panic situation. An agency provides continuity and can step in immediately to stop the bleeding. The whole agency vs in-house debate often gets settled by a resignation letter.

How to find and vet a good PPC agency in Brighton (or anywhere, really)

Okay, so you've decided an agency is the right move. The Brighton and Sussex area is full of them, from one-man bands working from a shed in Lewes to big, impressive-looking outfits with offices overlooking the sea. How do you pick the right one?

Forget the sales pitch. Forget the fancy office. Forget the awards they've won. Focus on one thing and one thing only: case studies.

1. Demand Relevant Case Studies: Don't let them show you a case study for a huge national brand if you're a local eCommerce store. Ask for examples of clients who were at a similar stage to you, with a similar budget and similar goals. A good agency should have them. We have detailed case studies walking through the strategies for our clients, from generating £107k in revenue for a prize draw company to getting over 1,500 trials for a B2B SaaS business. That's the level of proof you need.

2. Ask About The 'How': Don't just look at the headline result ("We got a 10x ROAS!"). Ask them *how* they did it. What was the strategy? What audiences did they test? What was the key insight that unlocked the growth? If they can't explain their process clearly, they either got lucky or they're talking rubbish. A proper vetting process for a paid ad agency involves digging deep into their methodology.

3. Get on a Call and Test Their Expertise: Most decent agencies will offer a free initial consultation or account review. Take them up on it. This is your chance to get a taste of their expertise for free. Go into that call with specific questions about your business. Listen to their ideas. Do they sound generic, or are they providing tailored, insightful advice? You'll quickly get a feel for whether they actually know their stuff. If they just promise you the world without any substance, run a mile. Tbh, in paid ads, you can't promise specific results, so be wary of anyone who does.

4. Understand Their Pricing: Agency fees can be confusing. Some charge a percentage of ad spend, some a flat retainer, some a performance-based fee. Make sure you understand exactly what you're paying for and what the total cost will be. We've written a whole guide on UK ad agency pricing because it's such a common point of confusion for founders.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter as much if they're based in Brighton, London, or Manchester. What matters is their expertise in your specific niche. Don't pick a local agency just because they're local; pick the best agency for your business, wherever they happen to be. If you do want to stick local, our guide on finding a Brighton advertising consultant can help you navigate the local scene.

The Main Advice I Have For You

The choice between hiring an agency and building an in-house team is one of the biggest marketing decisions a founder will make. Getting it right can accelerate your growth massively; getting it wrong can be a costly, time-consuming disaster. There's no single right answer, only the right answer for your business *right now*. The table below summarises the key trade-offs to help you decide.

Making this decision is tough. If you're a founder in Brighton or the surrounding area wrestling with this, it often helps to talk it through with someone who's seen it from both sides. Many businesses find that a deep dive into their specific situation can make the right path much clearer.

If you're at that crossroads and want an honest, no-fluff opinion on which model makes sense for you right now, consider getting some expert help. We offer a free, no-obligation 20-minute strategy session where we can look at your business, your goals, and help you map out the most sensible next steps for your paid advertising. It might be the most valuable 20 minutes you spend on your marketing this year.