Sooner or later, every accounting practice that wants more of the right clients faces the same choice. Do you hire a marketing person to run your online presence, or do you outsource it to a specialist? The in-house route feels safer: someone on the payroll, under your roof, at your beck and call. Many partners assume it will also be cheaper.
This guide frames the decision the way you would frame it for a client: full cost, risk, partner time and continuity. No sales pitch, and no blind spots.
Start with the outcome you are paying for
Before comparing two options, name the result. An accounting firm does not need "marketing" as an activity. It needs the right clients to find it at the right moment: the founder of a new limited company looking for an accountant before the first year-end, the owner-managed business that has outgrown its bookkeeper, the overseas group setting up a local subsidiary, the landlord with a growing portfolio who needs tax advice.
They all start the same way, with a search on Google or a question to an AI assistant, followed by a shortlist of two or three firms. So the outcome is easy to define: be present at that moment, consistently, and be able to measure it. The real question is which option delivers that outcome most reliably at the lowest full cost.
The real cost of an in-house hire
Salary is only the visible line. A partner thinking in full cost adds several more.
- Employment costs: payroll taxes, pension contributions, holiday, benefits, equipment and desk space.
- Recruitment: drafting the role, screening, interviewing, often for a discipline the firm cannot easily assess, and sometimes a recruiter's fee on top.
- Breadth of skills: one person has to cover everything, from writing to measurement to understanding how accountants win work. That profile is rare and in high demand.
- Tools: a specialist needs paid software, which sits on top of the salary.
- Management: someone has to set priorities, review and sign off. In a practice, that is almost always a partner.
Added up, a serious hire usually costs more than an external plan, and tends to produce slower results in the first year while the new person finds their feet.
The risks partners underestimate
Staff turnover
A capable marketer gets approached by other employers. If they leave after eighteen months, they take the accumulated know-how, the logins and the working habits nobody else understood. The firm starts again from close to zero.
Working in isolation
A lone marketer in a firm of accountants has nobody to challenge their work. They may be busy every day without knowing whether any of it brings in clients.
Drift into other jobs
This is the most common failure. During year-end or tax season, the marketer is asked to help out: formatting reports, chasing client paperwork, organising a seminar. Visibility is never urgent, so it slips to the bottom of the list.
Partner time is the scarcest resource
In a practice, partner time is billable. Every hour spent managing a marketing hire is an hour that is neither billed nor spent on direct business development. Our guide for the busy owner delegating visibility sets out what delegation should take off your plate, and what it should leave with you.
Outsourcing only makes sense if the partner genuinely frees you: commitments on deliverables, reporting on fixed dates and as little of your time as possible, while you still decide which clients you want to attract.
Comparing the two options side by side
Put both options against the same criteria.
| Criterion | In-house hire | Specialist partner |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | Salary, employment costs, tools, management | Setup, then monthly fees known in advance |
| Start | After recruitment and onboarding | From the audit and setup |
| Continuity | Depends on one person | Carried by a team and written commitments |
| Measurement | You organise it yourself | Dated reports and results in your own tools |
| Partner time | Ongoing supervision | Scheduled reviews |
An in-house hire still makes sense for a larger firm that already has a structured marketing function and wants to add to it. For most practices with a handful of partners, outsourcing visibility and keeping client relationships in-house is the safer trade-off. If budget is tight, our guide on splitting a small marketing budget helps set priorities.
What Traffic Engine brings to an accounting firm
Traffic Engine is Kolonell's service for making your firm appear when prospective clients search for what you do, on Google and in AI assistant answers, so that it receives qualified enquiries. Kolonell ran it on its own website first; the curves are on the offer page and refreshed daily.
Costs are known in advance. The Visibility Audit is €690, delivered within 48 business hours and credited against the €1,500 setup if you start within 30 days. Momentum, the most common plan, is €1,900 a month, which comes to €22,800 over 12 monthly payments and €24,300 for year one including setup. Presence starts at €1,100 a month and Flood is €3,500. The commitment is 12 months with a measured review at three months, a dated weekly report and results in your own Search Console. If anything the plan includes is not live on schedule, the following month is free: a guarantee no employment contract will ever give you.
Each area has only 3 standard seats for accounting. See the offer and check whether your area is still open. If your firm still relies mostly on referrals, read when referrals are no longer enough for an accounting firm.
Making the call without losing a quarter
Work out the full cost of a hire with your own numbers, then put it next to the monthly fees of a plan. Get the free website score at the top of the Traffic Engine page to see where you are starting from. Questions sent by WhatsApp or email get an answer within 24 business hours.