Before deciding, understand what you are buying (time, results or control).
Physicians, practice managers and directors often ask themselves the same question: do I hire a marketing agency or do I build an in-house team? The answer depends on your objectives, your budget, your time and your level of demand.
This article helps you decide wisely, without inflated promises or technicalities. Only what works for clinics that want to grow.
Advantages of working with a specialized medical marketing agency
1. Accumulated experience
An agency brings with it the learning from dozens of projects. It has already seen mistakes, solutions and trends that your team would take years to master.
Speed of execution
There is no learning curve. From week 1, you can launch strategy, guidelines, design, content and optimization. That means patients sooner.
3. Focus on measurable results
Agencies live by accountability. They have clear KPIs: leads, positioning, conversions, cost per appointment.
4. Less administrative burden
You don't have to hire, train or manage staff. You just align objectives with an external team and focus on the clinical.
Ideal for:
- Clinics that want to scale fast.
- Medical teams with no time to coordinate marketing.
- Centers targeting medical tourism or international positioning.
Advantages of forming an internal team (if you are willing to lead it)
1. Total control over the message and brand
You can align every detail of content, tone, image and strategy to the style of your practice. This generates coherence.
Immediate and face-to-face feedback
Communication is straightforward. You can request an adjustment today and review it within minutes. That speeds up decisions.
3. Staff immersed in the culture of your center
The internal team breathes what goes on in your clinic. They know the patients, the staff, the real fears. That can enrich the content.
Ideal for:
- Large clinics with resources to hire specialists.
- Centers that already have a brand base and only need technical execution.
- Institutions that prioritize independence.
Common pitfalls of poor choices (and how to avoid them)
If you hire a generic agency:
- You're going to get nice designs but zero strategy.
- The content will sound generic or even wrong.
- They will not understand medical regulations or health sensitivities.
If you form an internal team without leadership:
- You will spend months without results.
- Everything will depend on one or two people.
- The work will lose consistency if someone quits.
Solution: Choose a hybrid or progressive model. For example:
- Hire an agency for strategy, campaigns and SEO.
- Use in-house team for lead nurturing, day-to-day content or network monitoring.
What you should ask yourself before deciding
- Do I have the (real) time to coordinate an internal team?
- How urgent is my need for results?
- Am I willing to pay for experience or do I prefer to build from scratch?
- Does my team have the judgment to make strategic decisions?
- Do I know enough to lead a marketing process from the inside?
The answers will tell you whether you are there to delegate, build or a mix of both.
It's not a question of fashion, it's a question of results.
Choosing between agency or in-house team is not an ideological decision. It is strategic. It depends on what you want to achieve, in how much time, with how much investment and with what degree of involvement.
At Torres Creative we work with clinics that want to grow seriously, not just publish on networks. If you need a clear strategy, content that positions and recruitment systems that work, we can help you.
Don't buy design or likes. Buy real patients.