Pricing & Services
Should You Hire an Ads Agency or Run Ads Yourself?
By Adedon · Updated 2026-08-14
Should you hire an ads agency or run ads yourself?
Run ads yourself if a named person has weekly hours, can ship creative, and will own tracking mistakes. Hire an agency or Done For You operator if paid media is currently an unowned chore or a founder hobby that slips. Choose Done With You if you have the person but not the system. The expensive outcome is neither: an agency you ignore, or ‘myself’ that is actually nobody. Software will not rescue an unowned program — and Adedon’s OS is coming soon anyway, not a live DIY product in this decision.
The hours test
Write the weekly hours honestly. Query reports, creative briefs, lead quality, and QA do not fit in a Sunday evening forever. If the hours are fiction, do not choose in-house.
The skill test
Curiosity is not skill. Broken conversion actions and one boosted post are how self-serve burns a quarter. You can learn; budget the tuition as test spend you can afford to lose.
The risk test
Regulated categories, high CPCs, and messy attribution punish amateurs faster. That is not elitism; it is auction math plus policy.
Hybrids are allowed
Many good programs are DWY: in-house operator, external review. Ego about ‘we do everything here’ is not a strategy. Ego about ‘agencies are all thieves’ is also not a strategy. Own the accounts either way.
Frequently asked questions
Is hiring an agency giving up?+−
No. It is buying a labor specialization. You still own the offer and the customer.
Can I run ads myself with YouTube tutorials?+−
You can start. Tutorials do not sit in your account on a Thursday when the pixel breaks. Have a backup.
What if I am not ready to spend on media yet?+−
Then do not hire a retainer to stare at zero campaigns. Fix the offer and the page. Come back when there is something to operate.
Related services
Done For You
Adedon operates Meta and Google advertising end to end. You approve decisions that move money; we run the rest.
Get Done For You →
Done With You
We install the workflow with your team, train operators, then keep a lighter monthly hand on monitoring and reporting.
Talk about Done With You →
Paid Media Management
One operator cadence across Meta and Google: structure, tests, budgets you approve, and reporting that a business can use.
Discuss paid media →
Related reading
Pricing & Services
What Does a Done With You Advertising Agency Do?
What Done With You advertising includes: install, training, playbooks, and a lighter monthly review — for teams that will keep operating.
Pricing & Services
When Should a Business Hire a Paid Media Agency?
Signals it is time to hire a paid media agency: unowned ads, wasted spend, missed demand, or a team that needs an operating system.
Pricing & Services
What Does Meta Ads Management Include?
A clear list of what Meta Ads management should include: access, tracking, structure, creative, optimization, and reporting — plus what extra costs to expect.