Out of the gate, I'd recommend performing a simple cost benefit analysis. 1) Figure out what roles you would need to hire (FTE/part time pay roll) 2) Understand the lifecycle of these roles - is it ongoing work? Set up work and out the door? 3) How bought in is our organization on SEM/SEO? 4) What life stage is our a) company, and b) marketing, at? Ask yourself those Q's. A few final follow on comments. > Once you calculate your costs from a FTE/part timer standpoint, you'll be able to take that and compare it against external consultants/agencies. > If you are an early stage company, hire a single part-time consultant early. Avoid taking on FTE/expensive agency overhead. > Think about how much of a specialist you need. Do you need technical (e.g. front-end programming) capabilities? Or is it more of a generic "let's throw Yoast SEO plugin up, write/promote a ton of content and call it a day" type need? > Question external consultants and agencies mercilessly. Have them do live demo's to walk through their proprietary algorithms, tools, etc. > Firing external consultants/agencies is way easier than parting with FTE head counts (see point #2 again) Best of luck!