The short answer: most Irish marketing agencies charge a monthly retainer, and depending on what's included it can run from a few hundred euro for a single service to several thousand for full management. The honest comparison isn't agency versus free, it's agency versus the cost of hiring someone.
What decides the price?
Scope, mostly. Managing one ad account costs less than a full operation covering content production, paid ads, social media, email and reporting. Specialist agencies often deliver more per euro than generalists because nothing is spent learning your industry from scratch.
How does it compare to hiring a marketing person?
A full-time marketing manager in Ireland costs a serious salary before you add employer costs, software, equipment and holidays. A part-time or graduate hire costs less but covers less, and one person can rarely shoot video, design, write and manage ad accounts to a high standard all at once. This is why so many businesses search for the agency versus in-house comparison and land on an agency.
What should you expect for the money?
Clear deliverables each month, reporting in numbers that matter to your business, and no long lock-in contracts. If an agency can't tell you plainly what you get for the fee, keep looking.
The bottom line
Our model at Marketing 4 Motors is simple: a full marketing team, working exclusively with the Irish motor industry, for less than half the cost of one full-time hire. Book a free call and we'll give you an exact figure for your business, no bullshit.