The Paid Media Hiring Gut Check: What Today’s CMOs Need to Know

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Kristan Rodriguez
July 1, 2025

In this post

Learn how to quickly assess your inherited paid media team and make the right call under pressure.

The marketing landscape isn’t for the faint of heart. Every week, there’s a new AI tool, a privacy update and so much noise to break through. If you’re a marketing leader today, “fighting fires” is an understatement.

Your current paid media program may also be exposing the stress fractures in your marketing strategy, stoking the flames. CMOs, VPs of Growth and marketing leaders today face flat budgets, low consumer attention, slow creative production, rising CAC and private equity pressure to deliver more revenue without more resources.

And if you’re stepping into a new organization, this is likely your reality:

You didn’t pick your team or your current paid media partner. You’re not starting from ground zero. But one thing is for sure: you will be judged by results.

The pressure cooker is teeming, but here’s how to sort what’s working and what’s quietly dragging your paid media down fast.

“CMOs don’t inherit blank slates.
They inherit misalignment—and the pressure to fix it fast.”

Amanda Evans

CEO, Closed Loop

Evaluating Your Inherited Team (Without Burning It Down)

Before considering bringing in your go-to partners, evaluate what you’ve got. Here’s what to assess in your current paid media partner:

Goal Alignment: Are internal + external teams executing against your KPIs, or are they stuck in the previous regime’s mindset?
Strategic Agility: Can they pivot based on board pressure, not just platform updates?
Proactivity: Are they bringing insights or just executing tasks?
Continuity: Do they understand your business deeply, or are you constantly re-educating them?

In-House vs Freelancer vs Agency:

Whether to rebuild your current team, replace an agency or bring in someone new requires a thoughtful pause. Take the time to ask the questions that help you get clarity quickly.

Questions to consider:

What performance or velocity am I not seeing, but should be?

Is my current team aligned with the goals I’ve committed to the board?

Would I rehire this partner if I had to restart this program from scratch?

Do I have redundancy, or am I exposed if one person leaves?

Are we locked into old playbooks or evolving with new pressure?

Can this partner help me make the case for the budget to the CFO?

When to Hire In-House (Real Talk Edition)

You’re a marketing leader who wants control and speed.

In-house works best if you:

Have a budget to support multiple hires per function
Aren’t planning on cross-channel efforts anytime soon
Can afford lengthy onboarding and ramp-up time
Can quickly replace a senior role if they should leave in 14 months (the average time they stay in-house)

When Freelancers Work (And When They Don’t)

A good freelancer can crush a project. A great one is rare, and already booked three months out.

Freelancers are best when:

You need one-off execution on a known task
You’ve already built the strategy
You don’t need rapid pivots or reporting continuity
Budget is low
Scope is limited to one or two channels

When to Bring in an Agency

You need momentum. Expertise. Strategy and scale. And ideally, fewer decks and more action.

Skilled agencies can:

Help CMOs pressure-test the plan before the board meeting
Deliver diverse channel coverage and creative integration without headcount
Add senior-level thinking without internal churn risk

Spending under $50K/month on one channel? Freelancers might work. Spending $100K+ and want to grow? You need more than duct tape.

What a Skilled Agency Looks Like

A skilled agency isn’t a vendor. It’s a performance engine, strategy partner and change translator all in one.

Today, the bar is higher. You need a team that can move fast, think deeply and deliver across every layer of your funnel without lag or learning curves.

Here’s what that looks like:

Strategic operators, not task runners: They don’t wait for direction. They bring proactive solutions aligned to your boardroom goals.
Creative + Media + Data under one roof: No handoffs. No disconnects. Just end-to-end execution that actually converts.
Cross-channel strength, not silos: From PMax to programmatic to YouTube—one team that flexes wherever growth lives.
Senior talent only: No bait-and-switch. No junior account managers. Just operators who’ve done this before are ready to push your thinking.
Embedded like your team, but built for speed: Slack threads. Weekly recaps. Executive visibility. You don’t need to manage them. You just need to plug them in.
In the conversation, not on the sidelines: They’re shaping what comes next, not playing catch-up with what’s already happened.

The best agencies aren’t asking for your trust. They’re earning it every sprint, every slide and every result.

What You Can Do This Week

Audit your agency:
Ask them when they adopted the latest best practices and tools, and how often they evaluate them. Look for proof, not buzzwords.

Gut-check your inherited media plan:
Are your current campaigns aligned to your KPIs or last year’s goals? Ask for a reset.

Map your gaps:
Do you have redundancy across key roles? Can your current team handle cross-channel? Can they pivot tomorrow if needed?

Reality-check internal bias:
Just because you’ve worked with an agency before doesn’t mean they’re still the best choice. Has their talent, stack and POV evolved with the times?

Set a 30-day visibility goal:
Ensure everyone (in-house, freelancer, agency) is aligned on your quarterly objectives and the board’s expectations.

Make the Right Decision

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to building or hiring the right paid media team. But there is the right choice for your current pressure and desired future state.

In any instance, start with an internal gut check. Evaluate your current team’s capabilities. Then, choose what provides you with long-term wins so you can join your leadership meetings with confident results, not excuses.