I own two marketing agencies, so you would expect me to say “hire an agency”. Here is the more honest answer, because AI has genuinely changed this math.
When hiring an agency makes sense
Hire out when your time is worth more in the business than in the marketing, when you have proven demand and need scale, or when the channel is high-stakes enough that mistakes cost more than fees. A good agency is buying speed and experience, not magic. Expect real reporting, real testing and honest conversations. If your agency cannot show you what they tested last month, that is not an agency, it is a subscription.
When learning it yourself makes sense
Learn it yourself when budgets are small, because a AED 5,000 retainer on a AED 8,000 ad budget rarely produces a happy story. Learn it when marketing IS your product, if you are a coach, creator or personal brand. And learn at least the fundamentals even if you plan to hire later, because businesses that understand marketing buy better marketing.
How AI changed this decision
AI collapsed the execution gap. Creative production, landing pages, follow-up and reporting, the things that justified big retainers, now take a fraction of the time. What did not collapse is judgment: knowing what to test, what good looks like, and when numbers are lying to you. So the new honest answer is: either hire people who genuinely use this leverage, or learn to use it yourself. The worst position is paying 2020 prices for work AI does in minutes.
The middle path most people miss
Stay sharp for free first. Read what practitioners are actually doing, then decide. That is literally why my weekly newsletter exists: what is working right now in paid ads and AI, from live campaigns, whether you run the ads or hire someone who does. And if you are a clinic or beauty brand that wants it done for you, that is what my agency does all day.