Freelance ads specialist or agency: who should run your business's ads?

Published: October 14, 2026 · 5 min read · By Septminor

When a business decides to run ads on Instagram and Facebook, the first question is who to hand them to. The usual choice is between a freelance ads specialist and an agency. There's also the option of giving ads to your "own" marketer or trying it yourself, but that's a topic for another day.

Both options can work, and both can waste your budget. The difference isn't who is "better," but what exactly you're buying and what the person on the other side is responsible for.

What you actually pay an ads specialist for

An ads specialist sets up and runs your ads: decides who to show them to, prepares the ads, watches what a lead costs. But ads bring customers only when several other things work together too. The page or website the ad leads to. Correct tracking of inquiries and sales. A quick reply from your manager to whoever got in touch. If even one link is weak, the best setup won't save it.

So the question isn't only who knows which buttons to press in the ad account, but who sees the whole picture from the ad impression to the payment.

A freelancer: when it works, and when it ends up costing more

A freelancer's strengths are clear: usually cheaper, you talk directly to the person doing the work, and changes are easy to agree on.

The weak spots show up later. You depend on one person: if they get sick, travel or take on too many clients, your ads simply stop. A freelancer often knows one platform, say only Instagram, and you have to find Google, analytics and the website separately. When ads stop bringing inquiries, each contractor points at the other, and you're the one left sorting it out. One more thing: if the ad account was created under the freelancer, the business can lose all its history and setup when you part ways.

An agency: what you pay extra for, and whether it's always worth it

An agency gives you several directions in one place: social ads, Google ads, analytics, sometimes the website too. There's a process, regular reports, and one person's vacation or illness doesn't stop your ads.

But there are catches here as well. In big agencies your project is often handled by a junior, while you talk to an account manager who just relays answers. Every question goes down the chain and comes back a day later. There's often a minimum budget and template packages that ignore your niche.

Signs your contractor isn't up to it

• You get reports on reach, impressions and clicks, but nobody tells you what one inquiry or sale costs.
• You don't have access to your own ad account, or it isn't registered to your company.
• The answer to "why did leads get more expensive" is always "the algorithm decided so."
• Your sales team complains the leads are "wrong," and the contractor says that's not their area.
• To talk to the person who actually runs your ads, you have to go through a go-between.

If two or three of these sound familiar, the problem most likely isn't your budget or your niche, but the way you work together.

How we combine the best of both

Septminor is an agency, but without a layer of account managers. You talk directly to the people running your ads, so you get answers right away rather than through a chain. At the same time, Facebook and Instagram ads, Google Ads, analytics and websites are all in one place, so nobody shifts responsibility to "the other contractor."

We report in plain words: what a lead and a customer cost, not just clicks. We've been doing this since 2019, with 350+ projects across 30+ niches, and real budget and cost-per-lead numbers are collected in our case studies. We quote a price after a free express audit, once we see your situation, not from a template price list.

Real results are in our case studies. How we work is on the About page.