In-House vs. Agency

I knew transitioning from leading content in-house to joining the agency side would be different — but these first 2 months at storyarb have completely re-wired my content operating system.

First: The most effective marketing teams understand that content is both a marathon AND a sprint.

You need short-term wins to show progress, but the real magic happens when you build brand preference over time.

When your prospect finally moves into a buying position, you want to be their first call.
This means tracking both immediate engagement metrics + the pipeline metrics that actually drive revenue.

I'm happy to see a lot more people operating in this way, and our clients choose to work with us long-term because they agree.

Second: The enemy of a well-oiled system is variation in content formats.

Nailing a very select number of channels, and formats within those channels allows the team to focus on delivering impactful content, rather than rushing from one ad-hoc deliverable to another.

This applies in-house just as much as agency side.

Consistency will beat random acts of marketing every time.
The teams winning the content game aren't the ones with 15 different formats — they're the ones who've mastered 3–4 formats and execute them flawlessly.

Third: The sheer number of at-bats you get on the agency side has been the biggest revelation.

While an in-house marketer needs to continually stoke their content engine, we're learning faster, adjusting on the fly, and applying insights across all our clients.

This allows us to spot macro trends before they hit the mainstream, run experiments at scale, and perfect tactics through repetition — all before an in-house team could find time to schedule their first planning meeting.

These aren't just theories. I've watched our clients transform their content approach by simplifying their formats, focusing on long-term relationship building rather than chasing quick wins, and letting us handle their always-on content engine.

The result?

storyarb clients are getting in front of their ICPs with highly relevant content, and their in-house team is now un-burdened to run other high-leverage marketing programs. They've moved from perpetual content firefighting to strategic marketing that drives short and long term results.

Oh, and my favourite part?
The entire team geeks out about B2B content just as much as me.

Original post here.