There are four ways to get your marketing built and run. Each one is right for someone. Here is what each costs you in money and time, who it suits, the catch, and where we, a done-for-you studio, are the wrong choice.
There are four ways to get your marketing built: do it yourself, hire a freelancer, hire a traditional agency, or use a done-for-you studio like Unbury. Doing it yourself costs the least money and the most time. A freelancer fits one clear job. An agency fits big budgets across many channels. A studio fits when the whole path from getting found to getting paid needs building and running.
Who this is for: Coaches, consultants and founders deciding who should build and run their marketing.
Choose to do it yourself if you are early, money is tight and you have time to learn. Choose a freelancer if you know exactly what you need built. Choose a traditional agency if you have a large budget and need many channels run at once, including paid ads and brand work. Choose a done-for-you studio if leads and sales are leaking somewhere between getting found and getting paid, and you want it found, fixed and run for you.
Most coaches and consultants we talk to have tried two of these already. That is normal. The right choice changes as the business grows, and none of the four is right for everyone.
We run Unbury, so we are not neutral. We have tried to be fair, and this page says plainly where each option beats us. Last reviewed 29 October 2026.
The biggest differences are not price. They are who decides what to fix, and who keeps it running after it is built.
| Do it yourself | Freelancer | Traditional agency | Done-for-you studio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay | Tool fees only | Per project or per hour | A monthly retainer, often with a minimum term | A monthly engagement (Unbury: priced on the call) |
| Your time | The most | Briefing and managing | Meetings and approvals | Approvals and calls |
| Who decides what to fix | You | Usually you | The agency, with you | The studio, from an audit |
| Who builds it | You | The freelancer, one skill | A team of specialists | The studio, across the whole path |
| Who runs it each week | You | Rarely included | Yes | Yes |
| Best for | Early days, tight budget, time to learn | One clear job | Large budgets, many channels, brand and paid media | Coaches, consultants and founders who need leads turned into clients |
| The catch | Slow, and you cannot see your own blind spots | Strategy and the gaps between jobs stay with you | Usually built for bigger budgets | Not the right fit if you only want ads run or want to learn it yourself |
We have not put prices on freelancers or agencies because they vary too much to be useful. Ask any option for a written scope before you commit: what they will build, what they will run, and what you will still have to do yourself.
Doing it yourself is the right call when you are still finding your offer, your budget is small, or you enjoy learning how marketing works. Modern tools make it possible: a funnel builder, an email platform and a booking page cost far less than any person.
The catch is time and blind spots. Setting up email so it reaches the inbox, writing a welcome sequence and building a page that converts each take real hours. And it is hard to see your own weak step. Start with our funnel leak calculator to find it, and the guides to fix it.
A freelancer is the best value when the job is clear: a sales page, a funnel build, a set of emails, a website. Good freelancers are fast and focused, and you only pay for what you ask for.
The catch is that the thinking stays with you. A freelancer builds what you brief. If the brief is the wrong fix, you get a well made wrong fix. And when the copywriter, the funnel builder and the person running your emails are three different people, the gaps between them are yours to manage.
A larger agency makes sense when you need a team across many channels at once: paid ads, brand, PR, design and content, often with a big media budget behind them. You get specialists, process and capacity.
The catch is fit. Many agencies are set up for bigger budgets and longer contracts than a coaching or consulting business needs. Ask who will actually do the work, what the minimum term is, and how they will measure leads and clients rather than reach.
This is what we do. Unbury finds where your marketing is losing customers, builds the fix and runs it week to week. The work covers six places it usually breaks: getting found, capturing leads, getting leads onto calls, turning calls into clients, selling to your audience and reaching the inbox. See our services for what we build in each.
It starts with a free audit that comes back as a written diagnosis within 5 business days. Then one monthly engagement, priced on the call. We build inside the tools you already use, and you keep everything we build. You can read what that looked like for real clients in our client stories.
We would rather tell you now than waste your time on a call.
If you are not sure which of these fits, a free audit will show you where you are losing the most customers, whatever you decide to do next.
In money, yes: you only pay for tools. In time, usually not. If an hour of your time is worth more on client work or sales than on building funnels and writing emails, doing it yourself is the expensive option. Our consulting rate calculator shows what an hour of your time is worth.
Hire a freelancer when you know exactly what you need, such as a sales page or a funnel build, and you are happy to direct the work. Hire an agency or a studio when you need someone to work out what to fix first and to run it over time, not just to deliver one piece.
A small team that finds where your marketing is losing customers, builds the fix and keeps it running each week. At Unbury that covers getting found, capturing leads, getting leads onto calls, turning calls into clients, selling to your audience and reaching the inbox.
Unbury works as one monthly engagement, priced on a call after a free audit, because the work depends on what is broken. We do not publish a price list. The audit is free and comes back as a written diagnosis within 5 business days.
Send us your website and we will show you where you are losing the most customers, in writing, within 5 business days. Free, whatever you decide to do next.