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I’ve taken over quite a few clients that came from agencies, so I get where you’re coming from. But I don’t think it’s as simple as freelancers being better across the board. What I do see a lot is that people don’t actually leave because of results alone. They leave because of how it feels working with the agency.
Most of my clients come from setups where they felt like just another account in a system. Limited communication, slow feedback loops, and not much room for actual discussion around the business itself. It becomes very execution focused without really questioning whether the setup makes sense in the first place. I run things quite differently. I’m the only full-time person in my setup, but I work closely with a small group of people depending on the case. The key thing is that every client gets direct access to me, and there’s a lot of back and forth. Strategy, offer, positioning, funnel, not just campaigns.
A big part of the work is actually outside of the ad account. How the product is presented, how leads are handled, what happens after the click. Those conversations tend to be where most of the upside is. And with AI now, it’s honestly possible to operate at a level that used to require a full team. Reporting, analysis, research, a lot of the heavy lifting can be handled faster, which frees up time for more strategic work.
That said, agencies aren’t inherently bad. A good agency with senior people involved can be extremely strong, especially if you need multiple disciplines under one roof. The issue is that a lot of businesses end up working with junior-heavy setups where accounts get spread thin.
If I were you, I wouldn’t go “I’ll just do it myself no matter what”. Either find someone who actually takes ownership and explains what’s going on, or invest the time to really understand it yourself. The worst place to be is paying for something you don’t have visibility into.
