As someone who’s been on both sides of the fence—first as an in-house CMO and now as an agency co-founder—I’ve seen firsthand how businesses struggle to find the right approach to their marketing. B2B SaaS and tech companies face unique challenges: complex buyer journeys, the need for continuous influx of sales conversations, and a rapidly changing landscape. When it comes to getting marketing right, the options have traditionally been limited: build an in-house team, partner with a traditional marketing agency, or try to do everything yourself. In recent years, though, a model has been gaining traction: Marketing as a Service (MaaS).
And while there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to every business’s needs, I believe MaaS offers a flexible, scalable, and outcome focused solution that’s particularly well suited to B2B SaaS and tech businesses.
This article will break down the differences between MaaS and traditional agencies, exploring the strengths and limitations of each approach. My aim is to provide you with a clear understanding of which model aligns best with your business’s goals—and why I’m a strong advocate for MaaS.
What is Marketing as a Service (MaaS)?
When I was leading in-house marketing teams, I constantly juggled a multitude of tasks: aligning with sales and product, creating content, managing social media, running ads, optimising SEO, adding depth and optimising web experience and reporting on performance—all while trying to maintain a coherent strategy that aligned with our sales and growth goals. Building an internal team to cover all those bases was expensive, hiring was complicated, and finding specialists for every channel was near impossible.
That’s where Marketing as a Service (MaaS) comes in. Think of MaaS as a full service marketing team, but outsourced. It’s an approach that provides a dedicated team of marketing experts who work as an extension of your internal team, delivering everything from strategy to execution across all marketing channels. Unlike traditional agencies, MaaS isn’t built around one-off projects or campaign deliverables; it’s designed to provide continuous, scalable support that drives long term growth.
Why the Subscription Model Works for B2B SaaS
What makes MaaS particularly suited to B2B SaaS and tech companies is the subscription based model. Just as SaaS businesses operate on recurring revenue and subscription fees, MaaS offers a predictable monthly cost for a suite of marketing services. You’re not paying for each individual project, but for an ongoing partnership that’s designed to scale with your ever changing needs, requirements and demands.
For B2B SaaS businesses with complex, long sales cycles, a steady, consistent approach to marketing is critical. It’s not just about launching a campaign; it’s about building awareness, nurturing leads, driving conversions, and supporting demonstrable customer value—all in a structured, consistent and coordinated way. With MaaS, the focus is on creating a marketing strategy that aligns with the buyer, your growth goals, and with the flexibility to adapt as your business evolves.
Understanding Traditional Marketing Agencies
Before co-founding Gripped, my experience with traditional marketing agencies was mixed. Agencies offer deep expertise in specific areas and can be great for executing well defined campaigns, but they often operate in silos. You hire an agency to build a new website, run a PPC campaign, or develop content, and they deliver on those specific objectives. Once the project is complete, they move on—and so does the momentum. On top of that rarely did they understand my audience, the internal politics of my business and the fundamental nuances of the XaaS business model.
Strengths of the Agency Model
Let’s be fair: traditional agencies bring a lot to the table. They’re specialists, with teams dedicated to particular disciplines—whether it’s creative design, paid media, or SEO. For a business with a clear, one-off need, such as a website overhaul or a specific product launch campaign, working with an agency can be an efficient way to bring in expert support without hiring in-house.
However, that project based approach is also where agencies can fall short for B2B SaaS businesses. Because they focus on delivering specific projects within a set scope and timeline, their ability to drive long term growth is limited. Once the deliverable is complete, the relationship usually ends, leaving you to figure out how to keep the momentum going.
On top of that, the expertise is usually drawn from a channel. So, if the agencies core expertise was PPC, the answer to every problem, challenge or opportunity was PPC. If their core expertise was brand, it was more brand. If their core expertise was PR, it was more PR. You get the idea.
Marketing as a Service vs. Trad Agencies
So how does MaaS stack up against traditional agencies?
Here’s where the models diverge in fundamental ways, based on my experience working in-house and leading an agency.
Continuous Support vs. Project Based Execution
MaaS is all about partnership. Your MaaS provider operates as an extension of your team, offering continuous support across your marketing activities. It’s not a case of executing a campaign and walking away; the focus is on building and optimising a marketing strategy that delivers results over the long term. Building knowledge, learning, insights with value compounding over time.
Traditional agencies, on the other hand, operate on a project basis. You engage them for a set piece of work—whether it’s a content campaign, a paid media strategy, or a website build. Once that project is complete, the agency moves on to the next client, and you’re left managing what they’ve delivered. For B2B SaaS businesses that require consistent market presence and ongoing demand generation, this can create a gap in marketing continuity.
Predictable Subscription vs. Variable Fees
One of the biggest challenges I faced when working with agencies was budgeting. Projects would be scoped at one cost, but scope changes or additional requests could lead to unexpected fees. With multiple agencies involved, these costs could quickly spiral, making it difficult to plan and stick to a marketing budget.
MaaS simplifies this with a subscription based pricing model. You pay a consistent monthly fee for an agreed set of services, and this makes cost forecasting easy. No surprises, no sudden invoices, just predictable, scalable costs that align with your growth. For businesses looking to build a long term marketing strategy, this cost predictability is invaluable.
Integrated Partnership vs. Transactional Engagement
With MaaS, you’re not just hiring a agency in the traditional sense; you’re partnering with a team that becomes embedded in your business. They invest time in understanding your market, competitors, and customers, and they work closely with your marketers, salespeople and revenue leaders to align marketing with broader business objectives.
Agencies, on the other hand, tend to operate more transactionally. Their engagement is focused on delivering the defined scope of work, and while they may provide strategic input within that context, their focus is on delivering a project rather than partnering with your business to drive growth over time. This means that while agencies can provide tactical expertise, they may not be as effective in delivering holistic, integrated strategies that evolve as your business grows.
When to Choose Marketing as a Service (MaaS)
From my experience, MaaS is ideal for B2B SaaS and tech businesses looking to build sustainable, operational marketing systems that deliver long term growth. Here’s why.
Your Growth Requires Consistency
One of the biggest benefits of MaaS is the focus on consistency. B2B marketing isn’t about a single campaign; it’s about building pipeline, nurturing leads through the decision making process, and creating a continuous presence that keeps you top-of-mind for your audience. A MaaS provider can support you across all stages of the buyers process, from demand gen to content marketing to conversion optimisation.
You Need Flexibility to Scale Marketing Efforts
As your business grows, so do your marketing needs. Whether you’re expanding into new markets, launching new products, or scaling up demand generation, your marketing needs to be able to grow with you. MaaS provides that flexibility, allowing you to scale up or down as needed, without the hassle of negotiating new contracts or finding additional resources or working to outdated statements of work.
You Lack In-House Resources for a Full Marketing Team
Hiring and retaining a full in-house marketing team is costly and complex. From content creators to analytics experts to demand generation specialists, finding and managing all the skills you need can be a huge drain on resources. With MaaS, you get access to a diverse range of marketing expertise, without the overhead of hiring, training, or managing multiple specialists.
When to Opt for a Traditional Marketing Agency
Despite the benefits of MaaS, there are situations where a traditional agency might be a better fit, particularly for B2B SaaS businesses with short term, well defined needs.
You Have a Short Term, Hyper Specific Project
If you need to execute a one-off project with a clear beginning and end—such as launching a new website, creating a video, or running a short term ad campaign—an agency can be a great option. They bring specialist expertise and can execute quickly without requiring a long term commitment. However, it’s worth noting that many MaaS agencies might also operate around hyper specific requirements.
You Require Deep Expertise in a Specific Area
Sometimes, you need a specialist. If you’re looking to optimise your SEO strategy or run a highly complex and technical PPC campaign, working with an agency that has deep expertise in that area can be invaluable. Just be prepared to manage the project closely and align it with your broader marketing strategy.
Pros and Cons of Each Model
There’s no “right” or “wrong” choice when it comes to choosing between MaaS and a traditional agency—it’s about finding the right fit for you and your business. Here’s my take on the pros and cons of each, based on what I’ve learned from both sides of the table.
Marketing as a Service (MaaS)
Pros:
- Continuous support for long term growth.
- Predictable, scalable costs with subscription based pricing.
- Integrated partnership focused on driving results.
Cons:
- Less suited to one-off, short term projects.
- Requires a mindset shift towards long term investment rather than solely quick wins.
Traditional Marketing Agencies
Pros:
- Specialist expertise for defined needs.
- Ideal for short term projects with a clear scope and timeline.
Cons:
- Fragmented approach can lead to a lack of consistency.
- Variable costs make budgeting more difficult.
- Project based focus can limit long term strategic alignment.
How to Decide Which Model is Right for You
Choosing between MaaS and a traditional agency comes down to your business’s needs, growth stage, and marketing objectives. Here are some questions to help you make the right choice:
| Do you need a partner for long term growth, or support for a short term project? | If the former, MaaS is your best bet. If the latter, an agency may provide the quick, specialist support you need. |
| Do you prefer predictable costs, or are you comfortable with variable project fees? | MaaS offers predictable, subscription based pricing. Agencies may be better suited if you have a defined budget for a specific project. |
| Do you have the in-house resources to manage and align multiple agencies, or do you need a partner to handle your marketing holistically? | If you have gaps across multiple areas of marketing, a MaaS provider can fill those gaps as a full-service partner. If you already have a strong internal team and just need help with execution, an agency may be a better fit. |
The Future of Marketing Partnerships
The rise of MaaS is part of a broader trend towards more integrated, flexible, and insight driven approaches to marketing. As businesses look to scale quickly and stay ahead of their competition, the need for an adaptable, full service marketing partner is clear.
I believe that as more B2B SaaS and tech companies look for ways to drive sustained growth, MaaS will continue to grow in popularity. It’s a model that aligns perfectly with the way SaaS businesses operate—scalable, predictable, and focused on long term results.
Finding the Right Marketing Partner for You
Whether you choose Marketing as a Service or a traditional marketing agency, the most important thing is to find a partner that understands your business, aligns with your goals, and can deliver the results you need to grow.
If you’re looking for a solution that provides consistent, flexible support across all your marketing needs, and a partner who works closely with your team to drive long term growth, then MaaS may be the right choice for you.
At Gripped, we provide a full Marketing as a Service offering designed specifically for B2B SaaS and tech businesses. If you’re ready to find a marketing partner who can help you scale, drive leads, and grow your brand, reach out today for a consultation.
FAQs: Marketing as a Service (MaaS)
Marketing as a Service (MaaS) is a subscription based marketing model that provides a full range of marketing services tailored to your business needs. Unlike traditional marketing agencies that work on a project-to-project basis, MaaS offers continuous support across your marketing channels—acting as an extension of your team to deliver strategy, execution, and optimisation.
Traditional marketing agencies often specialise in one area, like PPC or content marketing, and operate on a project basis, focusing on defined deliverables. MaaS, however, offers a holistic, integrated approach with ongoing support. The aim of MaaS is to drive long-term growth, providing flexibility to adapt your strategy based on changing market conditions, sales cycles, or growth goals.
MaaS operates on a predictable, subscription-based pricing model. Instead of paying per project or campaign like with an agency, you pay a consistent monthly fee for a suite of marketing services. This model aligns with the way B2B SaaS businesses often think about budgeting, providing cost predictability and the flexibility to scale services as your needs grow.
MaaS is particularly suited for B2B SaaS and tech companies that are growth-focused and need consistent, scalable marketing support. If you’re looking to build brand awareness, generate leads, nurture prospects through the funnel, and align marketing closely with sales, then MaaS is likely to be a strong fit. It’s also ideal for businesses that lack the resources to hire a full in-house marketing team but need a broad range of expertise.
While it can technically support shorter initiatives, MaaS is best suited for businesses seeking long-term marketing support and strategy. If you have a one-off project, such as launching a new website or running a short campaign, a traditional agency might be more appropriate. However, if that project is part of a broader strategy for growth, MaaS can provide integrated support that aligns with your long-term objectives.
A MaaS provider works as an extension of your in-house team, meeting regularly to align marketing efforts with your business goals, sales strategy, and overall company vision. The relationship is built on collaboration, ensuring that activities like content creation, lead generation, and campaign optimisation are closely tied to your business's objectives. This level of integration means your marketing strategy is cohesive, flexible, and data driven.
One of the advantages of MaaS is the focus on data and performance metrics. A MaaS provider will typically set KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) aligned with your business goals and track them across all marketing activities. This can include metrics like lead generation, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, content engagement, and sales-qualified leads. Because MaaS operates as an ongoing service, the provider will continuously optimise campaigns based on data and provide regular reporting, giving you clear visibility into how your marketing efforts are contributing to revenue and business growth.
A key benefit of the MaaS model is its flexibility and scalability. As your business grows, your marketing needs will change—whether that’s entering new markets, launching new products, or ramping up demand generation. A MaaS provider is designed to adapt alongside you, easily scaling up or down the services provided, without needing to renegotiate contracts or find new vendors. This makes it ideal for fast-growing B2B SaaS businesses that need agile marketing support.
Yes, the onboarding process for a MaaS provider typically involves a deep dive into your industry, product, competitors, and target market. Because MaaS operates on a long term partnership model, the provider spends time understanding your unique value proposition and customer pain points. This ongoing relationship ensures they are constantly learning and staying up-to-date with your industry trends, enabling them to deliver more effective, targeted marketing strategies.
MaaS providers work closely with your internal team to develop a marketing strategy that aligns with your business goals. This typically starts with an initial assessment of your current marketing efforts, audience analysis, and competitor landscape. From there, they’ll build a comprehensive plan covering all stages of the marketing funnel—from awareness to conversion and retention. Importantly, the strategy is not static; it evolves based on performance data, market changes, and your growth goals, ensuring that your marketing efforts are always aligned with your business's needs.
Marketing as a Service covers a broad range of marketing activities, all designed to work cohesively.
These can include:
Content Marketing: Creating and distributing content like blogs, case studies, whitepapers
Demand Generation: Campaigns across multiple channels, inc. paid social media, and email marketing.
SEO & PPC: Optimising your website for search engines, managing pay-per-click campaigns, and using analytics to drive ROI.
Website Design & CRO: Developing or optimising your website to improve user experience and increase conversions.
Analytics & Reporting: Providing regular reports and insights on campaign performance, lead generation, and overall marketing ROI. The goal is to provide end-to-end marketing support that drives sustainable growth and aligns with your sales funnel.
When choosing a MaaS provider, it’s crucial to find a partner that understands your business, industry, and growth goals. Look for a provider with a strong track record in B2B SaaS or tech marketing, as well as expertise across all the marketing channels that matter for your business. Transparency is key—ensure they provide clear reporting on performance and have an established process for regular communication and strategic planning. A good provider should feel like a true extension of your team, proactive in suggesting new strategies and optimisations to support your goals.
The timeline for seeing results with MaaS will depend on several factors, including your current marketing maturity, the competitiveness of your industry, and the scope of services being provided. Generally, you can expect to see early indicators of performance (like increased website traffic or lead engagement) within a few months. For more substantial outcomes, like lead-to-sale conversion improvements and revenue impact, it may take 6 to 12 months, as effective B2B SaaS marketing often involves long-term strategies like content marketing, lead nurturing, and SEO.