A new ad channel always raises the same question: learn it in-house or hire it out. For ChatGPT Ads the answer depends less on the platform than on three things you already know about your business. This guide lays them out, lists what to ask an agency, and shows how to compare the two paths fairly. MediaBloom is an agency, and we say so plainly where it colours the advice.
Run it yourself if
You already run search and social in-house with someone who reads results weekly. Your landing pages answer questions directly and convert well from search. You have a CRM that attributes appointments to sources. And you can give a new channel real attention for two or three months while it is unfamiliar. If all four are true, the platform mechanics are learnable and an agency's main value, speed and bundled follow-up, matters less.
Hire it out if
Paid media is not someone's full-time job in your company. Your pages were built for search slogans rather than answers. Leads are followed up when someone gets to them. Or you simply want the channel judged by cost per booked appointment from month one without building the muscle. An agency that bundles prompt research, answer-style creative, pages, tracking and instant follow-up removes the four failure points at once, which is the case for the way we run it.
What to ask an agency
Who writes the creative, and can I see examples written as answers rather than headlines? Who builds the landing pages, and do they answer the prompt in the first screen? How is a booked appointment attributed back to a prompt cluster? What happens to a lead in the first five minutes after it arrives? What is the test budget and length, and what number decides whether we scale? What is the fee, and what is included? An agency that cannot answer the follow-up question is selling clicks.
How to compare the two paths
Use cost per booked appointment, all in. For the in-house path, include the media, the time of the person running it at their loaded cost, the landing page work and whatever follow-up tooling you add. For the agency path, include the media and the fee. Run both over the same test window and the same prompts if you can. The New Lead AI Setter ROI Calculator shows how much of the final cost is decided by booking and show rate, which is where the two paths differ most.
The hybrid that often wins
Have an agency build the first version, prompt research, pages, tracking and follow-up included, run the test, and hand over a documented account if you want to take it in-house later. You get the fast start and keep the option. Whichever path you take, pair the paid work with Answer Engine Optimization, so the organic answer in the same conversation also names you, and read how ChatGPT Ads work before you brief anyone.
TODO(John): Add MediaBloom's management fee range and minimum test budget so the comparison section can be concrete.
