If there’s one thing I hear consistently from healthcare marketing leaders, it’s this: our teams are doing good work, but we need a clearer way to get the work done. That tension isn’t a failure. It’s a reflection of the moment we’re all living in.

Marketing teams are being asked to do more, move faster, and show impact in ways the traditional function never imagined. And when the work expands, our operating models need to expand with it. That doesn’t mean every team needs a massive reorganization. In fact, most don’t. What they need is something more grounded: clarity about the kind of support that will actually help them thrive.

For years, the dominant question was whether teams should build internal capability or buy outside expertise. But what we’re seeing across the field is that this is the wrong starting point — not because it’s inaccurate, but because it’s incomplete. Most teams don’t shop for a holistic overhaul. They shop for help with the next strategic priority: a website rebuild, a lift in volume for a specific service line, a fresh brand narrative, a performance reset, a better way to report outcomes. Work that matters, right now.

That’s exactly where the conversation about agency models needs to begin.

What teams are actually solving for

When leaders reach out, they say things like: we need to get ahead of next year’s growth goals. We’re trying to build a content engine that doesn’t burn people out. We need deeper media and analytics support. We want to do this work well, but we can’t do it alone.

That’s the human truth beneath the build-versus-buy debate. It’s not about whether you should outsource. It’s about finding the right kind of support for the moment your team is in and having the freedom to evolve that model over time.

Not because it sounds good on paper, but because it makes the work better and the team stronger.

Three roles an agency can play and why each one matters

After years of watching teams evolve, a pattern becomes clear. The most effective agency relationships fall into one of three models: coach, collaborator, or command center. None is better than the others. Each one meets a different need at a different moment. And the strongest long-term relationships often move through all three over time.

The coach: when your team is ready for clarity

Sometimes the most valuable support a team can receive isn’t more hands, it’s more perspective. A coach is the partner you turn to when you need a clearer path forward, someone who can see the work from 30,000 feet, a strategic sounding board, or help building structure around the work, not just delivering it.

Starter and Mid-Phase teams* often find this model liberating. It brings shape to the work and confidence to the team. It also honors the truth that not every organization needs a full-scale agency relationship to make meaningful progress. A coach doesn’t replace your team. A coach strengthens it.

The collaborator: when your team needs depth and shared momentum

Once teams have foundational clarity, they often reach a new kind of crossroads. The strategy is sound and the priorities are right, but capacity is stretched or specialist expertise is missing. This is where the collaborator model shines.

In this model, the agency works side-by-side with your team, often embedded in pods or capability clusters. You’re co-owning work, sharing dashboards, and pushing toward outcomes together. It’s not outsourced or internal, it’s the in-between space where great work often happens.

Most Mid-Phase teams thrive here. They finally get the space, depth, and breathing room they’ve needed without giving up ownership of the work.

The command center: when scale, precision, and speed become non-negotiable

There comes a point, often as teams move into Enterprise maturity, when the volume, complexity, and stakes of the work shift dramatically. Hundreds of campaigns. Multiple markets. Sophisticated measurement. Rapid optimization. A need to compete with consumer brands in real time.

This is when teams benefit from an always-on engine: tightly integrated media, content, analytics, UX, and MarTech support that runs continuously and learns quickly. A command center isn’t about taking over the work. It’s about ensuring the engine that drives growth is never underpowered. And yes, this is where Agency of Record relationships often emerge — not because a system went shopping for “everything under one roof,” but because the partnership earned its way there.

Your agency model should evolve as your team evolves

One of the most encouraging trends we’ve seen is that teams no longer feel pressure to choose one model and stick with it forever. Starter teams often begin with a coach. Mid-Phase teams amplify through collaboration. Enterprise teams lean into command-center models to reach their next level.

It’s not a hierarchy. It’s a journey. And your needs can, and should, change. That’s not instability. That’s maturity.

Just as importantly, multiple models can coexist. You may have a command-center relationship for performance marketing while a collaborator supports your brand team and a coach helps refine your annual planning process. The goal isn’t consolidation. The goal is clarity.

A simple question to ground your decision

If you’re thinking about the role an agency should play for your team, here’s the question I’d invite you to sit with: what kind of support would truly make our work easier, clearer, and more impactful right now?

Not six months from now. Not when the budget cycle resets. Not in a future organizational structure you hope to build. Right now.

Because when you honor the present moment with honesty, the right model becomes obvious and the path to long-term partnership becomes much more natural.

The most successful teams aren’t choosing agencies. They’re choosing alignment.

At the end of the day, the work we do together isn’t just about marketing. It’s about helping people find care when they need it. It’s about creating clarity in moments that feel confusing. It’s about connecting patients to organizations that can change their lives.

That work deserves the right support at the right time. Agency models aren’t about hierarchy or status. They’re about designing relationships that help your team show up with confidence and do the kind of work you can be proud of.

When that happens, something meaningful follows. Teams become faster. Leaders feel clearer. Outcomes improve. And the work feels a little lighter in the best possible way.

* You can read more about our maturity model — including Starter, Mid-Phase, and Enterprise teams — in The Healthcare Marketing Team of the Future.