I would highly recommend trying it yourself first. If you hire an agency you won't know how to guide them appropriately, and they'll end up applying tactics tha

I would highly recommend trying it yourself first. If you hire an agency you won't know how to guide them appropriately, and they'll end up applying tactics that may not work for your product/market. I advise a few startups that are paying local marketing agencies thousands of dollars a month (much to my chagrin) to "take care of marketing" for them. None of them have seen any real traction as a result. Granted, it's anecdotal, but I just can't see how a marketing agency can be effective unless given substantial guidance from the founder(s).