so how do you get the most out of your marketing ?

Do it all yourself
You can figure out how marketing works if you have plenty of time to learn and then implement what you learned. If you have a tight schedule then this will not work out for you.
hire staff
Finding the perfect person for the Job is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It can work but its risky.
work with a marketing agency
You will simply become another client in a pool of 100s of other businesses. If you're not spending thousands a month then you est people working for you.