Count the whole cost of a hire
Salary is the visible part. Add:
- Payroll taxes and benefits
- Equipment and software — design tools, email platform, analytics, scheduling, each a subscription
- Recruitment time and possibly a fee
- Management time. Somebody directs them, and in a small business that is the owner. Most often ignored, frequently the largest item.
- Downtime — a salaried person is paid in the quiet months too
Work out your own loaded figure before comparing anything. The gap between salary and true cost surprises most owners.
The skills problem
A competent generalist marketer will be genuinely good at two or three of: writing, SEO, paid ads, design, email, analytics, automation.
That is not a criticism — it is a description of the breadth. It means one hire covers part of what a local business needs, and either the rest gets outsourced or it gets learned on your time.
Where in-house genuinely wins
Proximity. Someone who hears the calls, knows which technician customers ask for, and can photograph a job that afternoon. Genuinely hard to outsource.
Responsiveness. Same-day changes without a ticket.
Volume. Past a certain level of activity, an employee is cheaper per unit of work.
Content from inside the business. Photos, stories, video. This is the thing agencies most often cannot produce well.
Where an agency wins
Breadth. Several skills in one arrangement.
No management overhead. Nobody to direct, review or develop.
Flexibility. Scale up before a season and down after, without an employment decision.
Speed to start. No hiring cycle, no ramp-up.
Nothing to replace. An employee leaving takes the knowledge with them.
The hybrid most small businesses land on
Someone internal owning the parts that need proximity — photos, reviews, answering enquiries, knowing the customers — with an external provider for the technical and strategic work.
The internal part is frequently a share of an existing job rather than a hire, which makes this both the cheapest and often the best-performing arrangement at this size.
The question that decides it
How many hours of marketing work does your business actually generate each week?
If the honest answer is a few, an employee will be underused and you will invent work to fill the time. If it is a full week and growing, a hire starts to make sense.
The comparison
| Package | Setup | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Starter Presence | $2,500 | $750 |
| Growth Engine | $5,500 | $1,500 |
| AI Marketing System | $8,500 | $2,500 |
| Authority Builder | $12,500 | $3,500 |
Month to month, no employment commitment, and James does the work.
Deciding
Work out your loaded hire cost and set it against the plan covering what you need. The comparison usually answers itself.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compare the two fairly?
Use loaded cost, not salary — payroll taxes, benefits, equipment, software, recruitment, downtime, and the management time somebody spends directing them, which in a small business is the owner.
Can one marketer cover everything?
No. A good generalist is strong at two or three of writing, SEO, paid ads, design, email, analytics and automation. The rest gets outsourced or learned on your budget.
Where does in-house genuinely win?
Proximity — hearing the calls, knowing the technicians, photographing a job that afternoon — plus responsiveness, and cost per unit of work at higher volume.
What is the deciding question?
How many hours of marketing work your business actually generates weekly. A few hours means an employee will be underused; a full week and growing means a hire starts to make sense.