Marketing hire, agency or freelancer calculator.
A marketing hire costs more than the salary, so this sets every cost of a hire beside an agency’s fee.
Put your own figures in
What each option actually buys
A retainer looks cheaper than a hire on every line of the calculation above, so it helps to look at what each one buys before you decide.
An employee gives you roughly 2,000 hours a year. A retainer at a few thousand a month buys a fraction of that, spread across several people. Those are different purchases, and the right one is the one that matches the work you actually have.
| In-house hire | Agency | Freelancer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hours available | About 2,000 a year | A few a month, across several people | Exactly what you buy |
| Range of skills | One person, one or two skills | Design, build, writing and search together | Usually one skill, well |
| Knows your process | Eventually, and better than anyone | Partly, and only if they ask | Rarely, unless briefed hard |
| Productive from | Month three to six | Month one | Week one |
| Needs managing by you | Yes, weekly | Monthly | Per piece of work |
| What happens if they leave | You start again, and pay to recruit | Depends entirely on who owns the accounts | Same, and faster |
| Sits in the daily conversation | Yes, which is the real advantage | No | No |
The combination most manufacturers land on
Most manufacturers end up with one internal person who owns the relationships and the approvals, part time or alongside another role, and buy the specialist work outside. The internal person makes the photographs happen, gets the tolerance figures from whoever prices the work, and answers quote requests quickly. The outside supplier builds and runs the parts that need specialist skill.
The internal half of that takes about two hours a week, and that is the figure to test the whole plan against. Whichever arrangement you choose, it works once somebody inside can give it those two hours.
Questions owners ask about hiring and outsourcing
What does a marketing hire actually cost a manufacturer?
A marketing hire costs a manufacturer considerably more than the salary. On the default figures here, a $62,000 salary becomes $81,220 once employer payroll taxes and benefits are added, which is 1.31 times the base. Add software, recruiting, and the time someone spends managing the role, and year one comes to about $97,660. That load of roughly 1.25 to 1.4 times the salary is the part most owners have not worked out before they post the job.
Is an agency cheaper than hiring somebody?
An agency is almost always cheaper per month, because a retainer buys part of several people’s time and a hire is all of one person. Per hour of attention, it usually costs more. So the useful question is which one buys what you actually need. A hire gives you about 2,000 hours a year of one skill set, and a retainer gives you a few hours a month across several skills. Each suits a different kind of company.
When does hiring in-house make more sense?
Hiring makes more sense when the work is genuinely full time, when the knowledge is specific enough that it has to live inside the building, and when somebody senior has time to direct it. A marketing hire with nobody to report to and no plan stays busy without moving the business forward, and that is expensive at any salary. Below about $20 million in revenue, with no existing marketing function, a hire usually arrives before the work does.
What can one marketing person actually do?
One marketing person can do one or two things well, usually either coordinating outside suppliers or specializing in a single area. Designing, building, writing technical content, running search work, and managing social media are four or five separate skills, and a job posting that asks for all of them is describing a team. The realistic single hire is a coordinator who manages the suppliers, or a specialist with the rest bought in.
What is the hidden cost of a freelancer?
The hidden cost of a freelancer is direction and continuity. A freelancer bills for the hours worked, which is efficient, but somebody inside still has to decide what those hours go on. The other cost is depending on one person who has other clients, may fall ill, and has no obligation to hand anything over. Many owners have lived through a web person holding the login. Settle who owns the source code and the accounts at the start.
How should I compare these fairly?
Compare cost per productive month in year one, because a hire takes months to get up to speed and an outside supplier starts working in the first month. Then check what each option delivers against the four things a manufacturer needs: capability content written by somebody who understands the work, a website you can edit, being found in search, and somebody who answers when a quote request arrives. The option that covers all four for the money is the right one.
Who made it, and what it does not do
This tool was written by Shopfloor Agency's lead engineer, who holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and builds websites for US manufacturers. It runs entirely in your browser.
The arithmetic is exact, and the starting figures are typical for a small US employer, so replace them with your own. Payroll taxes and benefits vary by state and by plan. The calculation cannot weigh capability: a hire buys about 2,000 hours of one or two skills, and a retainer buys a few hours a month across several. That is why the comparison table above matters as much as the money.
If you spot an error, tell us, and we will correct the page and note the change.
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