The True Cost of Hiring a Marketing Manager Unveiled December 2025
- Dec 6
- 7 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
How Much Does a Marketing Manager Really Cost? (And Do You Actually Need One?)
Hiring a marketing manager sounds simple: post a job, offer a salary, plug the human into the empty chair, and boom—growth. Right?
Wrong.
Cost of Hiring a Marketing Manager
In real life? The true cost is a lot messier than the salary line in your payroll app. Most business owners underestimate what they’re signing up for, which is how they end up with a stressed-out manager, a bloated budget, and a whole lot of “Why isn’t this working?”
Let’s break down the true cost of hiring a Marketing Manager, compare your options, and help you decide what fits your business right now—not in some imaginary future where you suddenly have a corporate budget.
Salary vs. Real Cost of a Marketing Manager
When you see “Marketing Manager – $70,000/year” on a job board, that’s just the base number. The real cost to your business is everything that stacks on top.
Typical Salary Ranges
These are rough ranges in USD and will swing by region and industry, but this is the general neighborhood:
Junior Marketing Manager: $50,000–$70,000/year
Mid-Level Marketing Manager: $70,000–$90,000/year
Senior Marketing Manager: $90,000–$120,000+/year
That’s just the paycheck. That's them showing up with their brain, ready to do some tasks. Now let’s add the invisible line items.
Hidden Costs Beyond Salary
Benefits. Health insurance, retirement match, paid time off, bonuses.
Usually adds 20–30% on top of salary.
Payroll Taxes.
Employer-side Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, etc.
Typically, another 7–10%.
Tools & Software.
CRM, email platform, scheduling, analytics, design tools, and project management.
Easily $2,000–$5,000 per year per person when you add everything up.
Training & Development.
Courses, conferences, and certifications to keep skills current.
Plan on $1,000–$3,000 per year if you want them to stay sharp.
Management Time.
Your time (or a director’s time) is spent reviewing, approving, planning, and redirecting.
Not a line on the P&L, but it is a cost... ask someone who didn't budget time or money to have this option. It can cost your business a LOT of money to not have marketing oversight. (Hint: You can hire THE NERD for a 30,000 ft view that's non-biased in her corporate consulting program.)
What a $70,000 Salary Really Means
A marketing manager with a $70,000 salary usually costs your business closer to:
$90,000–$100,000 per year once you add benefits, taxes, tools, and overhead.
That’s a conservative estimate.
In some markets or industries, the all-in cost is higher.
If your business isn’t ready to carry that every single year, you don’t have a “marketing problem.”
You have a staffing strategy problem.
Your Options: In-House vs. Freelancer vs. Agency vs. Hybrid
A full-time marketing manager is just one way to get the job done. For most small to mid-sized businesses, it’s not even the best first move.
Quick Comparison
Option | Control | Flexibility | Expertise | Burnout Risk | Cost Fit |
In-House Manager | High | Low | Mid–High | Medium | Good for high, consistent volume |
Freelancer(s) | Medium | High | Variable | Low for you | Great for specific projects |
Agency | Low–Medium | Medium | High | Low for you | Higher cost, scalable support |
Hybrid/Fractional Lead | Medium | High | High | Low | Strong balance of cost + strategy |
In-House Marketing Manager
Pros:
Deeply learns your brand, team, and customers
Fully dedicated to your business
Always there for “we need this tomorrow” moments
Cons:
High fixed costs, whether or not you fully utilize them
One person can’t be great at everything (strategy, copy, design, video, analytics, etc.)
If your marketing needs are seasonal or inconsistent, they’re either bored or drowning
This works when your business has consistent campaign volume and a clear long-term marketing roadmap. If you’re still figuring out your offer, audience, or messaging? It’s early... careful.
Freelancers
Pros:
Flexible: you pay for what you use
Access to specialized skills (design, SEO, email, video, etc.)
Easy to test new initiatives without long-term commitment
Cons:
Skill level and reliability vary wildly
Can be task-focused with no unified strategy
You (or someone on your team) still has to direct the work and provide the context.
Freelancers are perfect for specific projects—a website build, a photoshoot, a launch sequence—but they usually aren’t your long-term marketing brain.
Agencies
Pros:
Team of specialists under one roof
Strategy, execution, and reporting are bundled together
Scales up or down more easily than an employee
Cons:
Less direct control over the process
Can feel “cookie-cutter” if they don’t understand your niche
Monthly retainers can rival (or exceed) the cost of a full-time hire when you budget in the work and fees you'll still be responsible for
Agencies make sense when you want to outsource nearly everything, and you have the budget and leadership capacity to manage that relationship.
Hybrid / Fractional Marketing Manager
This is where a lot of smart small businesses land.
Pros:
Senior-level strategy without a full-time price tag
Flexible hours and scope—ramp up or down with your season
Can coordinate freelancers, internal staff, and vendors
Cons:
Not in your building 40 hours a week
Requires clear expectations and communication
This model is ideal if you:
Know you need leadership and a plan
Don’t have $90k+ per year to drop on one salary
Already have some team members or vendors, but no one is steering the ship
(Hi, this is literally where The Nerd lives to help businesses succeed... If you're resonating with this step but can't eye the person you need for oversight or an agency to work with your team, Facets of Hospitality would love to build that bridge for you.)
When You Should Hire Full-Time—and When You Absolutely Should Not Hire a Marketing Team
A full-time marketing manager makes sense when your business checks several boxes.
Quick Self-Check
You’re probably ready for a full-time marketing manager if:
Revenue: You’re doing at least $1M+ per year and marketing is a major growth lever.
Pipeline: You’ve got a steady flow of leads/guests/clients and you’re now optimizing and scaling, not guessing.
Content Volume: You’re consistently running campaigns, events, launches, email, and multi-channel content that truly needs a 40-hour brain.
If you’re still in “feast or famine,” launching new offers every quarter, or changing your mind every 3 weeks? A full-time hire will be frustrated, underutilized, or both.
A Few Scenarios
Local Spa: Likely better served by a hybrid/fractional lead + a part-time implementer than a full-time manager. Seasonal demand + limited capacity = keep it lean.
Restaurant: Needs boots-on-the-ground content and consistent presence, but not necessarily a $90k strategist. Think part-time marketing coordinator + fractional strategy.
SaaS Startup or Multi-Location Brand: If you’re aggressively scaling, launching features, and raising capital, a full-time marketing manager—or even a full marketing department—can be justified earlier.
The most common mistake I see?
Businesses hiring a full-time manager too early, just to have “a marketing person,” then quietly resenting the cost.
How to Budget for Marketing Without Blowing Payroll
A common rule of thumb:
Established business: 5–10% of revenue into marketing
Aggressive growth mode or early-stage: sometimes higher, but strategic, not chaotic
For many small businesses, a starter marketing budget of $3,000–$5,000 per month can realistically cover:
Strategy & planning
Core content and email
Basic design and website updates
A few targeted campaigns per quarter
That budget can be spread across a fractional marketing lead + a small team of specialists, instead of one full-time salary that still can’t do everything.
A Budget-Friendly Middle Ground: Fractional Leadership
If a full-time marketing manager feels like too much commitment—but you’re also tired of duct-taping freelancers together—you’re the exact business I built Facets of Hospitality / The Nerd on Your Marketing Team for.
With a fractional marketing manager / strategic partner model, you can get:
Clear marketing strategy tied to your actual capacity
Priority projects mapped out and executed in sequence (not chaos)
Oversight of freelancers or internal team members
Honest reporting on what’s working and what’s just noise
All without committing to a $90,000+ annual payroll hit when you don't know what you need or where you're going. That's doable when you do... but do you?
Final Thought
Hiring a marketing manager is not just a “Do we like this person?” decision. It’s a financial strategy decision. The personality of your marketing team is a small drop in the bucket of how well they will work with and for your company's thought process. Putting effort into understanding how your candidates motivate themselves to create good work, and then ask to see that good work, and ask how they are in a team project. Determine who gets the dynamic of what you're trying to build... not who has the checkboxes of technology you've been told you need to ask about. Do you KNOW your company, the business model, and the product you're offering the public or a business? Because if you do not, and you cannot explain that to a marketing professional- team, agency, freelancer or salaried position - then you are not ready to hire a marketing manager.
Once you understand:
The true cost of an in-house manager
How does that compares to freelancers, agencies, and hybrid models
Where your business actually sits on the growth curve
What you do and how you need it to sit in the market, and why
Where your team sits in terms of skillsets and marketing and collaborating with others...
…you can choose a setup that fits your season instead of copying what you think “real businesses” are supposed to do.
If you want help deciding what makes sense for your business right now—whether that’s DIY with better guidance, a fractional partner, or preparing to hire a full-time manager—that’s literally what I do.
Here's a 2024 article about this topic, focused on how to determine a marketing agency vs. a freelancer and what it costs to hire a marketing team outsourced.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for reading. This blog was inspired by The Nerd, Jennifer, the founder of Facets of Hospitality, who started as a ghostwriter and went on to own a marketing agency that supplies services to businesses of all levels, sizes, and missions around the world, facilitated by competent business owners, freelancers, and experts ready to help you! Growing a small business isn't an easy task and in the movies they make turning around and saying, "Hey Jenn, I need a flyer for our sale on my desk by 5 pm" and having a flyer on your desk by 5 pm - so easy... but without a competant marketing team who knows you, that can often upset all kinds of applecarts.
The idea of owning a business is to make money. To do so, you need to generate something to sell, and someone has to buy it. Your Marketing Team at Facets of Hospitality, powered by FacetHub, was created to support your business while you stay in your lane of genius.
