There’s a particular kind of Tuesday afternoon that leads to this search.
Something has gone quiet. Enquiries, maybe, or the sense that the business is being outpaced by a competitor you don’t rate. You’ve decided you need to do something about marketing properly, and now you’re looking at four doors — an agency, a freelancer, hiring someone, or carrying on doing it yourself at nine at night.
I’m one of those doors, so read this accordingly. But I’m going to try to give you the version I’d give a friend, including the bits where the answer isn’t me. There are businesses I turn away every year because one of the other three is genuinely the right call, and everyone’s happier when that gets said early.
The four options, honestly
1. A marketing agency
What it costs: £1,500–£6,000 a month on retainer for a small or medium business, or project fees from around £5,000. Larger agencies start higher.
What’s good: real depth. Several specialists, proper process, cover when someone’s on holiday, and scale when a campaign needs six people for a fortnight. If you’re spending serious money on paid media, or you need capability across markets, an agency earns it.
What’s hard: the pitch is rarely the delivery. You meet the founder and the strategist, then you’re handed to an account manager, and the work goes to someone two years into their career. That isn’t dishonesty, it’s the economics of the model — senior time is what agencies sell least of and charge most for. You will also spend real hours briefing, chasing and translating.
Choose this if: your budget is above roughly £4,000 a month, you need several disciplines at full pelt simultaneously, or you have someone internally whose job is to manage them.
2. A freelancer
What it costs: £250–£500 a day, or £400–£1,500 a month for a specific ongoing task.
What’s good: you get exactly the skill you asked for, at a fair price, from someone doing the work themselves. For a defined job — a set of ads, a month of social, a website — it’s often the best value on this list.
What’s hard: freelancers are specialists, and marketing isn’t one thing. So you buy a social freelancer, then a web freelancer, then someone for the emails, and now you’re the unpaid project manager for four people who’ve never spoken to each other. The strategy sits with you, whether you wanted it or not. Nobody is looking at the whole thing.
Choose this if: you know exactly what you need, it’s genuinely one discipline, and someone in your business is holding the plan.
3. Hiring a marketing manager
What it costs: £35,000–£45,000 salary outside London, so £45,000–£55,000 fully loaded once you add NI, pension, holiday, software, kit and recruitment. Then a few months of onboarding before you see much.
What’s good: they’re yours. In the building, in the meetings, absorbing the business by osmosis. Over years, that context is worth an enormous amount and nothing else on this list replicates it.
What’s hard: three things people underestimate. First, one person covers two or three disciplines well, not eight — a good social and content marketer is usually not a good SEO and paid media one. Second, they need managing, and marketing is the hardest function to manage if you don’t know it yourself. Third, if the hire is wrong you’ve lost a year and about £50,000, and you’ll be more reluctant to try again.
Choose this if: you have enough consistent marketing work to fill a person, someone who can manage and judge them, and a plan for the disciplines they won’t cover.
4. An outsourced marketer (what I do)
What it costs: in my case, £350 a day, from one dedicated day a month to eight. So £350 to £2,800 a month, published on the website.
What’s good: one experienced person across the whole mix — strategy, brand, website, content, SEO, paid, email — embedded in your business on set days, doing the work themselves. No account manager, no juniors, no handovers, no recruitment risk, and no notice period drama. You can start at one day a month and scale.
What’s hard: I’m one person, so I’m not the answer for a business that needs six people on a launch simultaneously, and my time is finite — I take a small number of clients and if the diary’s full, it’s full. For heavy video production I direct a trusted network rather than doing it myself.
Choose this if: you need serious marketing across several disciplines, can’t justify or don’t want a full department, and want to deal with the person actually doing the work.
The comparison in one table
| Agency | Freelancer | In-house hire | Outsourced marketer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical monthly cost | £1,500–£6,000 | £400–£1,500 | £4,000–£4,600 (loaded) | £350–£2,800 |
| Breadth of skills | High | Narrow | Medium | High |
| Seniority doing the work | Mixed, often junior | Senior | Depends on the hire | Senior |
| Who holds the strategy | Them (partly) | You | Them, once settled | Them, from day one |
| Management burden on you | Medium | High | High | Low |
| Speed to useful output | 4–8 weeks | 1–2 weeks | 3–6 months | 2–4 weeks |
| Risk if it’s wrong | Notice period | Low | ~£50,000 and a year | One month’s notice |
Costs are typical UK ranges outside London for an established SME in 2026, not quotes.
The question that actually decides it
Not “what can I afford” — everyone starts there and it’s the wrong end. Start here instead:
How many marketing disciplines does your business genuinely need firing at once?
- One or two, clearly defined? Freelancer. Don’t overbuy.
- Five or six, at moderate intensity, with nobody internal to hold it together? That’s the outsourced marketer case, and it’s the most common answer for an established business between £500,000 and £5m turnover.
- Five or six, at high intensity, with real budget behind them? Agency, or an agency plus an internal manager.
- Enough consistent work to fill a full-time person, plus someone able to manage them? Hire — and get help building the role and the plan before you advertise.
The second question, which almost nobody asks: what does the exit look like? Most arrangements are built to keep you in them. If your intention is to bring marketing in-house eventually, say so at the start and ask how each option gets you there. It’s a fair question and the answer is revealing.
Where I sit, plainly
For established small and medium businesses that need serious marketing but can’t justify a full department — and don’t want the runaround of an agency where you’re handed to a junior — I’m the fifth option: one experienced marketer, sixteen years across the whole mix, embedded in your business and doing the work personally.
I deep-dive into the business, build the plan, then run it on days that belong to you. And when you’re ready to bring it in-house, I’ll help you structure the role, hire it and train it, then step back. My job is to make myself unnecessary — that’s how you know the work was real.
Common questions
How much does a marketing agency cost?
Most UK agencies work on retainers between £1,500 and £6,000 a month for an SME, with project work starting around £5,000. Very few publish prices, so expect to have a meeting before you get a number. An independent marketing consultant typically costs £250–£500 a day — I charge £350 — which usually works out 30–50% cheaper for the same scope, because there’s no account management layer.
Is it better to hire a marketing manager or outsource marketing?
Hire when you have enough consistent work to fill a full-time role and someone who can manage and judge marketing. Outsource when you need several disciplines at moderate intensity, or you don’t have anyone internally who can direct a marketer. A full-time marketing manager typically costs £45,000–£55,000 fully loaded and will cover two or three disciplines well; an outsourced marketer covers the full mix from £350 a day with no recruitment risk.
What’s the difference between a marketing agency and a marketing consultant?
An agency is a team — you get breadth and cover, but the person who pitched is rarely the person doing the work. A consultant is one experienced individual who does the work themselves, so you get senior time and one point of contact, but finite capacity. For most SMEs the deciding factor is whether you need several specialists working simultaneously.
How long before marketing starts working?
Paid advertising can produce enquiries within weeks. SEO and content typically take three to six months to move meaningfully, and email sits in between. Any arrangement should be given at least six months before you judge it — which is also why I ask for a six-month initial term, then roll monthly.
Can one person really do all of my marketing?
For most SMEs, yes — if they’ve genuinely done all of it before. I’ve spent sixteen years across strategy, brand, websites, content, SEO, paid ads, email and design, built and sold an agency, and run marketing as a Head of Marketing. Where genuine specialism is needed, such as heavy video production, I direct a small trusted network — but you deal with me and the buck stops with me.
Tell me what’s not working
Thirty minutes. No pitch, no deck, no “let me loop in the team” — there is no team.
Tell me about the business and where it’s stuck, and I’ll tell you honestly which of these four options you actually need. If it isn’t me, I’ll point you at whatever is, and I’ll tell you who’s good locally.
