For small businesses and startups, creating an effective in-house marketing engine is challenging, and expensive. With limited resources and budgets, it can feel like an insurmountable task to complete the ideal marketing equation which consists of the right people, with the right skills plus the right technology. In this blog, we break down each component of the marketing equation, showing you just how much it takes to put together a thriving marketing team, and evaluate the cost of in-house vs. the cost to outsource marketing and provide a smarter way to grow your business.

Creating the Ideal Marketing Team = People + Skills + Technology

To calculate the real cost of marketing, you must factor in the overall cost of what is needed to create an effective team, which is people + skills + technology. This is not always a simple task, as the people, skills and technology have many layers which make marketing more complicated than it may seem. Below, we break down each component to give you a better understanding of the real cost of marketing and what factors go into forming a successful marketing engine.

People

The people are at the foundation of it all. To form a well-rounded and effective team, there are a variety of roles to consider. For marketing teams to operate best, it is essential to have a mix of people with different areas of expertise, including some proven to excel at formulating strategies and others that are experts at executing the strategies. Creating a team that is not balanced appropriately can lead to a lack of big picture understanding and ineffective tactics.

Often, organizations with tight budgets try to fill their marketing gaps by hiring a single individual. This strategy, while sometimes effective, usually leads to major blind spots, a team member that is overloaded, and spending on less-than-ideal marketing campaigns which result in low marketing ROI. To implement marketing effectively, you need more than senior-level marketers. You also need mid- and junior-level team members that will be responsible for the actual tactics. We will dive into key skills in the next paragraph, but these are a few of the role types needed to build marketing momentum.

• Leadership (CMO/VP/Director)
• Strategy & Planning
• Content Creation
• Design & Branding
• Digital & Analytics
• Sales Support

Skills

With an understanding of the roles needed, the list of skills is even longer. Not all team members will have every skill checked off, but it is imperative that as a team, these skills are present. There should be some level of expertise in every area. While this isn’t an exhaustive list, you can get an idea of how much is needed for a well-rounded, expert marketing team.

• Strategy & Planning
  • Integrated Marketing Plan Development
  • Marketing Strategy Development
  • Campaign Strategy Development
• Content Marketing
  • Content Strategy
  • Content Marketing Plan Development
  • Content Creation
• Design & Branding
  • Visual and Graphic Design
• Digital Marketing & Analytics
  • CRM Management
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Website Management
  • Email Marketing
  • SEO/GEO
  • Marketing Operations
• Organizational Support
  • Sales Enablement

Technology

The last component of the equation, technology, is an often-overlooked factor that can quickly increase costs. Unfortunately, most of these tools aren’t negotiable. Especially in today’s world, where it is a necessity to have platforms and tools to manage, analyze, and create marketing-related activities. Below are a few marketing technologies and platforms that keep marketing teams and organizations going full speed ahead, at a cost.

• CRM & Operations
  • HubSpot, Marketo, Salesforce, etc.
• Digital Marketing & Advertising
  • Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, etc.
• Graphic Design
  • Adobe Suite, etc.
• Data Visualization
  • Looker, Power BI, etc.

The Costs

Taking into consideration the number of people, the breadth of skills, and the list of tools, what does that add up to? What is the real cost of in-house marketing? For small in-house teams, it can be almost $400,000 a year. In most instances, it is usually higher when you factor in benefits, 401k, and more. That’s before you even launch a campaign or spend money in the market. These costs can be overwhelming for smaller organizations, and especially startups. This makes leaders put off marketing as long as possible or only facilitate the bare minimum. The bare minimum for marketing doesn’t produce any results, and certainly not any growth.

Why Outsource Marketing: Work With Your Team or Be Your Team

With the staggering costs needed to start up an in-house team, where can teams look to fill the marketing gap? You can save costs and get better marketing ROI if you choose to outsource marketing. Try a B2B marketing firm like Launch Marketing. One of the biggest benefits of outsourcing is that we can work with the team you have to supplement the expertise or skills that are missing, or be your team. When resources are tight and you’re not sure where to start, a team of experts can help lead the way, providing all the people, skills, and technology needed, at a fraction of the cost. With a team like Launch Marketing, you get:

• The full team, expertise, and tools
• Services packages or a la carte services
• Guidance to pinpoint what your marketing and strategy really needs
• Seamless integration with your business

When looking to achieve key results, don’t invest in the overhead. Put your dollars where they count to grow faster. Turning to outsource marketing is a great place to start.

Are you looking to kick start your marketing or take it to the next level? Contact Launch Marketing today and we can help you get started.

If you’re looking to learn more about the real cost of marketing, check out our infographic here.