The $90,000 Mistake: Why Hiring In-House Marketing Staff is Costing You More Than You Think
- mgcorp21
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Your business is growing. You are too busy running operations to post on social media, worry about SEO keywords, or figure out why your website traffic has plateaued.
You know you need dedicated marketing help.
The knee-jerk reaction for most business owners in South Florida is, "I need to hire a marketing manager." It feels like the next logical step on the organizational chart.
But before you post that job description on Indeed, you need to look at the actual math.
Hiring a full-time, in-house employee is often significantly more expensive—and less effective—than partnering with a specialized digital marketing agency like RJM Marketing Group.
Here is the honest breakdown of the costs, and why outsourcing is the smarter play for growing businesses.
1. The "Iceberg Illusion" of Salary
When you look at hiring a mid-level marketing manager in Weston or Fort Lauderdale, you might see an average salary of around $65,000 to $75,000 a year.
That seems manageable. But the salary is just the tip of the iceberg.
Experienced business owners know that an employee's true cost is usually 1.25x to 1.4x their base salary. You have to account for:
Payroll Taxes (FICA, Unemployment): ~8-10%
Benefits & Health Insurance: ~$500 - $1,000/month
Paid Time Off & Sick Days: 2-3 weeks of non-productive salary.
Equipment & Onboarding: Laptops, software licenses, desk space.
Recruiting Costs: The time (or fees) spent finding them.
The Reality: That "$70k employee" actually costs your business closer to $90,000 - $100,000 in Year 1.
For that same investment, you could hire a premium agency for an entire year and likely still have budget left over for ad spend.
2. The "Unicorn" Problem (The Skill Gap)
This is the biggest hidden pitfall of hiring in-house.
Marketing in 2026 is incredibly fragmented. It requires very different, specialized skill sets. You need:
An analytical brain for SEO and Data.
A creative brain for Graphic Design and Video.
A technical brain for Web Development.
A persuasive brain for Copywriting and Ads.
When you hire one "Marketing Manager," you are asking one human being to be an expert in all of those things simultaneously.
They don't exist. They are "unicorns."
What usually happens is you hire someone who is great at social media but terrible at SEO. Or someone who is a great writer but can't design a graphic to save their life.
The Agency Advantage:
When you hire RJM Marketing Group, you aren't hiring one person trying to juggle five plates. You are hiring a team. You get access to our SEO specialist, our web designer, our content writer, and our strategist—all for a flat monthly fee that is less than one employee's salary.
3. The Hidden Tech Tax
A good carpenter needs good tools. A good marketer needs expensive software.
To do marketing correctly today, you need subscriptions to premium tools for SEO research (like SEMrush or Ahrefs), design software (Adobe Creative Cloud), email automation platforms, and analytics trackers.
If you hire in-house, you have to buy those subscriptions for them. That can easily add another $500 - $1,000 per month to your overhead.
The Agency Advantage:
We already own the best tools in the industry. We spread that cost across all our clients, meaning you get access to enterprise-level data without paying the enterprise-level subscription fees.
4. Continuity vs. Chaos
What happens when your in-house marketing manager gets sick for a week? Marketing stops.
What happens when they take a two-week vacation? Marketing stops.
What happens if they decide to leave for a competitor after 8 months? You are back to square one, re-hiring and re-training.
An agency doesn't take sick days. We don't take vacations that halt your progress. We provide continuity. If one team member is out, another steps in. Your growth engine never stops running.
The Verdict: Invest in Results, Not Overhead
Hiring in-house feels like control, but it often results in high fixed costs, management headaches, and limited skill sets.
Partnering with an agency is about agility and expertise.
At RJM Marketing Group, we offer South Florida businesses an entire marketing department for less than the cost of a single entry-level employee.
Stop paying for overhead and start paying for results.
👋 Ready to see the numbers for your specific business?
Let’s hop on a 15-minute strategy call. We’ll show you exactly what an agency budget looks like compared to an in-house hire.
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