Marketing retainer or in-house hire: what $7,000 a month buys
Should you hire a marketing person or pay an agency each month? A plain comparison of what a retainer covers, what it costs and when an in-house hire makes more sense.
- Our marketing retainers run at $7,000, $10,000 and $14,000 a month.
- A retainer gives you strategy, production, posting and reporting from one team.
- One in-house person rarely covers strategy, filming, editing, design and community management.
- A three month start gives the strategy time to work, then it runs month to month.
Short answer: a marketing retainer suits businesses that need consistent, good quality content and someone accountable for results, without building a team. An in-house hire suits businesses with enough work to keep one person busy full time on a narrow set of tasks. Our retainers start at $7,000 a month and cover strategy, a monthly shoot, a full content calendar, community management and reporting.
What one marketing hire can realistically cover
Most businesses hiring their first marketer want one person to plan the strategy, write the posts, film and edit video, design graphics, run ads, answer comments and report on results. That is five or six different skill sets. The usual result is a great generalist who runs out of hours, with video and design outsourced anyway.
What a retainer covers
A retainer puts a full team behind your brand for a set monthly price. At Shoelace that means:
- Strategy up front: goals, audience and channels agreed in workshops, reviewed every quarter
- One shoot day a month: concepts approved before the shoot, talent sourced, video and photo in one day
- A full content calendar: video, graphics and captions, scheduled and posted for Meta and LinkedIn
- Community management: comments and messages answered in your voice, with issues flagged fast
- Monthly reporting: what worked, what did not and what changes next month
The three retainer tiers
Our retainers sit at $7,000, $10,000 and $14,000 a month. Higher tiers add more content and channels, and the $14,000 tier includes paid ads management. Extra posts can be added at a set price. The first three months are a set term so the strategy has time to work, then it runs month to month.
What results look like
For Leaselab, a novated leasing provider, one shoot day a month feeds the whole content calendar. In the first three months that produced 62,500+ organic views across Facebook and Instagram, and Facebook messages turned into sales conversations passed straight to their team.
When an in-house hire makes more sense
- You publish daily and need someone on site every day
- Most of the work is admin, events or internal communications
- You already have production and design covered elsewhere
Many of our clients do both: an in-house coordinator owns the day to day, and we provide strategy, production and reporting around them.
Common questions
How much does a marketing retainer cost?
Our retainers start from $7,000 a month, with tiers at $10,000 and $14,000. The $14,000 tier includes paid ads management.
Is there a lock-in?
The first three months are a set term. After that it runs month to month.
Can a retainer work with our in-house team?
Yes. We plan around what your team already does well and fill the gaps in production, posting or reporting.
Can we just get a marketing strategy?
Yes. A standalone marketing strategy starts from $15,000 and includes two to three workshops and a genuine market deep dive.
Talk to us about a retainer
See what our marketing retainers include, or start your quote and we will recommend the right tier for your goals.
Clear quote, written scope, reply within one business day.
More from the team.
