How Much Does Outsourcing Your Marketing Cost? A Clear, Honest Guide for SME Leaders
- Sophie Davies
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
If you’ve ever typed “how much does outsourcing marketing cost?” into Google, you’ve likely seen answers ranging anywhere from £300 a month to £10,000 a month.
Not helpful.
The truth is simple:
Outsourced marketing isn’t a product. It’s a service shaped around your business, your goals, your sector and the level of strategic thinking you need.
This guide is written for ambitious SME leaders who know marketing matters but don’t have the time, internal skills or clarity to get it working properly. It’s based on real experience supporting companies like Streamlion, Panthera, CN Glass, Absolute Architecture, Love Seitan and Samtaler, all of whom needed marketing that was more than noise or guesswork.
Let’s break down the real costs, the real value, and what you can expect.
Why Costs Vary So Much
Marketing costs depend on what your business actually needs, including:
how many services you offer
how complex your audience is
whether you're B2B or B2C
the state of your current marketing
whether you have internal support
how quickly you need results
how clear your messaging is (or isn’t)
Most businesses come to us doing a lot of activity but missing the fundamentals, particularly messaging and audience clarity. Without these, nothing else works.
As one client put it:
“Your Marketing Department helped us articulate our message with confidence and delivered a strategy that feels authentic and impactful.” Samtaler
The Three Phases of Outsourced Marketing (The Your Marketing Department Way)
1. Strategy Phase: Weeks 0–8
This is the backbone. You cannot skip this.
You get:
market research
customer interviews (if selected incredibly valuable)
competitor review
audience definition
messaging and differentiation
your marketing priorities
your 90-day plan
This is where clients get clarity, direction and focus often for the first time in their business journey.
Steve from Love Seitan described it perfectly:
“Your Marketing Department helped me articulate a clear and focused strategy and then turned it into a practical execution plan that genuinely boosted our sales.”
No activity happens here. This is pure thinking, research and direction.
2. Brilliant Basics: Starts around Weeks 6–12
This phase overlaps with the end of the strategy work.
It’s where we put the strategy into practice by aligning your essentials:
updating your existing website (content, clarity, structure not rebuilding it)
setting up or fixing social media
setting up or fixing Google Business Profile
aligning messaging across your core materials
creating the foundations for strong, consistent content
It’s tidy, practical and focused.
No unnecessary rebrands.No expensive website projects.No reinvention for the sake of it.
You only change what needs to change.
3. Monthly Retainer: From Month 3 Onwards
This is where outsourced marketing becomes your marketing department.
Your retainer includes:
content
emails
social media
website updates
SEO improvements
campaigns
reporting
supplier liaison
internal coordination
ongoing strategic oversight
weekly or monthly calls
And most importantly:
we make your marketing consistent, strategic and commercially grounded.
Clients describe this stage as gaining a safe pair of hands, a team who knows the business inside out and proactively drives it forward.
As CN Glass put it:
“They helped our business grow massively, we increased turnover from £2m to £8m in just three years. We wouldn’t be where we are now without them.”
So… How Much Does It Cost?
Strategy & 90 Day Plan Only (Standalone Project)
For businesses who only want strategic clarity.
£3,240–£5,260 (depending on whether you choose customer interviews)
Monthly retainer (Includes Strategy + 90 Day Plan + Brilliant Basics + Ongoing Delivery)
£2,000–£3,450 per month, depending on:
number of service lines
complexity of the market
internal support
volume of content
B2B vs B2C
campaign requirements
Your monthly retainer covers:
the full strategy
all Brilliant Basics setup
and ongoing execution all within one consistent monthly fee.
Not included:
PPC / Google Ads
PR
advanced creative or video
(We can manage these suppliers as needed.)
Comparison: In-House vs Agency vs Outsourced
Here’s a simple way to think about it:
Option | What You Pay | What You Get |
In-House Marketer | £55k–£80k+ salary & overheads | One person, usually not strategic |
Traditional Agency | Higher retainers, fixed scopes | Lots of activity, less strategy, many clients |
YMD Outsourced Department | £2k–£3k per month | Strategist + implementer + direction + continuity |
Hybrid | Similar to agency | Mix of internal & external support |
This is why businesses like Panthera say:
“It’s like they’re an extended part of our team… they only recommended tactics that would work.”
Why £1,000 per Month Isn’t Enough
This is one of the most important truths:
£1,000/month buys activity not effective marketing.
At £1,000 per month you get:
light social posting
some ad hoc tweaks
But you don’t get:
strategy
messaging
campaigns
multi-channel content
analysis
direction
consistent delivery
If you want marketing that moves the business forward, £2,000/month is the absolute minimum that allows us to deliver value without being stretched thin.
Where SMEs Waste Money Before Outsourcing
These are the patterns we see again and again:
1. Agencies running PPC without strategic messaging
More budget doesn’t fix bad targeting.
2. Doing “more” instead of doing the right things
Volume does not = results.
3. Hiring a £24k marketing manager and expecting strategic leadership
Lovely people. Wrong level. No support.
4. Talking about themselves rather than their customers
This alone can kill conversion rates.
5. Paying suppliers they don’t know how to manage
This is where money quietly disappears.
One of the biggest benefits of outsourcing is that we stop the waste and focus spend where it actually works.
Case Studies: What Outsourcing Really Achieves
Strategy → execution plan → real sales uplift.
“Her approach made sure we achieved the maximum possible return on every pound of marketing spend.”
Samtaler
Clear message → stronger content → better engagement.
“We’re now engaging with our audience more effectively than ever.”
Full outsourced support → major strategic growth.
“They helped our business grow massively, we increased turnover from £2m to £8m in just three years. We wouldn’t be where we are now without them.”
Strategy + aligned marketing + consistent delivery.
“They took time to understand our business and only recommended tactics they knew would work.”
Long-term strategic partnership → growth from £250k to £1.5m over time.(Backed by detailed case study evidence.)
Across all clients, the biggest benefit is the same:clarity, consistency, and confidence.
Who Shouldn’t Outsource Marketing
We’re not the right fit if:
your turnover is under £300k
you want one-off projects
you want someone to “just do socials”
you want activity without strategy
you want to dictate tactics
you prefer chaos to clarity
We work best with leaders who want partnership, strategy and long-term progress.
How Long Should You Commit?
At least a year.
Because:
Months 0–3: Strategy + Brilliant Basics
Months 3–6: Stabilising
Months 6–12: Momentum and growth
Marketing isn’t instant.It compounds when done properly.
Truths That Most Agencies Won’t Tell You
You don’t need to spend 10% of turnover on marketing.
It’s outdated advice.
Effective marketing isn’t channels, it’s clarity.
Without the right message, nothing works.
Outsourcing gives you a strategist and a doer for the cost of one internal hire.
We don’t recommend unnecessary spend.
If it works, we don’t change it.
Final Word: Marketing That Works, Without the Noise
When you outsource your marketing, you’re not buying posts, emails or campaigns.You’re buying clarity, confidence and a partner who genuinely cares about your success.
As one client said:
“They actually care.” CN Glass
And as another put it:
“Structure, clarity and momentum; they made a real difference to the business.” Love Seitan
If you're ready to take marketing off your plate and finally have a clear, strategic plan that grows the business, let’s have a calm, no-pressure conversation.
Your Marketing Department.Marketing that does what it’s supposed to. Grow your business.
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