How Much Does it Cost to Outsource B2B Marketing?

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Marketing is a line item on the budget that’s often in the company crosshairs, yet its ROI can be challenging to measure precisely.

When discussing marketing efforts, outsourcing to a third party frequently emerges as an option. The primary question: What's the cost of outsourcing digital marketing?

Let's break down your potential investment and what it could offer your business – not just in saving money vs. hiring in-house, but also in revenue growth.

Outsourced Digital Marketing Cost Considerations

Let's talk numbers. Digital marketing (inbound or content marketing) pricing isn’t just a “who” question. You’ll also need to know when and how much:

1. WHO Will You Hire?

B2B marketing agency retainers typically range from $2,000 to $20,000/month. At our agency, $5,000 monthly is a common starting point. This is a viable investment for immediate access to trained experts who can quickly learn your business and get to work.

An agency’s price point will depend on its:

• Quality
• Location
• Markets served
• Breadth of services
  
  

2. WHAT Marketing Services Do You Need?

Once you're considering outsourcing, the next step is determining which tasks to delegate. 

Do you want to split duties between an agency and your in-house people? Or is there nobody on your staff with the time or talent to write content or design webpages? Are you interested in marketing coaching services?

Obviously, the more services you need, the more effort your outside team will need to put in. This drives up cost, but less so if you go with a full-service agency rather than piecemealing agencies or freelancers together.

Good marketing agencies prefer to focus on high-ROI, low-effort areas first. See if your potential agency offers these services:

• Website Build/Maintenance: Most companies don’t have an in-house employee capable of creating a website that meets modern B2B standards. Even if you’re able to launch a site, regular health checks and addressing issues like broken links are essential. Making a website isn’t a "set and forget" task.
  
  
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Getting your site to appear in search results requires constant adaptation to user experience trends and Google's ever-evolving ranking algorithms. Outsourcing leverages agency expertise in both on-page and off-page SEO, such as keyword use and proper meta tags.
  
  
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: Like SEO, PPC demands regular evaluation and adjustment. Outsourcing allows your team to focus on core business functions while experts manage research and bidding on keywords you want to win with Google Ads.
  
  
• Content Marketing: This encompasses written, audio, and visual content. From blogs to podcasts to product demos, outsourcing can give you access to tools and experts you’d never otherwise have.
  
  
• Email Marketing: Part of content marketing, an effective inbound marketing email campaign requires personalization, strategic subject lines, and compelling content. It’s a very different skill from cold calling or emailing.
  
  
• Social Media Marketing: Also an offshoot of content marketing, social marketing involves using unique best practices for each platform. Don’t go overboard with spending here unless your audience research suggests otherwise; LinkedIn is usually the only channel that brings ROI for B2Bs.

A website build can cost $10,000 to $100,000, depending on the scope of work and the bells and whistles you want. On the other hand, if you only want someone to manage a small PPC account for you, that could cost as little as $500 per month.

3. HOW Fast Do You Want to Grow?

Ahh, the forgotten one of the famous six “W” questions. (Probably because it doesn’t start with W.)

It’s imperative that you and your agency or freelancers set goals up-front. Where are your digital presence and total revenue at now? How would you like to be doing in 1*, 2, and 5 years?

(*Digital/inbound marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time to get your content ranking in Google and bringing in leads, so don’t demand 500% sales growth in year one.)

How fast you want to grow impacts how much work your third-party marketers will have on their plates each month. Want to grow faster? Invest more dollars.

Now, Compare This to In-House Digital Marketing

For the sake of consistency and fairness, let’s use the standard number from before and say you receive a quote for agency marketing services at $5,000/month.

Now let’s say you’re also considering doing the exact same scope and speed of work, but keeping it in-house. Achieving comparable ROI would require:

• Hiring, an average 47-day recruitment process that itself costs ~$4,000/employee
• Training, 1-12 weeks
• Tools for web building, SEO/keyword research, lead management, etc., which combined can cost thousands of dollars/month

The price of building and executing a comprehensive marketing strategy can escalate rapidly. In 2024, estimates for a modestly sized, full-scope marketing team range from $250,000 to $600,000 annually ($20,833 to $50,000 monthly). A web designer alone could cost you $100,000 per year if you keep one on staff full-time. Then there’s the equipment, office space, software subscriptions … the list goes on.

A $5,000-a-month B2B marketing agency would cost you $60,000 annually. Great agencies (or freelancers) don’t necessarily grow on trees, but pick the right one and you’ll gain value at a much lower investment.

6 Ways Outsourcing Digital Marketing Saves You Money

A common concern about outsourcing digital marketing is investing in something that gives you less control. However, with the right agency, you might actually find budgeting becomes more predictable and stable.

Key benefits of outsourcing include:

1. Access to Specialists

Marketing agencies understand web design, user experience, and SEO best practices more than 99.99% of your staff. If not, you’re talking to the wrong agencies.

By delegating new and challenging marketing tasks to experienced specialists, your digital marketing strategy and execution can target the right people with the right content. If nothing else, you’ll avoid having an unqualified in-house person accidentally break your website every 3 weeks.

2. Cost-Effectiveness

Top skills command higher salaries. Outsourcing provides access to experienced staff as needed, without the commitment of full-time salaries and benefits. This may lead to improved ROI vs. trying to hire, train, and manage people in-house.

3. Scalability and Flexibility

Outsourcing allows you to engage different experts within the same agency or pool of freelancers based on your business goals and opportunities. It offers flexibility to pivot after quarterly reviews and scale velocity of activities as budgets change. Best of all, you get to do so without additional hires or training.

4. You Can Flex Your Core Muscles

With muscles, they say, you either use them or lose ’em. Similarly, it’s easy to stray from your core competencies every time the unexpected comes up. 

Delegating marketing to third-party experts frees you to concentrate on:

• Sales
• Mentoring
• R&D

Successful division of tasks leads to better overall business results and growth.

And don’t worry – any good agency will communicate regularly and value your input at key stages. You won’t be left out in the cold.

5. Outside Perspective

Has your staff been lost among the trees for so long that it’s no longer able to see the forest for what it is? Agencies can identify natural biases that may impede marketing efforts. 

Their fresh perspective, combined with industry knowledge working alongside similar B2B clients, can push you out of comfortable, but potentially underperforming, habits.

6. It’s Like a Cheat Code

Want access to the latest trends, technologies, and tools that actually work?

Agencies allocate resources to stay current with Google Search algorithm changes, user experience trends, and AI tools.

The True Cost of Digital Marketing? Your Time & Patience

If you're asking how much it costs to outsource marketing, you should be measuring it in both days and years. With the money you spend on a monthly retainer, can access experienced professionals in:

• Graphic design
• Website design
• Strategy
• Content creation
• SEO
• Training

Looking at outsourced marketing costs vs. the budget required to have the same level of expertise in-house, the most cost-effective option today may be an outside agency. The budget required to maintain access to that level of expertise is significantly lower than attempting to maintain that same quality in-house with regular employee training, not to mention footing the annual salary of all the experts you will need. For those reasons, a B2B marketing agency may bring you more long-term ROI too.

The right marketing agency will lead the way in making strategic decisions, while also valuing your unique insight. It may feel weird to cede a bit of control, but seeing lead generation numbers improve without hiring, training, and managing extra in-house employees is a great way to wow stakeholders.

If outsourcing to an online marketing company feels like the right way to maximize your budget, see for yourself. The page linked below talks about pricing (gasp!) and gives a candid look (double gasp!) at what to expect based on your needs: