How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Digital Marketer?
In today’s digital age, every business needs an online presence and digital marketing strategy to reach and engage with customers. As a result, demand for digital marketing skills has exploded in recent years. But how much should you expect to pay for professional digital marketing services? In this post, we’ll break down the typical costs of hiring a digital marketer, whether as an employee or freelancer.
What Does a Digital Marketer Do?
Before diving into costs, let’s quickly review the key responsibilities of a digital marketer:
- Developing and executing digital marketing strategies across channels like SEO, social media, email, content marketing, PPC ads, and more
- Running campaigns and measuring performance through data analysis
- Creating compelling content for websites, blogs, social media
- Building and optimizing landing pages
- Conducting keyword research to optimize content
- Staying on top of digital marketing trends and innovations
The day-to-day work focuses heavily on execution and analysis to drive results. Creativity, analytical skills, and technical prowess are must-haves for any digital marketing role.
Employee Costs: Salary and Benefits
When hiring an in-house digital marketing employee, you need to account for both salary and benefits costs.
According to PayScale, the average annual salary for a Digital Marketer in the United States is $56,697. The salary range typically falls between $41,000 and $78,000.
Location impacts average salary as well. Here are examples of major US cities:
- New York City: $67,601
- San Francisco: $74,800
- Chicago: $59,834
- Austin: $54,059
Salaries also vary based on experience and specific role:
- Entry-level Digital Marketing Specialist: $41,722
- Mid-level Digital Marketing Manager: $66,203
- Executive Digital Marketing Director: $103,297
On top of base salary, benefits like healthcare, retirement contributions, and paid vacation/sick days also add about 30% to extra costs for employees.
When budgeting, plan on about $75,000 in total annual compensation for an intermediate digital marketing specialist, and over $100,000 for experienced managers.
Global Salary Comparisons
Salaries vary significantly by location around the world. Here are average digital marketer salaries in other major markets:
- Toronto, Canada: $55,000 CAD
- London, UK: £35,000
- Berlin, Germany: €48,000
- Sydney, Australia: AU$65,000
- Shanghai, China: ¥158,000
- Mumbai, India: ₹600,000
Emerging economies like India and China have much lower salaries on average compared to the US and Europe. Hiring remote employees internationally can provide huge cost savings.
Freelancer Costs: Hourly Rates
Rather than hiring an in-house employee, many businesses use freelancers or agencies for digital marketing help. Typical hourly rates for freelancers:
- Entry-level freelancers: $25 – $50/hour
- Intermediate freelancers: $51 – $100/hour
- Expert freelancers: $101 – $150/hour
Freelancer rates vary based on factors like skills, experience, demand, and geographic location. Areas with higher costs of living also command higher hourly rates.
In the United States, an intermediate digital marketing freelancer averages around $75/hour. In lower-cost areas, rates could dip closer to $50/hour. Freelancers in India, the Philippines, and Eastern Europe charge as little as $15 – $25/hour.
While freelancers lack benefits, the total costs are often still lower than full-time employees. And you can bring on specialists for specific projects as needed.
Agency Costs: Retainers and Packages
Digital marketing agencies offer another option, though often at a premium price point. Agencies typically charge monthly retainers that start at $3,000 – $7,000 per month. Packages and service offerings vary significantly.
Some agencies focus specifically on executing campaigns and reporting on performance. Others are full-service and encompass strategy, design, content, and more.
Mid-size local agencies cost around $5,000 – $10,000 per month. Large global agencies easily charge $25,000+ in monthly retainers.
For one-time projects like redesigning a website or developing a marketing strategy, agencies might charge flat project fees ranging from $10,000 to $100,000+.
While agencies offer experience and expertise, the service costs add up quickly. Carefully evaluate if an agency makes sense for your business goals and budget.
Cost per Acquisition
Rather than focusing solely on hourly or monthly costs, it’s wise to look at the return generated by digital marketing activities. This is often measured in the cost per acquisition (CPA) of customers.
Benchmark CPAs for digital channels:
- SEO: $15 – $175
- Paid Search: $1 – $200+
- Social Media Ads: $5 – $100
- Affiliate: 5% – 20% of sale value
- Email Marketing: $10 – $50
A skilled digital marketer will optimize spending to keep CPAs as low as possible. If the marketing delivers a positive ROI, higher fees can easily be justified.
Optimizing the Digital Marketing Budget
- Prioritize essential activities like SEO, content marketing, and analytics – don’t overspend on non-essential services.
- Leverage freelancers strategically for one-time initiatives or overflow work.
- Consider hiring a junior digital marketer if you have simple needs – provide training over time to develop their skills.
- Allocate marketing budget wisely across channels based on performance data – cut poorly performing initiatives.
- Test low-cost tools and software to handle basic tasks before investing in an agency.
- Be clear on goals and metrics so you can calculate marketing ROI – only spend more if results warrant it.
Key Takeaways on Digital Marketing Costs
- In-house employee salaries range from ~$40k for entry-level to ~$100k+ for directors.
- Freelancer hourly rates span $25 – $150/hour based on experience level.
- Agencies charge monthly retainers from $3k – $25k+, depending on services.
- Emerging markets have significantly lower costs than the US/Europe.
- Focus on ROI and cost per acquisition, not just hourly rates.
- Optimize budget across essential and non-essential activities.
Hiring marketing help can be a smart investment for your business – but proceed strategically based on data and projected results. With some diligence to find the right resource at the right price, you can effectively scale your digital marketing without breaking the bank.
Hiring a Full-Time Digital Marketer Vs. Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency
Here are some of the key differences between hiring a full-time digital marketer versus using a digital marketing agency:
Full-Time Employee
- Ongoing availability – dedicated resource focused just on your business
- Develops deeper knowledge of your business over time
- Generally more cost-effective for significant workload
- Salary, benefits, and HR administration add to the costs
- Can be hard to find someone with an ideal skillset
Digital Marketing Agency
- Broader experience working with many businesses
- Access to a wider range of expertise and specializations
- Flexibility – pay only for what you need
- Potentially higher costs for the same services
- Less personalized attention and strategic depth
Some additional considerations:
- Full-time makes more sense for large stable workloads, agencies better for fluctuating needs
- Agencies excel at execution, employees offer more strategy and customization
- Evaluate technical needs – freelancers/agencies can handle SEO, PPC, analytics
- Agencies provide turnkey services but less focus on core business goals
Ideally, have an in-house digital marketer to set strategy and use agencies/freelancers for specialized execution and projects. This hybrid approach provides the best of both worlds.
Start with a needs analysis and chart out all ongoing marketing activities. Determine what expertise you need in-house vs. where you can leverage external help. Build out your digital marketing team keeping roles and costs aligned to top priorities.
