In-House Marketing Team vs Agency: What Each Costs in the UK in 2026

A two-person in-house B2B marketing team (a marketing manager and an executive) costs £90,756 a year to employ at Robert Half's 2026 UK starting salaries (50th percentile), before recruitment and tools. UK agencies charge £1,250 to £3,500 a month for one channel and £3,500 to £16,750 for full service (Whito). ORRJO's Brand & Content retainer starts from £1,250 a month.

Below: what each marketing role costs to employ once the employer costs are added, what that figure leaves out, what agencies charge, how long each option takes to produce work, what you keep at the end, and when building in house is the better call. Every third-party figure links to the page it came from, and we checked each page on 13 October 2026.

• Marketing manager: £46,750 starting salary at the 50th percentile, £54,228 a year to employ once employer National Insurance and pension are added (Robert Half, HMRC, GOV.UK)
• Two-person team (marketing manager and marketing executive): £90,756 a year to employ
• Recruitment: median cost per hire of £2,000 for other employees and £3,500 for senior managers and directors (CIPD, 2026)
• Time to hire: 12 weeks on average across UK roles (Totaljobs, spring 2026)
• Agency retainers: £1,250 to £3,500 a month for one channel, £3,500 to £16,750 for full service, before VAT and ad spend (Whito, May 2026)
• ORRJO: Brand & Content from £1,250 a month; Demand Generation, Lead Generation and ORRJO Intelligence from £2,500 a month

How much does an in-house B2B marketing team cost in the UK?

The ten marketing roles in the table below cost from £35,643 a year (a copywriter) to £91,996 (a marketing director) to employ, once employer National Insurance and pension are added to Robert Half's 2026 UK Salary Guide starting salaries at the 50th percentile. A team is the sum of its roles: a marketing manager and an executive come to £90,756 a year.

Robert Half's guide gives projected starting salaries at three percentiles. At the 50th, the candidate "has an average level of experience and has most of the necessary skills." The figures are national, Robert Half says starting salaries vary by market, and they "do not include any bonuses or benefits." To each 50th percentile salary we added employer National Insurance at 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC, 2026 to 2027) and the minimum employer pension of 3% on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 (GOV.UK). The employer National Insurance and pension lines use the same method as the in-house SDR table on our lead generation pricing page.

Salaries from Robert Half's 2026 UK Salary Guide, marketing and creative tables. Employer costs are our arithmetic. Each line is rounded to the nearest pound, so a total can differ from its parts by £1. The 2026 guide has no separate demand generation manager row.

Two example teams, to show how quickly the total builds. These are illustrations, not a recommended team shape.

What does the in-house figure leave out?

Recruitment, software, bonuses and benefits, equipment, and the time someone spends managing the team. Some of those carry a published number and some do not.

• Recruitment. CIPD's Resourcing and talent planning report 2026 puts the median cost per hire at £3,500 for senior managers and directors and £2,000 for other employees. In the private sector the medians are £5,000 and £2,000. CIPD counts resourcing technology, in-house recruiting time, advertising, agency or search fees, selection tests and onboarding in that cost, and warns the figures come from small samples.
• Bonuses and benefits. Robert Half's salaries leave them out, so any bonus scheme or benefits package sits on top.
• Software. Marketing automation, design, analytics and the rest of the stack your team will need. We have not put a figure on it, because it depends on the tools you choose.
• Management time. Someone has to set the plan, review the work and answer for the results. If that is a founder or sales leader, it comes out of their week.
• Location. The table uses national figures. Robert Half's 2026 guide covers 24 UK cities and offers a localised salary report for each on request.
• Replacing people. Hays reports that 65% of marketing professionals plan to move jobs in the year ahead, and that 93% of marketing employers have skills shortages. Every departure means paying the recruitment line again.

One line can come down. HMRC lets eligible employers reduce their annual National Insurance bill by up to the Employment Allowance, which is £10,500 for 2026 to 2027. We have not deducted it, because eligibility depends on your business.

What does a marketing agency cost instead?

£1,250 to £3,500 a month for a single channel such as SEO or PPC, and £3,500 to £16,750 a month for full service, according to Whito's May 2026 pricing research. Whito's figures exclude VAT and keep ad spend separate from management fees. Over twelve months that is £15,000 to £42,000 for one channel and £42,000 to £201,000 for full service.

Each row below comes from the provider's or researcher's own page, checked 13 October 2026. ORRJO is the publisher of this page, and its entries are marked.

The twelve-month column is the monthly fee multiplied by twelve, with no discount applied. Media spend sits outside the fee. Whito keeps ad spend separate from management fees, and Gripped says paid media budgets are not included in its monthly retainer.

At ORRJO, brand builds and website builds are scoped per project. There's no platform fee and no seat licence for the dashboards, the CRM environment or the reporting: they ship inside every engagement. Run two or more services together and bundling comes at a discounted combined rate. A 3-month paid pilot is available to start. Engagements typically run 6 to 12 months, and committing to 12 months earns a discounted rate. Every service and price is on our pricing page, and the wider market is in our guide to B2B marketing agency pricing in the UK.

Is an agency cheaper than an in-house team?

Sometimes, and it depends on the scope you compare. On Whito's bands, the cheapest full-service retainer (£42,000 a year) costs less than one marketing manager (£54,228 a year to employ), and the dearest (£201,000) costs more than the three-person team above (£168,989).

That is cost, not output. A salary buys one person's skills for the whole week. As Whito's guide to hiring or outsourcing puts it, a single marketing hire "cannot be an expert in SEO, paid ads, content, email, social media, analytics, and design." An agency fee buys a share of several people's time. At ORRJO, Brand & Content is built by one in house studio of designers, copywriters and videographers, with nothing outsourced. Whether that share is enough depends on how much work you have.

How long before each option produces work?

On ORRJO Lead Generation, outreach begins within 2 weeks of kickoff, while an in-house team starts after a hiring process that averages 12 weeks across UK roles, according to Totaljobs' spring 2026 Hiring Trends update, up from 10 weeks in its autumn 2025 edition. That is before anyone in the new team has started.

In house. The 12 weeks is the hiring process alone, across all roles, not only marketing. It does not include any notice period your new hire has to serve, or the time they take to get up to speed. We found no reliable published figure for either in marketing roles, so we have not added one. If the team you are weighing up includes SDRs, our lead generation pricing page sets out the in-house SDR cost and ramp with sources.

At ORRJO. It depends on the service:

• Lead Generation. Outreach begins within 2 weeks of kickoff, and first qualified meetings typically land within 2 weeks of launch. Our fastest first qualified meeting on record came three days from kick-off.
• Demand Generation. In the words of our Demand Generation page: "Expect meaningful pipeline impact within 60-90 days as brand awareness compounds. Early signals like website traffic, LinkedIn engagement, and content downloads start within the first 2-4 weeks." And the honest limit: "If you need pipeline inside thirty days, demand generation is the wrong first spend, and we would rather say that now."
• Reporting. Your dashboard lands on the first Friday of activity, so you see what is happening from week one (ORRJO Platform).

Bringing work in house does not always deliver the speed people expect. In The State of In-housing 2023, a survey of senior marketers at large and medium UK businesses by Alchemists with ISBA and CvE, 93% expected more speed and nimbleness from in-housing and 40% experienced it. 93% expected better cost effectiveness and 60% experienced it. That survey is from February 2023 and covers brand marketing at larger businesses, so treat it as a caution rather than a forecast for a B2B team.

What do you keep at the end?

With an in-house team you keep the people, and what they know, for as long as they stay. With an agency you keep whatever the contract says you own, so get that in writing before you sign.

In house. Knowledge of your product, your buyers and what has worked builds up inside the business. It also leaves with the person: Hays reports that almost two-thirds of marketing professionals (65%) plan to move jobs in the year ahead.

At ORRJO. What our service pages say you keep:

• Your website. "You own the website: you own everything we ship." (B2B websites)
• Your brand. "An ORRJO brand build includes colour, type, logo, voice, claims rules and imagery, delivered as a brand book your team can use without us in the room." (Brand & Content)
• Your data in your own systems. Every client gets a private, purpose built CRM environment, managed entirely by us. "If you want the data flowing into your own CRM as well, we wire that up." (ORRJO Platform)

Ask any agency, us included, to confirm in writing who owns the website, the brand files, the content, the ad accounts and the contact data when the contract ends, and how each is handed over.

When does an in-house team win?

When marketing is a daily need, the work depends on deep knowledge of your product and customers, and there is enough of it to keep someone busy full time. That is how Whito's 2026 guide frames it. It says hiring makes sense when:

• marketing is a daily operational need;
• you need someone embedded in the business who understands the product and customers deeply;
• you are spending over £5,000 a month on marketing and need someone to manage it full time;
• sales, operations and marketing need constant internal communication to stay coordinated.

Directive, a US B2B agency, makes a similar point for Series A teams: "Positioning, product nuance, and cross-functional decision-making often benefit from being close to leadership."

ORRJO is an agency, and we still recommend it. Our pricing page describes the first call like this: "Thirty minutes. We walk through your current pipeline shape, where the gap is, and what shape of retainer would actually move the number. You leave with a scoped proposal and a number. No deck, no pitch. About one in four discovery calls end with us recommending you build in house instead."

When does an agency make more sense?

When you need specialist skills you cannot justify full time, the work comes in projects rather than every day, or the budget is small. Whito's guide says outsourcing works best when you need specialist skills you cannot justify full-time, when your needs are project-based rather than continuous, when you are still testing channels, or when your total marketing budget is under £3,000 a month. Those thresholds are one publisher's rule of thumb, not survey data.

Whito adds a caution on its retainer research page: a retainer "makes sense when you have a proven offer, know which channels work, and need capacity you cannot build in-house. It does not make sense when you are still figuring out the basics." In other words, an agency adds capacity. It does not decide who your customer is for you.

What does a hybrid set-up look like?

One in-house marketing lead who owns the strategy and the results, directing outside specialists for the work that needs breadth. Global Bridge Labs describes it as "one in-house marketing lead who owns strategy, brand and results, directing outsourced delivery for content, social, design and web." Directive says "the hybrid model is often the strongest long-term answer."

On cost, one head of marketing (£76,758 a year to employ) plus a Demand Generation retainer at its starting rate of £2,500 a month (£30,000 for twelve months) comes to £106,758 a year before recruitment and tools, against £168,989 for the three-person team above. That is cost, not output: the two shapes do different work, and the right one depends on what the lead needs help with.

At ORRJO, each service also stands alone. Most clients start with the one service the strategy call points to, and add others when the numbers justify it. When the services run together as the Growth Engine, the order is research first, then brand, then demand, then outbound.

What else do buyers ask about in-house teams and agencies?

How much does an in-house marketing team cost in the UK?

A marketing manager and a marketing executive cost £90,756 a year to employ, using Robert Half's 2026 UK starting salaries at the 50th percentile (£46,750 and £31,750), plus employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 and the 3% minimum employer pension. A three-person team of a head of marketing, a marketing manager and a content manager comes to £168,989. Recruitment, tools, bonuses and benefits come on top.

Is it cheaper to use a marketing agency than to hire?

It depends on the scope. Whito's May 2026 research puts UK full-service retainers at £3,500 to £16,750 a month, or £42,000 to £201,000 a year, before VAT and ad spend. One marketing manager costs £54,228 a year to employ before recruitment and tools, so the cheapest full-service retainer costs less than one hire and the dearest costs more than a three-person team. Compare what each option delivers, not only the fee.

How much does it cost to employ a marketing manager in the UK?

£54,228 a year at the 50th percentile. Robert Half's 2026 UK Salary Guide puts the starting salary at £46,750, within a 25th to 75th percentile range of £37,500 to £52,750. Employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 adds £6,263 and the 3% minimum employer pension adds £1,215. Recruitment is extra: CIPD's 2026 median cost per hire is £2,000 for employees other than senior managers and directors.

How long does it take to hire a marketer?

Across UK roles, the average time to hire is 12 weeks, up from 10 weeks in autumn 2025, according to Totaljobs' spring 2026 Hiring Trends update. That covers the hiring process only. It does not include a notice period or the time a new hire takes to get up to speed, and we found no reliable published figure for either in marketing roles. By comparison, on ORRJO Lead Generation, outreach begins within 2 weeks of kickoff.

When should a business build an in-house marketing team?

When marketing is a daily need, the work depends on deep knowledge of your product and customers, and there is enough of it to keep someone busy full time. Whito's guide suggests hiring once you spend over £5,000 a month on marketing and need someone to manage it full time. About one in four discovery calls end with us recommending you build in house instead.

Can you combine an in-house marketing team with an agency?

Yes. Two of the guides we read, from Directive and Global Bridge Labs, recommend it. The common shape is one in-house marketing lead who owns strategy and results and directs outside specialists. At ORRJO each service also stands alone, and most clients start with the one service the strategy call points to, then add others when the numbers justify it.

What does ORRJO cost compared with a hire?

Brand & Content starts from £1,250 a month, or £15,000 for twelve months at that rate. Demand Generation, Lead Generation and ORRJO Intelligence each start from £2,500 a month, or £30,000 for twelve months at that rate. There is no platform fee on top. A 3-month paid pilot is available to start. Engagements typically run 6 to 12 months, and committing to 12 months earns a discounted rate.

Which sources does this page use?

Every source behind a figure on this page is listed below, each linked and checked on 13 October 2026.

1. Robert Half, 2026 UK Salary Guide (PDF). Marketing and creative salary tables, 25th, 50th and 75th percentile starting salaries, percentile definitions, exclusion of bonuses and benefits, coverage of 24 UK cities, checked 13 October 2026. Robert Half's UK site now also carries a 2027 edition with projected 2027 salaries. This page uses the 2026 edition throughout and does not mix the two.
2. HM Revenue & Customs, Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027. Secondary threshold of £5,000 a year, employer Class 1 rate of 15%, Employment Allowance of £10,500, checked 13 October 2026.
3. GOV.UK, Workplace pensions: what you, your employer and the government pay. Employer minimum contribution of 3%, earnings between £6,240 and £50,270, checked 13 October 2026.
4. CIPD, Resourcing and talent planning report 2026 (PDF, issued September 2026), Table 1. Median cost per hire: £3,500 senior managers and directors, £2,000 other employees; private sector £5,000 and £2,000, checked 13 October 2026.
5. Totaljobs, Hiring Trends Update, spring 2026. Average time to hire of 12 weeks, from surveys of 885 UK employers and HR decision-makers and 2,017 UK workers in March and April 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
6. Hays, 2026 UK Salary & Recruiting Trends guide, as reported on hays.co.uk. 65% of marketing professionals plan to move jobs in the year ahead; 93% of marketing employers have skills shortages; insights from over 250 employers and employees in marketing. The page shows no date, checked 13 October 2026.
7. Whito, Marketing Retainer Cost UK 2026. Single-channel and full-service retainer ranges (May 2026), VAT and ad spend basis, when a retainer makes sense. Page last updated 12 October 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
8. Whito, Hire a Marketer or Outsource? The Honest UK Business Guide for 2026. When hiring makes sense, when outsourcing makes sense, the limits of a single hire and of an external team. Last updated 17 September 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
9. Gripped, B2B Marketing Services Pricing for SaaS and Tech. Published tiers and paid media exclusion, checked 13 October 2026.
10. Directive, In-House vs Agency Marketing for Series A Teams, Jesse Seilhan, 29 May 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
11. Global Bridge Labs, In-house marketing team vs agency: the cost compared, Hojitha Weerasinghe, 30 September 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
12. ISBA, New in-housing study reveals reality doesn't match expectations, 20 February 2023, reporting The State of In-housing 2023 by Alchemists with ISBA and CvE, checked 13 October 2026.
13. ORRJO, pricing, the Growth Engine, Demand Generation, ORRJO Platform, Brand & Content and B2B websites. Every ORRJO price, term, timing and ownership line on this page, checked 13 October 2026.

The cost-to-employ figures are our own arithmetic from sources 1 to 3. The annual agency figures are the monthly figures multiplied by twelve. For ORRJO that means the monthly starting rate times twelve; committing to 12 months earns a discounted rate.