At some point, a full-time in-house marketing person makes obvious sense. But that point isn't where most service businesses think it is — and the alternative below that threshold is often underutilized.
When a full-time marketer makes sense
When you're generating $600K+ per year, have a team of 5+ people, need daily content creation, manage multiple service lines, and have the financial stability to absorb a $60K–$80K annual salary with benefits. Below that level, a full-time hire is typically too expensive for the output it produces — there isn't enough work to justify the full-time commitment.
What a fractional or outsourced approach delivers for less
For $1,500–$2,500 per month, a fractional marketing operator manages your ads, your website performance, your follow-up systems, and your reactivation campaigns. That's 4 full marketing functions at roughly the cost of 2 weeks of a full-time salary. The output is often comparable for a business at the $150K–$600K revenue range.
The right question
Not "can I afford marketing?" but "what's the most efficient way to get consistent, optimized marketing at my current stage?" For most service businesses under $600K, the answer is a fixed-fee fractional arrangement — not a full-time hire, and not DIY.