Supercharge Your Marketing Crew: Specialists Deliver 3X ROI Without Adding Staff

REBECCA RAUSCH
Oct 16
6 min read

The Hidden Cost

You’re about to hire a full-time marketing person. Salary, benefits, tools — you’ve run those numbers. But what if that “total cost” is actually double what you expect? What if instead of one person, you could get a full team of specialists — for the same or lower cost? Outsource to award-winning Neon Lizard Creative Marketing & Design, LLC (NLC) to deliver leverage, flexibility, depth, and an ROI that a single hire simply can’t match. That’s not a pitch. It’s a strategy.

1 | The Real Cost of One Full-Time Marketer (It’s More Than Salary!)

Most CEOs think: “I’ll pay $80,000 a year, plus benefits, and I’ll get everything I need.” But that’s only the tip of the iceberg when you add up everything, your “employee cost” balloons.

Here’s a Sample Breakdown:

Cost Component Estimate / % of Salary* Notes

Base salary $80,000, your starting point
Benefits, payroll taxes, insurance ~30–40% (≈ $24,000–$32,000). Employers typically spend ~30% of salary on benefits. blog.hivestrategy.com+1
Tools, software, subscriptions $3,000–$10,000+ SEO tools, project management, design software, analytics, etc.
Training, conferences, professional development $2,000+ To keep skills up-to-date
Overhead & equipment $5,000–$10,000+ Computer, office space, extra monitors, etc.
Vacation, sick, downtime, turnover. Variable but real. When your single hire is sick or leaves, your pipeline stalls

All told, that $80,000 “salary” likely costs your business $120,000 or more on a fully burdened basis. (Some in the marketing world put that “true cost” even higher.)

By contrast, when you outsource to NLC, all of those hidden overheads are baked into the retainer or project cost — no surprises, no benefits to manage, no downtime for illness, no recruiting when someone quits. You can even purchase a package and have the security of a set price and deliverables each month. Plus, purchasing a retainer package gives you the security of a set price and deliverables each month.

Let's do the math.

Average Salaries for Key Marketing Teams in Mid-size Corporations

Most mid-size corporations (50-500 employees) have a marketing staff of between 3 and 8 people.

Here are some typical salaries (US) for common marketing roles in mid-size companies, with data updated to about 2024-2025 where possible.

Role Typical Salary Range Notes / Variation Drivers

Marketing Manager $85,000 - $110,000/year Mid-size companies with 50-500 employees tend to fall in this range. Experience, location (e.g., metro vs rural), and industry (medical, manufacturing, etc.) shift this. SalaryCube - Salary Surveys+2Growclass+2

Senior Marketing Manager $100,000 - $130,000+ Especially if you include digital/specialty skills, seniority (7-10+ years), or leadership over staff or budget. Growclass

Director of Marketing $110,000 - $150,000 (or more). For companies in the mid-market, a Director role often encompasses strategy, management, budgeting, and cross-channel oversight. In high-cost areas or industries, above $150,000 is possible. Growclass+1

Marketing Specialist/ Content/Digital/ Analyst/Production Artist $40,000 - $90,000 (possibly more for senior/technical specialists). Entry to mid-level specialists falls here; location, skillset (SEO, analytics, paid ads, etc.) push this up or down. Coursera+1

2 | You Don’t Need One Expert — You Need Many

With a combined salary range of approximately $335,000 - $480,000 per year for 3-8 marketing staff, it becomes a no-brainer to outsource. NLC’s highest-tier package is everything most corporations need, and yet it is significantly less than either of the above numbers!

The truth is: Corporate expectations of modern marketing are high. It includes branding, messaging, strategy, content, social media, graphic design, video, analytics, email/newsletter automation, print, website design, and UX, as well as the back-end growth elements like SEO and keywords, etc.

Asking a one or two-person team to deliver excellence in all of those domains is unrealistic. Many firms recognize this talent gap, yet sadly, many do not.

Are you asking too much of your marketing team?

For the same $4,000/month, you might get “one pair of hands” or you could have a full stack of specialists —marketing strategy, messaging, graphic design, analytics, content, social, digital, and print — from NLC.
NLC bundles expertise and access to cutting-edge tools, which means clients don’t bear the cost of investing in every software, Computer, and laptop themselves.

Don’t hire one generalist — tap into a tribe of specialists who seamlessly work together (and have for years). That means faster execution, peer review, parallel workflows, and quality checks that a lone hire simply can’t deliver.

3 | ROI & Cost Savings That Show Up on the P&L

If you’re going to outsource, don’t focus on simply “cheaper.” You want returns. Here is some data to ground prove the right choice is a win-win:

Outsource Accelerator reports that some outsourcing efforts deliver up to 231% ROI across functions, vs. ~60% for internal operations.
ISG found enterprises often save ~15% on average through business process outsourcing, along with quality improvements.
Deloitte showed that ~63% of small businesses surveyed claimed they reduced marketing costs by up to 30% by outsourcing.
Fractl declared that content marketers believe they often increase ROI 2–5× with expert execution vs. in-house generalists.

What this means: The agency path isn’t just “cheaper”; it has the potential to amplify results by optimizing spend, reducing waste, and applying best-practice systems that scale.

SEE SUPPORTING INFOGRAPHIC

4 | How Neon Lizard Creative Gives You the Best Outsourced Advantage

Here’s how NLC stacks up, using your existing positioning concepts:

• Deep Bench Without the Commitments

You get a whole team of specialists (brand, strategy, creative, web, analytics, vendor coordination) for less than the full cost of one senior hire. No payroll taxes, no benefits, no HR headaches.

• Scalability & Flexibility

In lean months, scale back deliverables. In growth phases, scale up — without needing to hire or fire. You always maintain momentum but with budget agility.

• Tools, Software, and Research Included

NLC clients don’t separately pay for dozens of SaaS tools, design subscriptions, or trend research — it’s baked into the partnership. You get the premium tech stack without the seat-by-seat cost.

• Full Ownership & Transparency

You own every creative asset. You communicate directly with the team. You can view the progress of the live project in NLC’s CRM. No black-box deliverables.

• Boutique-Level Attention + Agency Muscle

Unlike large agencies that push you into rigid tiers, NLC blends the responsiveness and care of a boutique with the breadth and talent of a large agency.

• Case Study: Minnesota School of Beauty

After COVID, MSB was near closure, with stagnant enrollment and flat revenues. NLC rebuilt their brand from the ground up: logo, website, bold social storytelling, with professional and consistent social media. In less than two years, they declare an ROI of $8 for every $1 spent with NLC and have nearly doubled in size with classes full for the first time in 15 years— all for less than half the cost of a single, full-time marketing employee.

That’s not a miracle. It’s a thoughtful strategy, consistency, and the right execution.

5 | Addressing Common CEO Objections

Objection: “I’ll lose control if I outsource.”

Answer: Actually, you gain bandwidth. Think of NLC as an extension of your internal team. You’re in the driver’s seat: strategy alignment, weekly meetings, direct communication. The outcome is still yours — just delivered faster, cheaper, and cleaner.

Objection: “What if the market changes mid-year?”

Answer: That’s exactly when NLC shines. Instead of being locked into a fixed salary budget, you pivot deliverables. Need more content? We ramp. Need fewer projects? We adapt without layoffs. Our à la carte options make adding or subtracting projects doable without having to call in a contract lawyer.

Objection: “Internal culture, brand voice, alignment.”

Answer: That’s why onboarding, brand immersion, and ongoing feedback loops are core to our process. NLC becomes fluent in your voice and strategy — and we don’t rest on autopilot. Our leadership is intimately involved in every project, stem to stern. We are sticklers about brand consistency and ensure your brand equity stays strong.

6 | Marketing Myth: “Headcount = Productivity”

In 2026, the smartest companies won’t measure success by how many heads you added — but by how much impact you got per dollar. NLC offers you leverage, expertise, predictability, and scalability — all without the baggage of a full-time hire. Let us work side by side with your team or carry the load entirely. One client just shared they have had an ROI of $8 to $1 over the past two years by outsourcing to NLC. They insist it has been a seamless process and are so glad they hired us. We'll work hard to make sure you will say the same thing!