[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":369},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Fblog\u002Ffull-time-vs-part-time-marketing-help":3,"\u002Fblog\u002Ffull-time-vs-part-time-marketing-help-surround":358},{"id":4,"title":5,"authors":6,"badge":12,"body":14,"date":347,"description":348,"extension":349,"image":350,"meta":352,"navigation":353,"path":354,"seo":355,"stem":356,"__hash__":357},"posts\u002F3.blog\u002Ffull-time-vs-part-time-marketing-help.md","Should I Hire Full-Time or Part-Time Marketing Help?",[7],{"name":8,"to":9,"avatar":10},"Webspark Marketing","https:\u002F\u002Ftwitter.com\u002Fwebsparkmarketing",{"src":11},"\u002FsparkFavicon.webp",{"label":13},"Hiring & Staffing",{"type":15,"value":16,"toc":335},"minimark",[17,22,26,29,33,36,104,115,119,122,145,157,161,249,252,256,259,274,278,281,285,288,308,311,315,318,332],[18,19,21],"h2",{"id":20},"the-question-most-owners-ask-wrong","The Question Most Owners Ask Wrong",[23,24,25],"p",{},"The question usually shows up as \"full-time or part-time?\" but that's really two questions stacked on top of each other: how many hours does this work need, and how many specialties does it require? Get those two answers first, and the employment question mostly answers itself.",[23,27,28],{},"Marketing for a local service business isn't one skill. It's a website that converts, ongoing SEO, Google Business Profile management, paid ads, and tracking — five different disciplines wearing one job title. Before you write a job post, it helps to know what each employment model actually buys you.",[18,30,32],{"id":31},"what-a-full-time-hire-really-costs","What a Full-Time Hire Really Costs",[23,34,35],{},"The salary is the number everyone budgets for. It's rarely the real number.",[37,38,39,52],"table",{},[40,41,42],"thead",{},[43,44,45,49],"tr",{},[46,47,48],"th",{},"Cost item",[46,50,51],{},"Why it's easy to miss",[53,54,55,64,72,80,88,96],"tbody",{},[43,56,57,61],{},[58,59,60],"td",{},"Base salary",[58,62,63],{},"The only number in the initial budget",[43,65,66,69],{},[58,67,68],{},"Payroll taxes and benefits",[58,70,71],{},"Often 25–30% on top of salary",[43,73,74,77],{},[58,75,76],{},"Software and tools",[58,78,79],{},"SEO platforms, call tracking, design licenses",[43,81,82,85],{},[58,83,84],{},"Ad spend",[58,86,87],{},"Separate from the person managing it",[43,89,90,93],{},[58,91,92],{},"Recruiting and onboarding",[58,94,95],{},"Weeks of time before they're productive",[43,97,98,101],{},[58,99,100],{},"Your management time",[58,102,103],{},"The cost owners consistently forget",[23,105,106,107,114],{},"According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' ",[108,109,113],"a",{"href":110,"rel":111},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.bls.gov\u002Fnews.release\u002Fecec.nr0.htm",[112],"nofollow","Employer Costs for Employee Compensation report",", benefits typically add close to a third on top of wages for private industry workers — before you've spent a dollar on the tools or ad budget that marketing actually requires. Add it up, and one full-time marketing hire routinely costs more per month than a complete marketing program bought as a service.",[18,116,118],{"id":117},"what-part-time-actually-means","What \"Part-Time\" Actually Means",[23,120,121],{},"Part-time sounds like the budget-friendly answer, but it comes in very different shapes:",[123,124,125,133,139],"ol",{},[126,127,128,132],"li",{},[129,130,131],"strong",{},"A part-time employee"," — fewer hours, but still payroll, still benefits eligibility thresholds to watch, still one person covering five specialties in less time than a full-time hire had.",[126,134,135,138],{},[129,136,137],{},"A freelance contractor"," — usually strong in one channel (ads, or content, or SEO) and billing by the hour or project.",[126,140,141,144],{},[129,142,143],{},"Several freelancers stitched together"," — one for the website, one for ads, one for SEO — which solves the specialty problem but creates a coordination problem instead.",[23,146,147,148,152,153,156],{},"None of these are bad choices on their own. The issue is that \"part-time\" often means part-time ",[149,150,151],"em",{},"hours"," applied to a ",[149,154,155],{},"full-time list"," of responsibilities. Something always slips — usually whichever channel doesn't have a person actively watching it that week.",[18,158,160],{"id":159},"full-time-vs-part-time-vs-outsourced-side-by-side","Full-Time vs. Part-Time vs. Outsourced, Side by Side",[37,162,163,179],{},[40,164,165],{},[43,166,167,170,173,176],{},[46,168,169],{},"Model",[46,171,172],{},"Monthly cost range",[46,174,175],{},"Specialty coverage",[46,177,178],{},"Who owns coordination",[53,180,181,195,208,221,235],{},[43,182,183,186,189,192],{},[58,184,185],{},"Full-time employee",[58,187,188],{},"Salary + taxes\u002Fbenefits + tools",[58,190,191],{},"Broad, but one person's skill ceiling",[58,193,194],{},"You",[43,196,197,200,203,206],{},[58,198,199],{},"Part-time employee",[58,201,202],{},"Lower salary, same overhead ratio",[58,204,205],{},"Narrower — fewer hours per channel",[58,207,194],{},[43,209,210,213,216,219],{},[58,211,212],{},"Single freelancer",[58,214,215],{},"Per-project or hourly fee",[58,217,218],{},"One channel done well",[58,220,194],{},[43,222,223,226,229,232],{},[58,224,225],{},"Multiple freelancers",[58,227,228],{},"Sum of several fees",[58,230,231],{},"Each channel covered separately",[58,233,234],{},"You, stitching it together",[43,236,237,240,243,246],{},[58,238,239],{},"Marketing partnership",[58,241,242],{},"One flat monthly fee",[58,244,245],{},"Website + SEO + local search + paid ads together",[58,247,248],{},"Shared by design",[23,250,251],{},"The pattern across the first four rows is the same: you're the one holding the pieces together, whether that's managing an employee's calendar or reconciling three freelancers' invoices and priorities.",[18,253,255],{"id":254},"when-full-time-is-the-right-call","When Full-Time Is the Right Call",[23,257,258],{},"Hire in-house, full-time, when:",[260,261,262,265,268,271],"ul",{},[126,263,264],{},"Marketing is your primary growth engine and needs daily attention",[126,266,267],{},"You run multiple locations or brands with genuinely different strategies",[126,269,270],{},"You already have senior marketing leadership to direct the hire",[126,272,273],{},"You want brand and content work embedded in company culture",[18,275,277],{"id":276},"when-part-time-employee-or-freelancer-makes-sense","When Part-Time (Employee or Freelancer) Makes Sense",[23,279,280],{},"Part-time fits when the workload is genuinely part-time — think seasonal campaigns, a single well-defined project, or a business so small that any marketing attention is an upgrade. It's a reasonable stopgap. It's a weaker permanent solution once you need a website, local SEO, Google Business Profile management, and paid ads all moving at once.",[18,282,284],{"id":283},"the-third-option-most-owners-dont-consider","The Third Option Most Owners Don't Consider",[23,286,287],{},"There's a fourth path that isn't full-time, part-time, or a pile of freelancer invoices: a flat-fee marketing partnership that covers the whole stack.",[260,289,290,296,302],{},[126,291,292,295],{},[129,293,294],{},"Foundation — $500\u002Fmo."," SEO pages, technical SEO, CRM lead integration, monthly reporting.",[126,297,298,301],{},[129,299,300],{},"Growth — $700\u002Fmo."," Foundation plus full Google Business Profile management, two GBP posts per week, review gating, and local search optimization.",[126,303,304,307],{},[129,305,306],{},"Complete — $1,200\u002Fmo."," Growth plus Google Ads management, tracking and attribution, landing pages, and quarterly strategy reviews.",[23,309,310],{},"The custom website is built free — Nuxt, hosted on Vercel, fast by default — so you're not paying for a build and then hoping the monthly work holds up. It's the free website with monthly marketing partnership model: you get a full marketing team for a fraction of what one in-house hire costs, full-time or part-time.",[18,312,314],{"id":313},"how-to-decide","How to Decide",[23,316,317],{},"Run the comparison honestly before you post a job or sign a freelancer contract:",[123,319,320,323,326,329],{},[126,321,322],{},"Price out your realistic all-in cost for a full-time hire — salary, taxes, benefits, tools.",[126,324,325],{},"Price out a part-time version of the same role, including the coordination time it still demands from you.",[126,327,328],{},"Add up what several specialty freelancers would actually cost, billed separately.",[126,330,331],{},"Compare all three against a flat monthly fee that covers website, SEO, local search, and paid ads together.",[23,333,334],{},"Whichever option covers the most ground for the least total cost — including your own time — is the one worth taking to the next step.",{"title":336,"searchDepth":337,"depth":337,"links":338},"",2,[339,340,341,342,343,344,345,346],{"id":20,"depth":337,"text":21},{"id":31,"depth":337,"text":32},{"id":117,"depth":337,"text":118},{"id":159,"depth":337,"text":160},{"id":254,"depth":337,"text":255},{"id":276,"depth":337,"text":277},{"id":283,"depth":337,"text":284},{"id":313,"depth":337,"text":314},"2026-09-25","A side-by-side look at full-time, part-time, and outsourced marketing help for local service businesses — real costs, real coverage, and when each one actually makes sense.","md",{"src":351},"\u002Fsocial\u002Fgyms1.webp",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Ffull-time-vs-part-time-marketing-help",{"title":5,"description":348},"3.blog\u002Ffull-time-vs-part-time-marketing-help","LyPU_yeP85qrlc3bERPKSBLInFwilgKM9JNFdum6Hkw",[359,364],{"title":360,"path":361,"stem":362,"description":363,"children":-1},"Can I Run Google Ads Myself as a Local Service Business?","\u002Fblog\u002Fcan-i-run-google-ads-myself","3.blog\u002Fcan-i-run-google-ads-myself","Yes, you can run Google Ads yourself — the real question is whether it pays off. Here's the actual job, the hours it takes, and the budget floor where DIY starts to make sense.",{"title":365,"path":366,"stem":367,"description":368,"children":-1},"How to Set Up Google Local Services Ads: A Step-by-Step Guide","\u002Fblog\u002Fgoogle-local-services-ads-setup-guide","3.blog\u002Fgoogle-local-services-ads-setup-guide","A practical walkthrough for local service businesses setting up Google Local Services Ads, from eligibility and background checks to budgeting and lead management.",1790358580195]