Marketing Management
Marketing managers help companies develop the right messaging to promote a business, product, or service. They help create marketing strategies for all sizes of businesses or organizations that deliver the proper messaging online and through other channels to attract and retain customers, and build the company’s brand.
Hourly rates for marketing managers on Upwork range from $24 to $60, but more experienced or specialized independent professionals or consultants can charge considerably more.
What impacts the cost of hiring a marketing manager?
A business’s needs for a marketing program can vary widely from a digital marketer who manages social media, website updates, and newsletters to a more seasoned professional who executes a multi-pronged marketing strategy across multiple platforms.
When hiring a marketing manager, it’s important to carefully outline your needs if you know exactly what you want, but allow room for your prospective independent professional to put their expertise to work in an advisory role. It may be more cost effective to hire an experienced marketing manager or consultant to formulate a detailed marketing plan, leaving the longer-term execution of the processes to a less-experienced contractor or employee.
Project Scope
Determine whether you want someone to evaluate and then set you on your way of handling proposed changes in-house or whether you need an independent professional to execute the plan long term. Is it a temporary marketing campaign or a long-term marketing strategy?
If you run a small business and seek more basic marketing efforts, a less-experienced manager might better fit your marketing budget but be well-equipped to handle digital marketing needs like website and social media management, email marketing, and SEO.
Business owners looking to revamp their existing system to improve results or to formulate a multi-faceted marketing strategy likely would be better off with an experienced marketing manager who can serve as a strategist and implement, even manage, a comprehensive plan.
If you’re hoping for one person to handle all of your marketing services, then it’s best to find a versatile professional who can handle as many of your needs as possible. In addition to social media marketing, you might want someone adept at copywriting who can develop content marketing for your website, who possesses a strong grasp of web optimization, can handle graphic design, has knowledge of Google Ads, or even offer web design services. Otherwise, that person must turn to outsourcing one or more processes to other marketing specialists, likely at greater expense. Perhaps a digital marketing agency with a full marketing team is the best way to go.
Geography
Every location has its own cost of living, and this will affect a marketing manager’s rates and subsequently, your budget. You can find a freelance marketing manager from anywhere in the world, but there are a few considerations before hiring someone who isn’t local to you.
The prospect’s time zone can affect your needs and budget. If your designer is 10 hours ahead or behind your time zone, communication could be slower. Depending on what hours they’re available to work, responses could come the next day instead of within minutes or hours. How quickly do you need interaction on social media?
The language factor can be even more critical if you don’t both speak the same language fluently. Do your digital marketing needs mandate someone with knowledge of your market and customs of the people you serve? Conduct interviews to explain your requirements and get a feel for communication skills and their understanding of the project.
Other factors that may impact the cost
Ask yourself: how willing are you to embrace change? If you’re seeking a marketing manager’s input on how your current system is inadequate, they might be delivering hard truths about where your system falls short. Are you ready to implement potentially expensive initiatives, such as a redesigned website? Are you patient enough to enact systems that come at some cost, but could take years of effort to build your brand and reputation? Is it really a marketing manager you need, or do you really just want someone to do a better job of facilitating your current systems?
Knowledge of your industry and/or product could be critical to an effective plan. Getting someone who’s adept at your type of business (product marketing, ecommerce, medium or small business, etc.) will likely deliver better results, but could cost more. Yet, they’ll likely be more efficient and effective at managing the plan.
Upwork is not affiliated with and does not sponsor or endorse any of the tools or services discussed in this section. These tools and services are provided only as potential options, and each reader and company should take the time needed to adequately analyze and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.