By someone who’s paid the bills on both sides of the table.
“Your business grows when your message lands. The real question is: who’s delivering it—and how much are they costing you while they figure it out?”
Introduction: The Hidden Cost of Marketing Muscle
Marketing is the engine. Revenue is the gas. No matter what you’re selling—custom leather boots or software that scans underwater drones—your growth hinges on who’s driving attention to what you do.
The question that keeps founders, CMOs, and growth-minded execs up at night isn’t whether they should market. It’s how to get the best marketing horsepower for the lowest, smartest cost.
Enter the timeless cage match: freelancers vs. in-house teams.
This article won’t waste your time with theory. It’s built from gritty, real-world experience—campaigns that blew up, ads that flopped, and copy that quietly pulled in six figures. You’ll walk away knowing:
- What freelancers actually cost vs. what you think they cost
- When in-house makes sense—and when it doesn’t
- The hidden fees of full-time teams
- The marketing setup used by brands that scale fast
And yes, we’ll link to tools that help you actually do something about it. Tools like Try Club, where you can find battle-tested freelance talent. And Try ME, the plugin that turns any freelancer website into a sales engine.
Let’s break it down.
The Case for In-House Marketing Teams
(Spoiler: They’re not wrong. Just expensive.)
Let’s give the devil their pitchfork. In-house teams have their perks.
1. Cultural fit. They breathe your brand. They use Slack with customer support. They acquire the product as a result of their immersion in it.
2. Coordination. Walk down the hall (or hop on Zoom) and they’re there. Need a deck updated? A last-minute LinkedIn ad? They’ve got it by 2 PM.
3. Control. You manage their priorities. You own their time. That level of attention feels safe.
But now let’s talk cost.
What an In-House Marketer Actually Costs You
A solid mid-level marketer will run you $75K–$110K/year in salary. Add 20–30% for taxes, benefits, onboarding, equipment, training, and software. Realistically, you’re paying $100K–$140K.
And they won’t do it all. You’ll still need:
- A designer ($70–90K)
- A copywriter ($60–85K)
- A strategist ($100K+)
- A dev or web builder ($90K+)
Suddenly, your lean “marketing hire” ballooned into a $400K+ annual operation—and you’re still testing Facebook ads at 3 AM on your own.
Even worse? Many in-house teams are slow to execute. Not because they’re lazy, but because the system is slow. Meetings. Approvals. OKRs. Jira tickets.
Result: the work you need today gets delivered in Q3.
The Freelancer Advantage
Freelancers are weird creatures. They don’t punch clocks. They don’t ask for PTO. They care about results. Because results keep them hired.
A great freelancer has one superpower: they know how to win fast. No hand-holding. No weeks of onboarding. Just smart questions, clear deliverables, and assets that drive action.
Let’s run the numbers.
Freelancer Cost Breakdown
| Role | Hourly Rate | Monthly Cost (20 hrs/wk) | Notes |
| Copywriter | $75 | ~$6,000 | Messaging, email, ads |
| Designer | $85 | ~$6,800 | Brand, web, visuals |
| Strategist | $100 | ~$8,000 | Campaigns, analytics |
| No-code dev | $90 | ~$7,200 | Landing pages, fixes |
Want to run lean? You can cherry-pick. Use a strategist to map it out, then bring in a copywriter/designer pair for two weeks. Total spend? $10K–15K for a month of heavy hitting. No long-term commitment. No overhead. Just sharp output.
Best part? Most freelancers do this full-time. They’ve tested what works. They’re fast because they have to be. Their reputation rides on it.
And if you want the good ones? You’ll find them on Try Club—a talent search engine where work speaks louder than bios. No guessing. Just proof.
Speed, Flexibility, and the Kill Switch
Let’s be blunt: marketing is unpredictable. In some quarters, you need five landing pages and a new GTM plan. You’re trying one TikTok ad, and there are others.
With freelancers, you can quickly scale up or down.
Hiring full-time? You’re locked in.
Firing full-time? You’re headed to HR hell.
With freelancers, there’s no guilt. No severance. Just “we’re pausing for now.”
And if your contractor disappears mid-project? (It happens.) You’re not stuck. You just try someone else.
Tools like Try ME make these connections instantly. Freelancers with a Try ME site let you see work, schedule a call, and even hire them—all in one click. The best part? It installs in two minutes and is free. That’s speed and control.
The In-House vs. Freelancer Showdown
Let’s evaluate them using the relevant metrics:
| Feature | In-House | Freelancer |
| Cost Flexibility | ❌ Fixed salary, long-term | ✅ Pay-as-you-go |
| Speed | ❌ Slower (internal queues) | ✅ Faster (direct incentives) |
| Expertise Depth | ✅ Strong brand knowledge | ✅ Strong craft knowledge |
| Scalability | ❌ Slow to hire/fire | ✅ Instant up/down |
| Ownership | ✅ Embedded in org | ❌ Project-focused |
| Team Dynamics | ✅ Culture-aligned | ❌ Variable styles |
| Risk | ❌ High commitment | ✅ Low commitment |
The verdict? It depends. But if you’re a startup, founder or growth team under pressure, freelancers give you the most bang for your buck, week for week.
When In-House Makes Sense
Yes, there are times when in-house is the smart move.
- You have a proven model and need brand guardianship
- You’re building proprietary systems that need internal continuity
- You need constant collaboration across departments (product, support, CX)
But even then, the best in-house teams use freelancers for execution. It’s the hybrid model: strategy inside, firepower outside.
The Freelancer-First Stack: A Model That Wins
Here’s what smart, high-growth teams do:
1. Keep a lean core team: 1–2 marketers who know your audience, product, and goals.
2. Build a trusted freelancer bench: Designers, writers, media buyers, builders. Rotate them based on needs.
3. Use Try Club to source new freelancers fast: At Try Club, you don’t wade through profiles. You see work that matches your industry, goals, and taste.
4. Give them the appropriate equipment: Use Notion to share your strategy. Communicate with Slack or Loom. Track tasks in Trello or Asana.
5. Automate hiring with Try ME: Many freelancers use Try ME, the “Get Hired” button, on their websites. You can literally see their past work, click “Hire Me,” and start chatting. No contact forms. No ghosting. Just action.
But What About Trust?
A lot of teams hesitate with freelancers because of one word: trust.
“How do I know they’ll deliver?”
“What if they flake?”
“What if I don’t like the work?”
Fair questions.
Here’s how you manage the risk:
- Start small. Run a one-week project.
- Ask for samples. Not generic ones—samples like yours.
- Use milestone payments. Set clear checkpoints.
- Work in public. Use shared docs, shared updates, shared Slack.
And yes, use platforms like Try Club. They only feature proven freelancers—people with real work, not empty promises.
Final Word: Results Talk, Headcount Doesn’t
Your marketing team isn’t about how many people sit in a room. It’s about how many people take action because of what they made. Freelancers let you move faster. Spend smarter. Experiment without red tape. In-house teams offer consistency, but often at the price of speed and adaptability.
The smartest businesses aren’t choosing one or the other. They’re building flexible systems. They’re hiring for results, not routine. They’re using platforms like Try Club to find the right people, and Try ME to make hiring them effortless.
You don’t need a bigger team.
You need the right setup.
And that starts now.
