Decision guide · Resourcing recruitment marketing
Outsource your recruitment marketing, keep it in-house, or use tools?
An honest comparison of the 3 ways to resource recruitment marketing, what each costs, and the mix most small agencies end up with.
Every recruitment business eventually asks who should do its marketing. There are 3 realistic answers: hire someone, outsource to an agency, or give your recruiters tools that do the production work. Most businesses end up with a mix. The trick is knowing which part of the work each option is good at.
What each option really costs
| Hire in-house | Outsource to an agency | Tools for your recruiters | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | A senior hire at director level runs £80,000 to £120,000 a year before employer NI, pension and benefits | A monthly retainer or project fees, scoped to the work | Studio is £149 a month per seat |
| What you get | One person’s time and judgement, full-time | A team’s skills, for the hours you buy | Production work done on every job, by the people already working it |
| Strongest at | Continuity and knowing your business | Strategy, brand, campaigns, specialist skills | Adverts, Boolean strings, outreach, screening and candidate packs, at volume |
| Weakest at | Covering every skill; one person can’t do it all | Day-to-day, per-job production at recruiter speed | Strategy, brand positioning, anything outside the job |
| Time to value | 3 to 6 months to recruit and onboard | Weeks | Days |
Director-level salary range as used on our fractional marketing director page.
What an agency or senior hire does that tools can’t
- Decide what to say. Positioning, employer brand and EVP are judgement calls about your market. Tools execute a message; they don’t decide it.
- Choose where to spend. Channel strategy and budget allocation need someone accountable for the numbers.
- Build the system. Tracking, attribution, careers site, CRM journeys: the infrastructure that makes every campaign measurable.
- Run the campaigns that aren’t about one job. Brand, client marketing, events, PR.
What tools now do that used to need an agency
A few years ago, a well-written advert with channel variants, a set of Boolean strings for each board, and a branded candidate pack meant either a marketing team or hours of recruiter time. Now it is minutes of generation and a recruiter’s edit.
The numbers
A recruiter’s loaded cost is roughly £28 an hour. If tools take 8 to 10 hours of production work off a desk each week, that is £224 to £280 a week back in selling time, against £149 a month for a Studio seat. It pays for itself by the end of week 1.
Pay senior people to decide. Give the production work to tools. The expensive mistake is paying a marketer to write the same advert 40 times.
The hybrid most small agencies end up with
For most recruitment businesses under about 20 consultants, the pattern that works is:
- Tools on every desk for the per-job work: adverts, sourcing, outreach, screening, submission packs.
- Senior marketing input, part-time, for strategy, brand and the numbers. That might be a fractional marketing director for 2 to 4 days a month rather than a full-time hire.
- Specialist help bought in for defined projects: a website rebuild, a tracking fix, a campaign.
A decision table
| Your situation | Start with |
|---|---|
| 1 to 5 consultants, no marketing person | Tools on every desk, and the free Careers Site Check |
| 5 to 20 consultants, marketing done by whoever has time | Tools on every desk plus part-time senior input |
| 20+ consultants, a marketing hire already in place | Tools to free your marketer from production, so they can do strategy |
| In-house TA team hiring at volume | An audit first, then decide: see talent acquisition consultancy |
| Hiring is slowing and nobody knows why | Diagnose before you resource: the £999 audit |
For the channel-by-channel detail of what the work involves, see marketing for recruitment agencies.
Common questions
Should a recruitment agency outsource its marketing?
Outsource the parts that need specialist skills or strategy, such as brand, campaigns and tracking. Keep per-job production with your recruiters, supported by tools, because it needs to happen at recruiter speed on every role.
How much does in-house recruitment marketing cost?
A senior, director-level hire typically costs £80,000 to £120,000 a year before employer NI, pension and benefits. Many smaller businesses use a part-time or fractional arrangement instead.
Can AI tools replace a recruitment marketing agency?
Not entirely. Tools now handle much of the production work, such as adverts, search strings and candidate packs. Strategy, brand positioning and budget decisions still need experienced people.
What is the cheapest way to improve recruitment marketing?
Give recruiters tools for the production work and fix the basics on your careers site. Studio is £149 a month per seat, and the Careers Site Check is free.
What is a fractional marketing director?
A senior marketer who works with you part-time, typically 2 to 4 days a month, giving you director-level strategy and execution without a full-time salary.
Not sure which mix fits?
Tell us what’s in front of you and we’ll give you a straight read on the right first step, whether that’s Studio, the £999 audit or fractional support.
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Written by Andy Pirie, recruitment marketer. ROI figures use a loaded recruiter cost of about £28 an hour and 8 to 10 hours saved a week.