In-house or outsourced growth team? Do the full maths first

Step 1: count roles, not people

Start by listing the growth jobs your business needs done every month. For most Ontario service and B2B firms, they fall into six roles:

1. Growth lead: planning, priorities, budgets, vendor management, reporting to the owner.
2. Search and local visibility: Google Business Profile, local pages, reviews process.
3. Paid acquisition: ads accounts, bids, search terms, landing-page pairing.
4. Website and conversion: page fixes, speed, tests, calls-to-action.
5. Content: service pages, guides, updates.
6. Analytics and follow-up: tracking, lead log, response times, the scorecard.

Now estimate the hours each role needs per month, honestly. A small business might need 10 hours of paid-search work, 15 of content, 8 of local visibility, 10 of website work, 8 of analytics and follow-up, and 8 of planning. That's around 60 hours a month, spread over six skill sets.

This is the core problem with a single hire. Sixty hours across six skills isn't a full-time job, but it isn't something one person can do well either. A strong ads specialist is rarely also a strong writer, developer and analyst.

Step 2: the full annual cost of an in-house hire

Use this worksheet. The figures in the example column are illustrative only, chosen to make the arithmetic easy; replace every one with your own.

For the payroll and benefit line, check your own obligations with your accountant; the example simply adds 15% to make the point. The supervision line surprises most owners. If your time is worth $100 an hour and you spend three hours a week directing, reviewing and unblocking a marketing hire, that's more than $15,000 a year.

The ramp-up and vacancy costs

Two more costs don't fit neatly in a table:

• Ramp-up. A new hire typically needs time to learn your business, customers and systems before they're fully productive. If they're at half output for the first three months, you've paid for three months and received about six weeks of work.
• Vacancy. If they leave, you're back to recruiting, and the accounts and knowledge they held may leave with them unless everything was documented and in your name.

Step 3: what an outsourced team costs for the same work

Now price the same role list with an outside team. Ask for a written scope that lists active roles and monthly deliverables. Our own retainers run from $2,500 to $12,000 a month depending on roles and volume; the pricing page explains the factors.

Compare like for like:

That last row matters in both columns. Whoever does the work, accounts must be in your company's name. Our onboarding guide covers how.

Step 4: when in-house wins

Outsourcing isn't always the answer. Build in-house when one or more of these is true:

• A role is genuinely full-time and steady. If you need 160 hours a month of content, hire a writer.
• The work needs deep product knowledge. Technical B2B products with long learning curves can favour an employee.
• Someone must be on site. Events, showrooms, photography of daily operations.
• You already have a marketing team that needs leadership, not more hands. A fractional executive may fit better; see Ontario.Management.

Step 5: the hybrid that often works best

Many growing companies land on a hybrid: one internal coordinator who knows the business, posts updates, gathers photos and answers enquiries, working with an outside team that covers strategy, paid acquisition, website and analytics. The coordinator appears on the weekly scorecard like any other role.

The hybrid also solves the "start outsourced, move in-house later" question. The outside team builds the process and documentation, and the internal person grows into more of the work over time.

Common mistakes in this decision

• Comparing salary to retainer and nothing else. Use the full worksheet.
• Hiring a junior generalist to save money, then expecting senior strategy from them.
• Outsourcing without a scorecard, so nobody can tell whether it's working.
• Letting either option own your accounts. Employees and vendors both leave.
• Deciding at week four. Give any setup 90 days with clean tracking.

A note on contracts and notice

Whichever route you take, read the exit terms before you sign. For an employee, understand your obligations around notice and termination under Ontario employment law, and ask your lawyer or HR adviser if unsure. For a vendor, look for the notice period, what happens to work in progress, and how accounts and files are handed back.

A quick decision checklist

Answer yes or no:

1. Do we need more than two of the six roles covered? (Yes leans outsourced.)
2. Is any single role a full-time, steady workload? (Yes leans in-house for that role.)
3. Can the owner or a manager spare three or more hours a week to supervise a hire? (No leans outsourced.)
4. Do we need results before we could realistically recruit and train someone? (Yes leans outsourced.)
5. Is the work deeply technical to our product? (Yes leans in-house or hybrid.)

If the answers are mixed, start with a growth audit. It will tell you how many hours each role really needs, which makes the hiring decision far easier, whether or not you hire us.