Are you looking at building an in-house marketing team? 

After all, it is the engine that drives growth, builds brand awareness, and improves customer engagement for your business. However, creating a completely new marketing team from zero involves more than just hiring a few professionals and asking them to start working. 

It is essential to understand the costs of setting up a marketing team, depending on the business’s budget. 

Let’s look at some of the factors that contribute to the cost of setting up a marketing team for your business:

People

The first thing you need is the right people in the correct positions. Salaries for marketing professionals vary based on experiences, location and specific roles. 

Here are some average annual salaries for common marketing positions in India based on Glassdoor salaries search:

• Marketing Manager: ₹8 Lacs – ₹ 18 Lacs
• Digital Marketing Specialist: ₹2.16 Lacs – ₹4.32 Lacs
• Social Media Manager: ₹2.40 Lacs – ₹4.80 Lacs
• Content Writer: ₹2.16 Lacs – ₹4.20 Lacs
• Graphic Designer: ₹2.40 Lacs – ₹4.32 Lacs

Additionally, consider costs such as health insurance (about ₹10k to ₹25k), retirement contributions, paid time off, and other benefits.

Tools and Software

Every marketing team needs a set of software tools that help your team do their work more efficiently. The number of tools and their nature will change depending on your team’s skill sets and the budgets you have allocated for this purpose within your business.

Marketing Automation

Depending on your team’s skills and needs, you could spend on platforms like HubSpot (Free or starting from ₹1240 per user per month) or Marketo or Pardot, which can cost a few thousand ₹’s a month.

Analytics and Reporting

It’s essential to understand how your marketing team is performing. Tools such as Google Analytics (Free), SEMrush (Free or ₹10755 per month) or Moz (₹8194/- per month) are required to provide the correct data and analytics, which can help in reporting.

Design and Editing Software

Design is an integral part of marketing work. Tools like Canva are free, or ₹3999 per user per year. 

These tools let marketers design all the marketing collateral in a significant way.

Miscellaneous Costs

Apart from the obvious costs of tools and salaries, a business needs to factor in other overhead costs. 

Office Space and Equipment

Irrespective of whether you work from an office or remotely from home, there will be requirements for setting up the office space or home office space as well as equipment like desks, computers and other related equipment. 

Miscellaneous Expenses

Apart from these are other expenses like office supplies, travel, and other related costs.

The total cost for setting up a marketing team could range anywhere from ₹18 Lacs to ₹37 Lacs or even more, depending on who you want for your team, what tools you want to use and what equipment you want to buy.

I have not included salaries for data analysts or marketing project managers. I once managed a team of five data analysts whose job was to collect and verify lead data. 

Similarly, when it comes to equipment, it could be a basic Windows laptop or a MacBook, depending on what your team members prefer and your