When One Marketing Hire Isn't Enough: How a Retail Brand Solved Its Specialization Gap

Deciding how to structure your marketing execution when a single person can't cover all the necessary skills.

Many businesses hire one marketer hoping to handle ads, email, and design. This case study looks at a retail company that shifted from a single hire to a specialized team model.

Key Takeaways:

• Small and medium-sized businesses account for over two-thirds of private sector employment in Canada, but few can afford a full suite of in-house marketing specialists (Source: Statistics Canada).

• Inconsistent branding across channels can reduce campaign effectiveness; integrated creative is linked to higher engagement (Source: BDC; Litmus).

• Comparing costs requires looking beyond salary to include recruitment time, software, management overhead, and the potential cost of mis-hires (Source: Indeed Hiring Lab; Government of Canada Job Bank).

The Single-Hire Expectation and Its Common Shortfalls

Businesses often look to solve marketing needs with a single hire. The job description might list responsibilities spanning social media content, paid ad creation, email campaign design, and website updates. The goal is understandable: consolidate effort and simplify management. In practice, this can lead to a skills gap.

It is uncommon to find one individual who is both a proficient data-driven ad buyer and a skilled visual designer, while also being an expert in email marketing platforms and content writing. The result is often work that is strong in one area but lacking in others. For example, ad creative might be compelling, but the landing page it leads to feels disconnected, or email campaigns may be well-written but visually inconsistent with the brand's social media.

This inconsistency has measurable effects. Marketing that presents a unified look, message, and offer across all touchpoints tends to perform better. A report from the Business Development Bank of Canada notes that an integrated marketing strategy, where all elements work together, is a key component for growth. When creative assets are disjointed, it can confuse potential customers and dilute campaign impact.

A report on marketing strategy from the Business Development Bank of Canada states, "An integrated marketing strategy ensures that all of your marketing efforts... are consistent and work together to achieve your business goals." This underscores the operational challenge of achieving coherence with a fragmented skillset.
(Title: 10 marketing strategies to grow your business, Institution: Business Development Bank of Canada, Jurisdiction: Canada, Date: 2024-03-00, URL: https://www.bdc.ca/en/articles-tools/marketing-sales-export/marketing/10-marketing-strategies-grow-your-business)

Full Team, Generalist, or Specialized Support

When the limitations of a single generalist become apparent, businesses typically consider two paths: hiring multiple specialists or seeking external support. Building an in-house team offers deep control and dedicated focus. However, for many small and medium-sized businesses, the cost is prohibitive. According to Government of Canada wage data, the median hourly wage for a graphic designer in Canada is approximately $26. Adding a dedicated email marketer and a ads specialist would multiply this cost significantly, not including benefits, software subscriptions, and management overhead.

The recruitment process itself carries cost and risk. Research from Indeed's Hiring Lab indicates that a mis-hire can cost a company upwards of 30% of the employee's first-year earnings, factoring in recruitment time, training, and lost productivity. For a marketing role critical to growth, the stakes of not getting the right skillset are high.

This leads some businesses to consider a third path: a subscription or service model that provides access to a team of specialists for a fixed monthly fee. This model is designed to deliver coordinated output—such as ad variants, matching email layouts, and on-brand graphics—without the commitment and overhead of multiple full-time hires. The operational goal is to treat marketing execution as a covered function, similar to how one might use an accounting firm, rather than as a personnel puzzle to solve.

Data on creative testing supports the value of varied, coordinated assets. Meta's business insights highlight that "testing multiple creatives is one of the most effective ways to improve ad performance," suggesting that access to a flow of on-brand creative variants is a practical advantage.
(Title: How to test and learn your way to better creative, Institution: Meta, Jurisdiction: International, Date: 2024-02-14, URL: https://www.facebook.com/business/news/insights/how-to-test-and-learn-your-way-to-better-creative)

The relevance of these options changes with context. A solo entrepreneur or very small startup might rely on a single generalist out of necessity, focusing their limited budget on one key channel. A small but established e-commerce business with steady revenue might find a specialized service model fits well, as it needs consistent, multi-channel output without major capital outlay. A larger small business or one with complex, high-volume campaigns may eventually justify building a small internal team, managing the higher fixed costs for greater control and capacity. The decision hinges on the required output volume, the complexity of the marketing mix, and the available budget for talent and management.

Making a Practical Choice for Your Business

Choosing how to structure your marketing execution is less about finding a perfect person and more about reliably covering a set of necessary skills. The choice involves weighing consistency, cost, and control.

Start by auditing your current and planned marketing activities. List the required skills: ad campaign management, graphic design, email marketing, content writing, web updates. Be honest about which skills are non-negotiable. Next, calculate the total cost of ownership for each option. For hiring, include salary, benefits, recruitment costs, software, and management time. For a service model, map the stated deliverables against your skills gap and compare the monthly fee. The goal is to determine which structure gets you the required coverage within your budget.

Finally, consider a pilot project. Whether testing a new hire's range or trialing a service for one campaign cycle, a time-bound test with clear metrics—like campaign coherence, asset production speed, and engagement lift—can provide concrete evidence to inform a longer-term decision.

Article Recap

This article examined a common challenge for growing businesses: the gap between needing multiple marketing skills and the practical limitations of hiring. It detailed how a single hire often cannot provide expert-level work across ads, design, email, and web channels, which can lead to inconsistent campaigns. The article presented two main alternatives: building a costlier in-house team of specialists or utilizing a specialized service model that provides team output for a recurring fee. Using Canadian wage data, business strategy sources, and recruitment cost research, it provided a framework for comparing these options based on required skill coverage, total cost, and operational goals. The advice is geared towards business owners and operators who need to move from recognizing a marketing skills gap to making a structured, evidence-informed decision on how to fill it.

FAQ

1. What are the key signs that one marketing person isn't enough?
   You might see campaign elements that don't connect visually or in their messaging. For instance, a social media ad looks professional, but the landing page it links to feels hastily made. Other signs include slow output because one person is switching between too many different types of tasks, or a decline in performance in specific channels (like email click-through rates) that coincides with focus shifting elsewhere. It often becomes apparent when planned multi-channel campaigns stall in execution.

2. How do I calculate the true cost of hiring a marketing employee?
   Look beyond the salary. Start with the base wage (reference sites like Canada's Job Bank for medians). Add estimated costs for benefits (often 15-20% of salary), recruitment (agency fees or your time), and mandatory employer contributions. Then factor in the cost of software licenses they will need (e.g., Adobe Creative Cloud, email marketing platform, ad tools). Finally, account for the management time required for training, direction, and review. This total cost is your baseline for comparison.

3. What should I look for in a marketing service that offers team support?
   Scrutinize the deliverables. Look for clear examples of "campaign packs" or integrated outputs. Ask how they ensure a consistent look and message from ad to email to landing page. Inquire about the specific roles on their team (e.g., is there a dedicated designer vs. a generalist?). Request a detailed list of what is included in the monthly fee and what incurs extra charges. A transparent provider should be able to explain their process for maintaining brand consistency across all the work they produce.

4. Isn't it better to have full control over an employee?
   Control has value, but it also comes with full responsibility. You control an employee's priorities and time, but you are also responsible for their productivity, skill development, and all associated costs and risks. With a service, you control the input (the brief and feedback) and measure the output, but you are not managing the individual's day or career path. The trade-off is between deep, hands-on control and the simplicity of a results-oriented relationship.

5. Can I start with a service and then hire later?
   Yes, this is a common and low-risk pathway. Using a service model can help you define the workflow, volume, and quality of output you need before making a permanent hire. It can keep your marketing active while you search for the right candidate. It also provides a clear benchmark; you'll have a concrete sense of what "good" looks like in terms of speed, variety, and coordination, which helps in writing a better job description and evaluating candidates.

6. What metrics matter most when testing a new marketing structure?
   Focus on operational and performance metrics. Operational: Are assets delivered on time? Do campaigns launch with all components (ads, emails, landing pages) ready simultaneously? Is the visual and messaging consistency high? Performance: Look at campaign-level metrics like engagement rate, conversion rate, and cost-per-acquisition. Compare these to your previous baselines. A successful structure should improve either the efficiency of your process, the effectiveness of your campaigns, or ideally both.