Three Ways to Cover Your Marketing Hours, Priced Honestly

A brokerage covers its marketing hours one of three ways: leadership keeps doing it, the office hires one person, or the office runs a plan. Priced honestly, each includes time the office keeps. Leadership's hours at their real rate, a hire plus about 6 hours a month of managing the role, or a plan plus a weekly 30 to 60 minute meeting. The cheapest option on paper is rarely the cheapest all in.

Most comparisons of in-house versus outsourced marketing compare a salary to a fee and stop. That leaves out the broker's time in the first option, the management time in the second, and the meeting in the third, and the left-out hours decide which option is actually less expensive. The free Marketing Hours Calculator ends with a "full picture, all in" view that puts the three side by side, and this post walks through what goes into it.

The example throughout is a twelve-agent office modeled at about 100 hours a month. For a larger or smaller office the shape holds; the numbers move.

Option one: leadership keeps it

The default, and the one nobody prices. The broker, the team lead, or an admin does the marketing in the gaps: the listing set on Sunday, the newsletter the night before it is due.

Priced honestly, this is the hours multiplied by what that person's time is worth. The calculator defaults to $100 for an hour of leadership or staff time and lets you change it. At 100 hours a month, that is about $10,000 of leadership time every month, spent on work that pays a coordinator's wage. Those are the hours that were supposed to go to recruiting, listing appointments, and coaching.

This works for an office small enough that the hours are under 20, with a template set and a habit. Above that, it is the most expensive option on the list and produces the least consistent output, because it is done last.

Option two: one hire

Hire a coordinator or a manager. The calculator's typical in-house figures, typical and varying by market, are about $4,500 a month for a part-time or junior coordinator under 80 hours, about $6,500 for a full-time coordinator or manager at 80 to 140 hours, and about $9,500 for a manager plus freelance design and video above 140 hours. The slider overrides them.

For the 100-hour office, that is about $6,500 a month. Then add two lines a salary comparison leaves out.

• Managing the role: about 6 hours a month. Setting priorities, reviewing the work, handling what the coordinator cannot decide alone. At the leadership rate, about $600.

• Overflow past 140 hours: none for this office, but a real line for a larger one, paid to freelancers or from the broker's evenings.

All in, about $7,100 a month for the twelve-agent office, plus the ramp in the first months. It is a fair option, and for many offices the right one, especially when the person already exists.

Option three: a plan

The calculator recommends a plan from the agent count and the hours. One agent gets Agent Starter at $1,150. Two to five agents get Broker Growth at $2,250. More than five agents, or department-scale volume, gets Team Marketing Department at $3,850. The luxury toggle switches the same three tiers to the luxury studios: Luxury Agent Studio at $2,850, Luxury Boutique Story Suite at $5,500, and Private Luxury Story Studio at $8,550.

For the twelve-agent office, that is Team Marketing Department, and the seat rule applies.

• Team Marketing Department at $3,850 and Private Luxury Story Studio at $8,550 cover one brand plus five agents.

• Additional agents are from $150 each per month on Team Marketing Department and from $250 each per month on Private Luxury Story Studio.

• The calculator prices this from the agent count, so twelve agents on Team Marketing Department is $3,850 plus seven additional agents from $150, about $4,900 a month.

Now the honest part. The office keeps a weekly 30 to 60 minute meeting, about 3 hours a month, about $300 at the leadership rate. Work above a plan's monthly caps is scoped as a priority request, so an unusual month is priced as one. All in, about $5,200 a month for the twelve-agent office.

Terms on every plan are month to month, billed in advance, no setup fees.

The full picture, side by side

For the twelve-agent office modeled at about 100 hours a month, the three options land like this, all in.

1. Leadership keeps it: about $10,000 a month in leadership time at the default rate, plus the work it displaces.

2. One hire: about $6,500 typical salary plus about $600 of management time, about $7,100, plus the ramp.

3. A plan: about $4,900 on Team Marketing Department with seven additional seats, plus about $300 for the weekly meeting, about $5,200.

Change the office and the order can change. A five-agent office with 45 hours of work compares a part-time hire at about $4,500 with Broker Growth at $2,250 plus the meeting. A 40-agent office with 200 hours compares a manager plus freelancers at about $9,500 with Team Marketing Department plus 35 seats from $150. The calculator runs the specific case; the pattern is that the left-out hours matter as much as the headline.

By the numbers

• Referral and repeat clients convert at roughly 4 to 6 times the rate of internet leads, according to 2026 industry lead cost roundups, and referrals carry near zero hard cost. The marketing hours in this post are what keeps that referral audience hearing from the office, which is why covering them is not optional.

• Zillow Premier Agent leads run roughly $139 to $223 each on average, per the same roundups, converting at about 1 to 3%. Every option above costs less per month than a modest portal budget and builds something the office owns.

• Real estate email is commonly cited at $36 to $42 returned per $1 spent. The 2.5-hour email send in the hours model is among the best-paid hours on the list, and among the first dropped when leadership keeps the work.

Which option, honestly

Three questions decide it.

• Under 20 hours? Leadership can keep it, with templates and a fixed weekly block.

• Does the office already have a capable marketer, and do the hours fit one role? Train that person. The 12 Week Program is the calculator's recommendation in that case, priced on the call.

• Hours beyond one person, or nobody in-house and no wish to manage a hire? A plan, sized by agent count, with the meeting kept.

These are the three answers the calculator gives, and it gives the one the sliders point to.

How Urban Marketing Edge handles this

We put all three options in front of every office, with its own numbers, before we propose one. When the answer is a hire, we say so; the 12 Week Program exists for offices that want to train the person they already have. When the answer is a plan, the office gets the machinery the hours model describes: monthly content themes, the post approval system, the dashboard for every request, video editing hours, plain-language monthly reporting, and task tracking on Team Marketing Department and above. The office's part is the weekly 30 to 60 minute meeting, and work above the plan's caps is scoped as a priority request so nobody is surprised. Seats on the team plans are priced from the agent count, so the number on the call matches the number on the plans page. Run the free Marketing Hours Calculator to see your three options. Casey reads every result and replies himself.

Questions brokers ask

Is it cheaper to hire a marketing coordinator or use an agency?

For an office around 100 hours a month, a full-time hire runs about $6,500 typical salary plus management time, and a team plan about $4,900 plus a weekly meeting. Under 80 hours, a part-time hire and a mid-tier plan are closer. Price both all in before deciding.

How are additional agents priced on the team plans?

Team Marketing Department at $3,850 and Private Luxury Story Studio at $8,550 each cover one brand plus five agents. Additional agents are from $150 each per month on Team Marketing Department and from $250 each on Private Luxury Story Studio. The calculator prices the seats from the agent count you enter.

What does the office still have to do on a plan?

A weekly 30 to 60 minute meeting, about 3 hours a month: what is scheduled, what is coming, approvals that need a decision. Work above the plan's monthly caps is scoped as a priority request, so the office decides on an unusual month.

What if we already have a marketer?

Toggle "we already have someone in-house" on the calculator. If the hours fit one role, the recommendation is the 12 Week Program, which trains that person and is priced on the call. If the hours exceed one role, the recommendation is a plan with the marketer kept on the day to day.

Are there contracts or setup fees?

No. Every plan is month to month, billed in advance, no setup fees. The office can start, pause, or change tiers monthly, and everything built in the dashboard, including templates and brand files, belongs to the office.

Book a 30-minute strategy call

If you have been comparing a salary to a fee and calling it a decision, run the calculator with your real sliders and bring the all-in view to a call. On the call we look at what your office produces now and which of the three options fits, including the two we do not sell. Then we map the simplest plan for your content, themes, and monthly cadence. No pitch deck, no pressure. Book a 30-minute strategy call, or compare the plans and seat pricing on the plans page.