Hatched In-House: Your Marketing Team, Without the Overheads
As a business grows, marketing can quickly become too important to fit around the day job, but building a complete in-house team isn’t always practical.
That’s where Hatched In-House comes in. Our outsourced marketing service gives businesses access to the combined skills of our strategists, designers, developers, content creators and digital specialists, all working as an extension of their team.
From planning campaigns and creating content to managing digital channels and measuring results, we bring everything together under one roof. Every partnership is tailored to the business, whether that means supporting an existing team, managing a particular area or becoming a complete outsourced marketing department.
It’s joined-up marketing, delivered by people who take the time to understand your business and share your ambitions.
One person or access to a whole team?
Employing a marketing assistant can be a brilliant investment. They can learn your business, support campaigns, create content and keep everyday marketing activity moving.
However, modern marketing requires a wide range of skills.
Strategy, copywriting, design, photography, video, social media, advertising, website management and reporting are distinct disciplines. It is unrealistic to expect one junior employee to be an expert in all of them.
Hatched In-House can provide those additional skills, either as an alternative to recruitment or as a source of support for the people already working within your business.
The real cost of employing a marketing assistant
The National Careers Service places the starting salary for a marketing executive at around £23,000. Using an illustrative salary of £25,000 for a marketing assistant or junior marketing role, the basic employment costs for 2026/27 could look like this:
| Annual cost | Estimated amount |
|---|---|
| Salary | £25,000 |
| Employer National Insurance | £3,000 |
| Minimum employer pension contribution | £563 |
| Illustrative employment cost | £28,563 |
| Average monthly cost | £2,380 |
Some eligible employers may reduce their National Insurance bill through the Employment Allowance. However, this illustration excludes recruitment, equipment, software, training, management time and employee benefits.
The additional costs behind an internal role
A talented marketing assistant may be able to write social posts, update a website, produce email campaigns and coordinate activity. They are unlikely to arrive with senior-level experience across every marketing discipline.
Your business may still need external support for:
- Marketing strategy and campaign planning
- Brand and graphic design
- Professional copywriting
- Photography and video production
- Website design and development
- Search and digital advertising
- Data, reporting and analytics
- Print and campaign production
- Cover during holidays, sickness or vacancies
There may also be recruitment fees, a laptop and phone, scheduling tools, design software, stock imagery, training and professional development to fund.
The true cost is therefore likely to be higher than salary, National Insurance and pension contributions alone.
How does £2,000 per month with Hatched compare?
A £2,000 monthly Hatched In-House partnership represents an annual investment of £24,000.
That is approximately £4,500 less than the illustrative employment cost of a £25,000 marketing assistant—even before additional equipment, software, training and specialist support are considered.
An agency retainer is not the same as employing someone full-time. It provides an agreed programme of activity rather than unlimited hours. What it offers is access to a much broader team.
Depending on your priorities, Hatched In-House could include:
- Marketing strategy and planning
- Campaign concepts and creative direction
- Social media planning and content
- Copywriting and content creation
- Graphic design
- Photography and video
- Blogs, articles and case studies
- Email marketing
- Website content and updates
- Digital advertising support
- Reporting and recommendations
- Regular planning meetings and project coordination
Deliverables are agreed in advance so the available budget is focused where it can make the greatest difference. Advertising spend, printing, hosting and larger production projects may be quoted separately.
Giving a marketing assistant the support to succeed
The comparison is not simply about choosing an assistant or an agency. In many businesses, the strongest model combines both.
A marketing assistant brings valuable day-to-day knowledge and can build strong relationships with colleagues and customers. Hatched can provide the senior guidance, specialist skills and additional capacity around them.
We can support an internal marketing assistant by:
- Setting the wider strategy and priorities
- Creating campaign concepts and visual assets
- Providing templates and brand guidance
- Producing professional photography and video
- Supporting more complex website work
- Managing specialist advertising activity
- Reviewing results and recommending improvements
- Providing mentoring and an experienced sounding board
- Increasing capacity during busy periods
This creates a more supportive environment for a junior team member. They are not expected to know everything from day one, and the business does not have to source a different freelancer every time specialist expertise is required.
A complete team when you are not ready to recruit
For some businesses, employing a marketing assistant will be the right next step. For others, there may not be enough consistent work to justify a full-time position—or the business may need more strategic and specialist input than a junior role can provide.
Hatched In-House offers a flexible alternative.
You gain access to strategists, designers, developers, content creators and digital specialists through one coordinated relationship. As your priorities change, the balance of support can change with them.
One month might focus on social content and an email campaign. Another could prioritise a brochure, photography, advertising or a new landing page.
Which option is right for your business?
A marketing assistant may be the right choice when you need someone available throughout the working week to manage a high volume of everyday activity.
An agency partnership may make more sense when you need:
- A broader range of expertise
- Senior strategic guidance
- Professional creative resources
- Flexible capacity
- Predictable monthly costs
- Support without immediate recruitment
- Additional expertise around an existing employee
The answer may be an employee, an agency or a combination of the two. What matters is building the right team for your budget, ambitions and stage of growth.
Your team, extended
Hatched In-House is designed to work with your business not at a distance from it.
We can become your outsourced marketing department or collaborate with the people already doing great work inside your organisation.
It is practical, flexible and joined-up marketing support, delivered by people who take the time to understand your business and share your ambitions.
Could your business benefit from a wider marketing team? Talk to Hatched about building an In-House partnership around your priorities.
Cost illustration uses 2026/27 UK employer National Insurance rates and minimum workplace pension requirements. Salary guidance is based on the National Careers Service’s starting salary for a marketing executive. Figures are illustrative and exclude any available Employment Allowance, VAT, recruitment costs, benefits, equipment, software, advertising spend and additional production costs.